Advertisement
Published: February 13th 2015
2nd January-So I was up at seven to get ready to catch my shuttle to the airport and do you think I could wake Lauren up with my facebook messages so she could have my bag for me? Erm no! So I just had to take them with me and the shuttle ended up being late and we had to change shuttles around the corner....it was all very odd. So I could've repacked my bags properly after all but instead, as I wasn't going to do it in the middle of the airport, I just paid to put two bags through even though the weight limit was what they weighed together, but you weren't allowed two bloody bags...I hate bitchy check in ladies! Pfft! So I get myself all settled on the plane and wonder again if I will be fed and given a movie to watch when my meal comes around and the little TV screens drop down from above 😊 Although yet again it was Blendid yawn! I was sat next to a really nice lady from Alice Springs who told me a few things that I could do when I was there either side of my trip 😊
When I stepped off the plane it reminded me of when I was a little kid when the doors open, the heat hits you and you walk down the steps....now you normally just walk through a tube straight into the airport.....but this is Alice Springs. I saw loads of people getting a photo by the airport sign which was really cool but I just wanted to get inside....regret it a bit now. So this airport was like tiny and has no air con :/ So I collected my bags and made my way over to the man at the little shuttle ticket desk, bought my ticket and loaded myself onto the shuttle to my hostel. It took quite a long time to get there (also with no air con) as we had to drop every Tom, Dick and Harry off before we got to mine didn't we? Now I've stayed in some hostels where I've had to rough it a bit but this was summin else! The rooms were okay and had air con so I could live with that, but the kitchen was gross, had no cutlery or dinnerware and had ants crawling everywhere...plus there was no air con in that part of the hostel and its like 41 degrees out here man! The woman at the desk wasn't too friendly either....now that annoys me when you have a job to be polite. I wanted to jump straight in the pool but I tested the water with my foot and it's just as hot as outside so I retreated to my bed with the air con on full blast and watched the Downton Abbey Christmas special 😊 😊 You gotta love a bit of Downton!
When it came to me eating my dinner I cooked my stew and ate it on my lap in my room where it was clean and cool. I then met a Scottish girl who arrived in my room and we got chatting. She's going to Ayers Rock too but the poor girl got stuck in some pub in the outback waiting for her bus for like five hours! So she's doing the trip in a few days. My god though her accent is sooo strong! I wanted to go and watch the sunset over Ansac's hill but I've been warned not to go out alone as it's not safe....I think people mean there are so many homeless Aboriginals out here :/ So we decided to go together and invited this little Asian girl from our room too. We got directions from the lady at reception and then made our way. It was only a twenty minute walk away and when we found the base of it we weren't sure how to climb it so I asked this Aboriginal man (they're the native people to Australia by the way) for directions and he was very nice...the woman with him gave us an odd look mind! They had a nice war memorial at the top and it was nice to sit on a rock and watch the sun go down over Alice Springs 😊 I do kind of wish I'd done a sunset camel ride though as they pick you up from your hostel for free but oh well, it was a nice evening.
3rd January-So this morning I had to be up, fed and ready with my bags to start my Ayers Rock trip at 5am! I nearly died! I am so sick of carrying all my shit now so it's good that you can only take a little backpack on this trip and you can leave the rest of your stuff in their big luggage bin thing out the back 'til you come back 😊 I do wish I'd brought my veggiemite with me though as the 'free' breakfast was literally toast and horrible butter :/ So I make my way out to the bus when it arrives and I'm obviously the last to get on so have a seat right at the back with no leg room....then I discovered that this is the bus for the WHOLE tour and nearly died....again. I soon discovered that most of the people on the tour were part of a ten day tour so all new each other so I felt quite alone for most of the day. I bumped into a cute English guy when I was coming back from the loo at our first rest stop and he said hello and I kind of ignored him but only because it was a delayed reaction...now you know I'm not good with early starts peeps!
So we've been told that we need to drink at least three litres of water on every hike we do...even if it's just for an hour or they can't let us do it. So we had to stock up on it at our first stop and it was super expensive...I just begrudge paying for water. The guy at the counter did let me have a look at his pet snake though so not all bad. We were meant to stop at a place for a camel ride but because of the season it wasn't open when we went past so I was a bit disappointed 😞 We had one more toilet stop and then arrived at our camp site where you could also camel ride but our tour guide said we didn't have time. Everything is about time and schedule with this bloke....he's doing my head in! Anyway we sat down for our crappy lunch and then were hanging around for two hours while we were waiting for some other people to arrive at Ayers Rock airport. In this time I took it upon myself to say hello to the cute guy and he happened to be chatting to a lovely lady from South Africa who now lives in Sydney so I made a couple of friends which pleased me 😊
Once the other travellers had arrived we were rushed off in the van via a service station where I just had to get a fly net as they are crazy out here (like I'm talking about them flying up your nose, in your mouth and even in your ears!) to Uluru (the aboriginal name for Ayers Rock). When we got there we had a photo stop so I did the classic jump in front of the rock and also held up a Birthday sign for Mason as it'll be his 5th Birthday on the 6th 😊 Gutted I'm missing it ofcourse! So we couldn't do the base climb around Uluru, as its states in our itinerary, because it was closed due to it being too hot. Why we left at 5am and arrived at Uluru at 3pm I'll never know! Fair play I was fuming as all we got to do was do a small walk and talk about the history. I was so excited about this trip and I just feel like it's all a bit backwards 😞 We took a look around their centre which had some really cool stuff in it only half of it was closed early and we couldn't sit to watch the movie about its history because we couldn't breathe as it was so hot in there! I won't lie, bit disappointed considering it's such a big attraction in Australia. We weren't allowed to climb the rock as its supposed to be sacred and apparently the government have said that as soon as the climb rate falls to 20% a year they will close it for good....it's down to 25% at the moment. They also close it if there's a slight change in the weather that doesn't meet their conditions. I don't think I would've climbed it anyway because people have died from simply just slipping off the side :/
We watched the sunset back at camp which was really nice but didn't set over Uluru or the Olgas (Kata Tjuta), it kind of set off to the side and looked like a bush fire (that's what the Germans thought anyway lol) so funny! For dinner we were supposed to be having Kangaroo bolognaise but I opted for the veggie choice as I just can't eat something that I've been petting and feeding at a wildlife sanctuary. Plus they are far too cute! Oh and there were so many people crammed onto the tour that there wasn't enough room for me on the table for dinner so I had to sit on the floor and no fucker moved up the bench for me. All the water is boiling here....drinking water out of the tap and even to wash your hands after you pee. I was so relieved when the water came out cold in the shower....amazing! Oh and I also found out that there's a swimming pool on site which we could've been in instead of dying of heatstroke earlier today! Fuming! It's like the guide just wants to keep stuff from us. One of the German girls who's been with the main part of the group for a week started announcing that we should have washing and cooking groups for meal times and I just thought 'oh here we go!'
Now I made sure I got a nice lengthy chat in with the cutie before I took myself off to bed....which wasn't a bed, it was a swag on the floor with no sheet....just a pillowcase. Now I really wish I hadn't posted my sleeping bag liner home....talk about roughing it! One of the Germans freaked out because there wasn't a sheet....was quite funny. I just dealt with it....I mean come on I've used the toilets in Asia...this is a piece of cake! I did manage to sneak Mawson in with me...he had to hide under the pillow though. I do hope my sis is looking after Maralen! :o I won't lie I was quite petrified about the bugs, snakes or dingos getting me but I coped. I couldn't bring myself to sleep inside the swag so slept on top and it was so hard to get to sleep as the ground just holds all the heat from the day. I feel like I've moaned quite a lot to myself today but I can't help it. I did meet a lovely German lady called Doris who ended up at the back of the bus with me who just talked and talked with me which was nice. There's a nice mix of ages, couples and singles and nationalities on our bus. We've got Spanish, French, Lithuanian, German, Aussie, English, Polish and Swiss....it's nice. My feet are like balloons in the heat mind! :/
4th January-So I woke up today with the biggest headache ever from dehydration and not enough sleep 😞 😞 Needless to say I was not a happy bunny. I woke up in the middle of the night needing a wee and ran with my torch to the toilet for the fear that I might have been eaten by a dingo along the way. I did notice that the stars were good though and the sky was really clear. It was the perfect temperature for sleeping at 5am and I was in a nice little bubble when we got woken up for the sunrise and an early breakfast. I hate being grumpy but I need my sleep soooo bad! The sunrise from the same lookout as last night was nice though and we saw some animal footprints which we think may have been dingos, kangaroos or emus....so we didn't really know lol! I discovered at breakfast that there was vegimite so things are looking up! 😊 Oh the simple things in life. We then made our way to Kata Tjuta for the Valley of the Winds walk which was just beautiful....I hate to say it but I enjoyed it more than Uluru :/ It was a 5km walk with a little hill near the end but we did it early and the views from the top were amazing! It was nice to actually climb something too. Even though we weren't at the top we were surrounded by it and it was really breezy which was so nice. I do feel like a bit of a tit wearing my straw sunhat that has clearly seen better days, sunnies and fly net but it's gotta be done! We stopped for a quick photo op before lunch and then finally got to have a jump in the pool 😊 😊 Although he made us wait like children until we'd had lunch before we could have a 'fifteen minute swim'. Now you know what I'm like when people patronise me....I become a bit of a bitch. So after five minutes he calls us all out and I stay in there for my remaining ten don't I? Then....oh wait for this....he waits for me to get out and as I'm standing in the que for the changing room he jumps in for a swim. I think the term tamping, fuming, raging springs to mind! So I took it upon myself to skip the que and use the men's toilet....which he then of course needs to use....well tough luck matey! Hmmf! So as we're leaving this resort we also find out that it has a shop, diner, wifi and free shuttle bus to the camel area and pool which he neglected to tell us about...wait 'til I get my feedback form! On the way to our next campsite we had to pull over at the side of the road and go looking for firewood...yes we really did. So I trail through the outback in my flip flops and bring back the biggest branch you've ever seen that was just the size he wanted, when he said to me 'oh just leave it there, we have enough'. Well if he did....I had to drag myself back into the bus before I said something really rude. I couldn't believe that I'd gone to the trouble of cutting my foot open on a twig and bringing back half a tree for the man!
So when we arrived at our campsite for the night I settled my things in, set up my swag, listened to the patronising spiel, got assigned the task of cooking which I was devo about so a lovely girl swapped with me for washing up so I could drag Angelique (lady from South Africa) off to the pool with me.....which ofcourse he told me would be shut but I made enquiries and it was open so off we went. I felt a bit childish but I just had to make my point....that I wouldn't be pushed around and to be honest getting away from him for an hour calmed me right down and I was much more chilled. Again there was no space for me at dinner so me and Angelique sat outside with ours and just happened to catch the most gorgeous sunset of the trip right from our campsite 😊 I got bitten to shit by these bloody pepper ants they have though....they really pinch and I feel like I've got turrets as I keep flapping my arms around, swearing and stamping my feet. I was supposed to be helping the Aussie guy make his famous campsite bread in a big pot over the fire but kind of got pushed out of the way by the others from that part of the group and it was all about Gareth's bread. I feel quite emotional on this trip to be honest....thank god for Angelique and Billy. Anyway we ended the night with a beer and toasting marshmallows over the fire 😊 So I got in my little swag with Mawson and fell to sleep much better as there was a nice breeze.
5th January-So the ants got me in the night but despite that I was having a lovely little sleep when I woke up and everyone was packing up their swags around me. You know how I have that little problem of not hearing my alarm? And no bugger even woke me up! Pfft! Anyway we got up nice and early to try and catch the sunrise over Kings Canyon and just missed it but that was okay because it was gorgeous! We did the rim walk which actually looked like a canyon, unlike the Grand Canyon which is actually a gorge. I had such fun on the walk too because even though it was unbearably hot I spent the whole time chatting to Angelique and Billy about life in general and obviously about horses. Angelique was telling me all about riding in Cape Town and so we're going to try and time it that we're in Cape Town together so we can go riding on the beach 😊 😊
On the way back the dreaded moment actually happened....the air con on the bus broke! Oh my god, it was probably the worst six hours of my life. We were sweating like we were under a shower and drinking litres and litres of water and taking dioralyte all over the place. Some of the girls just moaned and moaned but what can you do about a situation like that? I have to say our tour guide did redeem himself quite a bit today as he made several stops for us to buy cold stuff....I spent about twenty bucks on everything iced I could get my hands on! He also made several pool stops whilst he tried to fix the air con himself and we got to see a little dingo pup 😊 I'd been very grumpy at lunch as the loud German girl pissed me right off by being a cheeky cow so naturally once I'd jumped in the pool I was much happier 😊 Billy even lent me his sunnies as I'd left mine in the bus....after me and Angelique had tried to push him in! We had to make a stop before we got back to Alice Springs as we were gonna be so late, so our tour guide could make a phone call to ask the hostel to keep the kitchen open so we could all drop our stuff off and shower before we had dinner. So our stop was to see the emus, kangaroos, camels and llama so he definitely earned himself some more brownie points! Now I did warm Angelique not to get too close to that llama as it looked at me and its ears went straight back! Yes yes it spat on her haha! So funny!
So we didn't end up getting back to our hostel until like nine so we had to rush our stuff upstairs, shower and get back down for dinner asap. There was a massive cock up with the rooms and all the 'group' were trying to get in the same dorm so I was sent to one room, then called back down and sent to another room and then ended up in their room anyway. Then Gareth had no where to go as they'd given him a key for our room too so this Spanish guy was basically hinting for me to leave the room when I'd already unpacked my stuff....nasty little man! Gareth didn't mind though, it was only to sleep. I honestly nearly cried that night as a few people from that group had left me out constantly and I'd let them all use the shower first and then they just left me to go and meet everyone else. Plus I'd rushed in the shower and sliced half my knee off in the process 😞 But all was well when I bumped into these two lovely German girls who joined our trip at Ayers Rock who felt exactly the same way as me so I knew I wasn't just being 'sensitive' as my sister would say :p When we went down for dinner they gave the menu in without me, then I sat in one of their seats so had to move....it was just like being at school! So the lovely German girls offered for me to sit with them and we had a damn good bitch at the end of the table. Billy couldn't stop laughing at us being so blunt and I was downing wine with all the stress.
It was so nice to get all dressed up and look half decent at last 😊 Most of us decided to make a night of it so we went to this place called the Rock Bar where we all chatted, did tequila shots and danced about. I spent most of the time talking as usual and it was actually the annoying German girl that bought a round of shots and included me so I kind of felt like bridges were being built 😊 Me and Angelique have defined Billy as an egg....hard on the outside but a softie on the inside....I'm not sure he appreciated being called an egg though lol! After that bar a few of us went on to the Casino which is like the only place in Alice Springs that stays open late and you have to get a taxi everywhere because the streets can be dangerous. I watched people play a bit of blackjack and then we sat outside for a drink. There was this young bouncer kid from the Rock Bar that turned up who thought he was the big I am and the stuff he was coming out with was just cringeworthy....I was a little bit mean and kept laughing but it was so funny! So we had a group photo and I bonded with most of the girls which was a really nice way to finish off the trip 😊 l totally couldn't live in the outback though it's too bloody hot!
6th January-Happy 5th Birthday to my gorgeous first born Nephew Mason! 😊 Miss my little men so much! So I was up around eight and had to completely repack my bags, to avoid the extra bag cost at the airport, which was a right mission! The other people in our dorm were Asian and although they were nice they just kept holding the bathroom door open for each other for the longest showers in history and all I wanted to do was brush my teeth so before the last one went in I just had to say 'look can I just quickly nip in to get my stuff?' Honestly! There was then a cock up with what time I was going to the airport so a bus turned up for me and I wasn't ready so I ended up on the next one with everyone else aka Aussie Gareth, Lithuanian girl and nasty Spanish man Javier. We all sat together with the Italian couple in departures having coffee and then they went their way and we all got on the same flight. I ended up sat next to a Chinese girl called Angela who was in the old group with the others. She was so lovely and we talked and talked about travelling and she's been living in Sydney for years and told me all the best places to go in China....it's one for the list! 😊 When we got to the airport we all got our bags and boarded the train into the centre. The Spanish guy who I called Harvey because I knew it would annoy him just kept trying to walk off with the other two when they were clearly talking to me and being nice. Then as soon as we all went in separate directions he gave me a stinking look and turned his back.....I think he has small man syndrome because I was nothing but nice to the little shit bag.
When I finally got to my hostel with all my bags I was so damn tired I just wanted to flop in the rooftop pool....yes that's right, hostels in Australia have pools! But Becca was coming over so we could party one last time in Sydney with Laura, Karstin and Josh (peeps from my room in Wake Up who I spent New Years with). So I got ready in record time and made my way downstairs to meet her. The beauty of Australia is that it's so bloody hot my hair just dries in nice waves, kind of like big curls. I wish it did it at home! So we nipped round to the girls' hostel to get on the goon and pick up my pirate hat they'd babysat for me while I was away. It's a good job I took all my bags with me to Ayers Rock because Lauren has already left. She's gone back to her farm in Tamworth when we were supposed to be going to the Blue Mountains together tomorrow. I don't really mind because it made more sense for her to see it with her friends from her room whilst I was away and save herself some money. Plus Becca was gonna come with us anyways so it's all good 😊 We had such a scream for our last night in Sydney 😊 It couldn't have been better! Our aim was to go to the Peterpan night again but we decided to skip all the first bits as you don't get much free goon and pizza. So we jumped on the train after our goonathon and jumped off in Kings Cross and headed to the bar. We made sure we got a stamp for free entry off the Peterpan workers and then slipped inside for our free drink....nice work I say! :p
As the night went on and we got a little more drunk the two Lauras began their double act out by the till girl. Some of the free drinks vouchers just happened to 'fall off' the side and land by our feet so we had a whale of a time! I got a bit paranoid after a while that I would get caught with them in my handbag so I just started giving them discreetly to people and they loved it ofcourse! I just told them all to keep shtum about it lol! Well you should've seen the shapes we were pulling on the dance floor....I thought I was in Flashdance at one stage haha! We ended up leaving because Josh decided he would start fights and then run leaving me and Becca to smooth people over....dick! We ended the night in a strip club believe it or not...crossed that one of the list! Let's just say it was a different experience lol! We mainly just danced to music on the dance floor and clearly stood out at as strip club virgins but it was fun. When we were all saying our goodbyes at the takeaway between our hostels Josh got a little weird and kept hugging us and he was all sweaty and drunk....ew gross! We sort of saw a different side to him tonight and I'm not too sure it was a good one either.
7th January-So today was another early start...well ish, plus I had a slight hangover :/ I managed to get all my washing done before Becca got to the hostel. Today was all a bit off really because everyone was hungover, Becca put her phone in the washing machine, the girls brought my hat round to me as I forgot it last night....then I had to attach it to one of my many bags, then I had to pay to put all my shit in a locker (I begrudge this btw) and finally we had to go up to the pylon lookout with the girls as I had two free tickets for it from when I did my bridge climb and Becca had one so I gave the other one to Laura as Karstin doesn't like heights. She stayed at the bottom and waited for us bless her. It was more of a stress to do it as we were on a time limit but I'm glad we did because I got some cracking photos 😊 So I parted ways with my Geordie and English rose for the final time sniff sniff! Then me and Becca split up so I could get my bags and she could go and get hers. We planned to meet at the platform and I nearly cried in the middle of the train station because I was tired, hot, my bags were heavy and the opal card machine wasn't working so I couldn't top it up. I then had to hobble outside to the other shop to get top up, then hobble back up to the platform where the very nice train man opened the big gate and showed me the way. But then my train had moved platforms and so I was about to have a meltdown when I saw Becca waving at me like a freak so we jumped on the train, parked our bags by overtaking a whole two seater and eventually sat down. What a stress! Get me a suitcase pronto!So Mawson enjoyed his little ride on the train....Becca almost got her penguin out too haha!
When we arrived we had to walk ALL the way down the hill to our hostel but when we got there it was in an old school building and was just gorgeous! You gotta love the YHAs. It got me thinking too that it would be a great hostel chain to use when Lynn comes over as older people and families stay there too! 😊 I really like it here in the Blue Mountains, plus it's in New South Wales 😊 We're staying in a place called Katoomba. The only thing that let the hostel down was the cow on the front desk....she wouldn't put us in the same room and was really rude....I am really not going to miss this part of backpacking. I'm gonna flashpack it next time! As it was getting on for evening time we decided to take ourselves out for dinner as a treat and so went to check out the Yellow Deli that everyone raves on about. When we walked in it was like stepping into and American/Amish community....a little weird but really quirky and the food was to die for! When we got back we were faffing about by the side of the front desk looking at what we were going to get up to and because we were both knackered it was just taking us ages to make a decision. In the end the lovely night manager, Rob from England, came over to us and helped us out. He had us in fits of laughter too...so funny! So we ended up deciding on the old style trolley bus tour around the mountains for tomorrow and horse riding for the day after before we head back to Sydney 😊 To be honest I could spend a week here, there's that much to do.
We then parted ways to go to bed and I had the longest shower in the world without being disturbed as it was quite late and felt like a new woman afterwards! 😊 Then I just wanted to chill and the wifi was rubbish upstairs so I took myself off downstairs where there was only one other person and started to catch up with people at home. Just as I was about to start watching a programme online this woman walked in and broke the news to me about what had happened in Paris. Obviously I was disgusted by how some people can behave like that in the world so was going to look it up on my BBC news app. I've found as I get older that I should perhaps take more interest in what's happening around the world and pay more attention to the news. So just as I was about to do this, this woman started droning on about how ignorant I was and about all the reasons why the government should've been expecting this bla bla bla. She basically gave me a history lesson, insulted me and scared the living day lights out of me all at the same time! In the end I just shut her up with a smart comment and she buggered off to bed. She went on for about fourty minutes and so when she left I started thinking she was part of some cult that hated Americans and wanted peace for the radical Muslims. She frightened the poor German girl that was down there just as much so we sat up talking for quite a while and I didn't end up in bed until about half four! Do you know the crazy lady said to me 'I mean you know what's happening in Syria right?' and when I looked blank she said 'oh gosh you don't do you? Where are you from lovey?' I thought don't you lovey me you fruit loop!
8th January-Becca had to change rooms this morning so I told her I'd meet her at ten which is check out time and she could put her stuff in my room for the day. But due to my very late night I was fasto when she knocked on my door and this other girl answered it. When Becca asked for me the girl said there were no Lauras in the room without even asking me and I was like 'uh yeh right here!' Tit! So then I was all in a tizz and had to tell Becca all about it on the way to get breakfast. We missed the first trolley bus we were aiming for as we didn't get going quick enough so decided to get the next one and it ended up driving past us at the stop, so we ran up the hill and it was just pulling out of the stop when we got there....we could have cried! So this man told us to nip around to their shop on the corner and complain. Now I'm not a fan of being the moany customer but I just had to be it. At first there was a grumpy man at the desk who said the driver wouldn't have left too early and then a nice lady smoothed us over by ringing up the depo and getting a guy to pick us up in our own private one to take us to catch up with our bus 😊 It was so nice of them because they could've just made us wait another hour which we really didn't have time for.
So our first stop was the Leura Cascades where we took a little walk down to the rock pool where there was a gorgeous waterfall. On the way we both got our flip flops stuck in the mud which was hilarious! Then we took a photo for a young couple and their baby and spoke to a lovely Aussie lady. So we did our good deed for the day! Me and Becca are so alike we just bounce off each other. I'm trying to convince her to leave the shire of Oxford and come and be my flat mate in Cardiff in the Summer...she's thinking about it 😊 When we'd pissed about a bit posing for photos we made our way back to the top and waited for the trolley. It's so cute...basically an old fashioned tram on wheels! Whilst we were waiting I turned the Leura part of the sign into Laura which I thought was hilarious! I think the heat is frying my brain. Our next stop was the Three Sisters (the main attraction). Now you could do a walk but we could see them just fine from the lookout at Echo Point and even had our photo with them so we became the Five Sisters haha! We were a bit nervous waiting for our driver because he would've been the one we basically dobbed on for leaving us behind :/ He seemed a bit frosty to begin with, but for the most part of the day we were the only people on the trolley so after a little while we got to know him and found out he was called Nigel so naturally we shortened it to Nig 😊 All we had time for then was Scenic World where they have the world's steepest railway, longest walkway, biggest cableway and highest skyway (cable car). It's basically a big tourist trap but is so much fun! It's been a family owned business for three generations and there's an old roller coaster track that goes around it that looks like really good fun, but it's never been used because apparently in the 70s when it was built it failed the test ride with dummies in and they never continued with it. It's a real shame so apparently they're talking about getting it up and running again.....I've so gotta come back for that! When we were walking along the boardwalk there was a lovely story about the relationship between the minors and the horses and about how they were all part of the same team....I won't lie, it made me emosh! The railway only lasts for like two minutes but it's on an angle of 52 degrees so it's actually a little scary....got a cracking video for my imovie 😊 When we were waiting for the final of the four attractions this whole family of about ten Indians just pushed in front of us and that was it....we'd had it all day so I lost it and called them rude. I think I stressed the guy operating it out a bit so he said we could wait and be the first on the next one....mission accomplished!
Well today was a fabulous one! We decided to drop the horse riding idea and go back on the trolley tomorrow as we ended up making good friends with Nig and he gave us a half price voucher for tea and scones in a place in Leura 😊 So when he dropped us off we nipped to the shops for Camembert and wine to relax with which is just what we needed after a busy holiday period 😊 We ate dominoes for five bucks first of course, then melted the Camembert in the micro and dipped bread into it mmm mmm! We shared it with Rob too as he's such a sweetie.
9th January-So this morning I was up, packed and almost ready to go when all I wanted to do was charge my phone/iPad for half an hour before check out, but there were only two sockets in the room and these two girls had hogged them for the two nights and when I asked for one they were like 'oh we're checking out in twenty minutes'....uh yeh so am I! Rude! Then I couldn't find my big can of hairspray my sis sent over with Lynn so some skank has obviously taken that....honestly you've gotta lock everything up in Australia! So we had breakfast with the German girl from the other night...turns out she was in Becca's room and had spent an hour crying in front of her because she was only eighteen and didn't know what to do with her life...I think poor Becca felt like she had to play counsellor. When we were packing up our food bag the crazy lady was in the kitchen (turns out she's the cleaner) and was actually quite funny. She was like 'oh girls see all this stuff on the free food shelf? Just take it, go on....and put some of these biscuits etc in your bag, save some money'....she was hilarious! So we put our stuff in storage, made our packed lunch and set off for day number two on the trolley bus 😊 Nig picked us up again and dropped us off at Bygone Beauties antique teapot shop, tea room and museum. We took our half price voucher and had our tea and scones with jam and cream mmm mmm mmm! It made me feel so English! :o This place was just fascinating and the guy who runs it is gay and so nice! He gave me his card so that when I get home I can send him photos and details of an old tea set I have to get it valued. Nig asked me on the bus how to say the really long name of the town in Wales....obviously I couldn't say it which is embarrassing so I asked Maurice (the gay shop owner) if he wouldn't mind googling it for me so I could write it down and he printed out about four pages of info on it for me bless him! So I got practising whilst we were waiting for Nig and then pronounced it for him on the bus. He was quite chuffed so I gave him the info too 😊
Our next stop was the Leura Everglades Historic House and Gardens which were stunning. People were rehearsing for two Shakespeare plays that will be performing there soon which is cool....a little gutted I'll be missing them. Also we couldn't see everything in the house as two rooms had been taken over by the play company :/ But the bathrooms were pretty cool. It kind of rained for the majority of the time we were walking around the gardens which was a bit shit but we made the most of it. On the way back we saw what looked like a dead bird that had got itself caught on a wire so we were horrified and went to tell the man in the ticket office. Of course it was a plastic bird suspended to keep other birds away from eating the flowers they'd planted wasn't it? We are such tits! We then stayed on the bus as there was a big storm and it was quite nice to just do a loop, hop off for quick photo stops along the way and just enjoy being in the Blue Mountains. We had a good old chat to Nig today and he offered to drop us at our hostel door, wait for us to get our bags and then drive us all the way back up the hill to the train station....what a nice fella! We waved goodbye to him and promised to write a good review on trip advisor. We then thought we may as well pop into the shop again on our way to say thank you to the team. Our good deed for the day.
There were a few bogans that were sprawled out across eight seats on the train so they moved after a few hints so we could sit down. Then we met a Scotish/Kiwi/Aussie family who were on their way to see Wicked in Sydney who were lovely. The young girl wants to be a doctor but she's been working a weekend job whilst she's doing her A-levels to save for a gap year of travelling in Europe. Good girl! We gave her some tips! So we arrived back in Sydney just in time for me to make my way to the Greyhound stop for my bus to Newcastle to see Cassie (an Aussie I met on my Trek America trip in the Summer). I felt really sad saying goodbye to Becca....again, but hopefully I'm going to meet up with her for the last time in Byron Bay. I was waiting for the bus and I met these two lovely girls who were also travelling on it for the first time. Such a shame I'm going to a different place to them 😞 I also bumped into Louis who was in Lauren's room in Wake Up....he was with a girl so when he gave me a hug it was a bit awks but then I ended up being seated opposite them and we all got chatting so it was cool. Something was definitely going on there 😉 Oh my god I just love the Greyhound! 😊 😊 They have leather seats, extra leg room, charging points and wifi, albeit not great wifi but it still works well enough for facebook so I'm happy. I was sat next to this lovely guy but his English wasn't great and I was so tired that I just listened to my music because my brain was hurting...I did feel a bit bad but he had really smelly breath :/
I got to Newcastle a bit early so was chatting to a girl on one of the benches whilst I was waiting. Then Cassie came along and I just jumped up and threw my arms around her....god I've missed this girl! I think she was shocked I actually kept my word and met up with her...we both could not shut up the whole drive to her house. When I got there she'd made me up an air bed with cushions in my own room and even bought us crumpets because she remembered I'd said I missed them.....she's so sweet! Her house is so cute and we stayed up late talking and eating crisps. We nipped outside a few times so she could smoke and one time a moth flew down my top and scared the shit out of me...how am I gonna cope with spiders and snakes?? I then had my much needed shower before settling down for the night....I nearly had a panic attack when I couldn't find Mawson as I'd put him in the wrong place....won't do that again.
10th January-So Cassie let me have a good sleep in 'til around twelve which I really needed. She woke me up by jumping on me the cow :p I felt a bit guilty about sleeping so late but she said she remembers what travelling feels like being up early all the time bless her. So we had crumpets and tea for brekky and then went shopping for an Aussie flag bikini for me for Australia Day 😊 I'm so excited about it, had to stop myself from buying flags and stuff lol! So I couldn't find one I liked and I know exactly which type I'm looking for so we headed home. We stopped by the cinema on the way back to watch Dumb and Dumber Too which is still funny but not as good as the first one, even though they had a really good crack at it. Then this evening we went to the local all you can eat buffet and I'm talking ALL you can eat....I felt like I was in heaven for a backpacker 😊 I soaked up some of their free wifi and observed the bogans before we headed back for more talking and more movies.....Cruel Intentions and Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion spring to mind! Classics! Oh we had wine too :p Was a bit of a late night but who even cares?!
11th January-So today was an earlier start of 10am which I was pleased about and we had planned to go to the beach but it was pouring with rain so we popped into the city/town centre for more bikini shopping and still no joy. So again we planned to visit the cinema and while we were waiting for the film to start we paid the food court a visit for sushi and Chinese...yum! We didn't get into the cinema quick enough so there were no seats at the back and I'm long sighted so can't see at the front 😞 It's really good over here though, they give you a refund if you're not happy with the seat choice. So I soaked up a bit more wifi so I could contact the lady on the farm I'm going to tomorrow just to double check she remembers what time and where to pick me up. She seemed a bit shitty actually because she was like 'I still don't know where or what time I'm collecting you tomorrow' when we'd already agreed like two weeks ago....clearly this woman does not have a diary.
So we headed back to Cassie's after a reunited selfie in which I am looking particularly rough but it's gotta be done! We talked for hours and hours when we got back which was just what we needed as when you're in a big group of people you get to know people but never really get chance to talk about a lot. We talked so much we almost missed the evening viewing of The Water Diviner....and omg what an amazing film! Of course I totally cried watching it like a big sissy. We decided to grab five dollar dominos on the way home, watched a typical Aussie 80s movie with Kylie Minogue in and talked some more. I have had one of the BEST weekends ever! To be honest all of Australia (apart from the dickhead tour guide at Ayers Rock) has been awesome so far! Xx
Advertisement
Tot: 0.194s; Tpl: 0.018s; cc: 11; qc: 48; dbt: 0.0501s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
