Around the east coast in 12 days...


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Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Sydney » Darling Harbour
March 18th 2008
Published: July 6th 2008
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Having escaped the drama of the Discovery Channel I had two free weeks until starting a new job... So, I thought why not go visit my good friends in Australia! And that is exactly what I did. I booked a Virgin flight and off I went, what was even better is that I got a cheapo upgrade on my way out there...brilliant!

The flight was a smooth 20 odd hour trip, finally arriving in Sydney. My friend Sam met me at the airport and took me to my hotel , it was located a stones through away from Darling Harbour. Sam and I spent the day catching up and eating lots of tasty food.

The very next day I was on my way to Melbourne to visit another university friend, Ails. Ails met me from the airport and took me back to her apartment in the city centre. We had lots to catch-up on so spent most of the day chatting and mooching about. The Melbourne comedy festival was in full swing so we picked up some tickets to see this well respected Irish comedian. Before getting to the theatre we went for dinner at this fab Mexican restutant which was about as big as your granny's front room. The comedy show was brilliant, very funny. The guy ripped the p*ss out of australian traits, and the aussie audience all took it with good grace.

The next day Ails and I decided to go on a roadtrip, so we hired a car and hit the road. We headed to the Great Ocean Road, the drive there was fab, we played some cool tunes and took in the sights. The more west we travelled the colder it got, we ended up at the 12 apostles which were beautiful. But after a 4 hour drve trying to get there the cold wind set in and so we didn't spend too much time enjoying the scenery. A few photo shots later and we were soon back on the road driving back towards Lorne where we were going to bed down for the night.
That night a huge storm rolled in from the ocean, the sound of the thunder was awesome, so loud that Ails and I didn't get much sleep at all. We woke up early and got back in the car to drive to Bells Beach where the Rip Curl surf championships were taking place.

The wet weather followed us there, we even had to go and buy warmer clothes as it really got cold. We legged it out of the car in our new roxy trousers and billabong jumpers only to be caught under the rain... We got soaked! We were adament that we were going to stay and watch all the surfers, sitting out in the rain and cold wasn't so bad we decided. Afterall we had a beautiful view of Kelly Slater showing off in the surf! Kelly had stiff competition but it he nailed it in the end... Fantastic to watch!

Driving back to Melbourne that afternoon we stopped by Ramsey Street, visiting the Neighbours close was really surreal... That night my visit to Melbourne was about to turn sour...

After a late night dinner, we parked the hire car outside Ails' apartment... The next morning I woke up to Ails saying that someone had stolen the car!! I was like what?!! How??? I was thinking damn I wish we'd taken out that extra insurance!! We soon found out that the car had been towed away 5 minutes earlier as it was parked in a clearway... we had to go and get it costing us over $500!!! What a fricken nightmare. We picked the car up and decided to go and to St Kilda's for breakfast. We found a great little independent cafe and had a really delicious breakfast. Time was running out and we had to go and return the car, we got in and Ails started to reverse out of her parking spot when we hit a brightly coloured car behind us! Can you believe it, how much bad luck can tow girls have in 3 hours? We were shocked that it had happened, luckily the car was empty and no one was look AND there was no damage, so we decided to leg it. We were really astounded at the amount of bad luck we encountered that morning. We soon got back to the rental garage, they signed thre car back in and off we went.

We spent the rest of the morning walking around the famous covered market before I eventually had to get a cab to the airport... Next stop Brisbane.

The flight to Brisbane was probably one of the worst I have ever had... We were flying in a thick rain cloud, it was so thick it was like soup! You couldn't see anything but grey mulch. The plane was being tossed around like anything, I was petrified. I looked to my left and the man sat next to me had his eyes closed and hands clenched together... It was very scary. Landing safely was one of my highlights of the trip!! Glad to be on solid ground I got off the plane and was soon met by my old London work friend, Mark.

It was really great to see Mark, and I was so excited to spend some time with him and his boyfriend, Daniel. We arrrived at their new pad. We all sat down for dinner and after that Mark took me on a night time tour of his favourite city sights. We went up a mountain to this viewpoint where we looked on to the city lights below. The smell of the forest was awesome. We then went into the city for a stroll along the river side where the posh apartments are. It was really picturesque... Jet lag soon started to catch up with me and I think I actually fell asleep in the car on our way back to the house.

The next day we were up early as Mark had planned a trip to a beautiful National Park called, Springbrook National Park. The park was erally stunning great vistas and very accessible. We trekked all the way down walking under and around lots of stunning waterfalls. It was hard work in some areas but a lot of fun. I was a little worried that I only had open sandles on and apparentely there are loads of leeches around in the puddles... I don't know how I got away without any latching on! The only thing we did see were yabby type creatures, they were quite cute though.

After this we went up the Gold Coast and had a nice stroll along the beach. We got back to the house and had dinner with Daniel and watch The Biggest Loser.

The next day was another early start, we decided to drive inland stopping off at a beautiful town in the hills for breakfast and then continuing to Noosa for a look around. Noosa was very pretty and hot - hurrah!

The following day it was time to go back to Sydney. This time I made my own way from the airport back to The Grace Hotel. I spent the afternoon on my own sightseeing and trying not to over heat. I stopped off at a great little restaurant called Sailor's Thai near Sydney Harbour/The Rocks, I had a beautiful prawn salad with pink grapefruit. It was delicious. Sydney was basking in glorious sunshine that day. In the late afternoon I met up with Sam, we gossiped, shopped and then went for a late dinner in the Kings Cross area.

The next day I met up with Sam in her neck of the woods, St Lenoards. We hopped on a bus and went up to Manly beach for the day. The weather was beautiful so we stripped off and sun bathed all afternon. Stopping only to buy a hat and to have some lunch.

That evening we went to a great little Mexican restaurant for fajitas... I left Sam and her boyfriend to it and headed over to the Paddington area to meet up with another friend from London, Vincini.

After a couple of drinks, I made my way back to the hotel. It was time to pack as I was flying back to London later the next day. In the morning Sam met me for breakfast, we walked it off and did some window shopping until it was time for me to head to the airport.

My cabbie who took me to the airport spend the entire journey slagging off australians, saying that they were narrow minded and racist... And then saying that tourists like me come over for a good time and then get stung at the airport by having to pay excess on our heavy luggage. He said that the airport staff were always really rude and spoil the good holidays that the tourists have had... Well, to be honest the cabbie wasn't doing a bad job of leaving a bad impression on me before my return to England... He was so cruel about the country and the people... couldn't believe it.

It was a loooonnnngggg journey back to Heathrow, but we landed safe and sound. Martyn met me at Heathrow bright and early and drove me home.

All in all I had a fantastic Aussie holiday, loved every city for very different reasons... Thank
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Storm approaching
you to Sam, Ails and Mark for really making my trip a memorable one.

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