Bit of a catch up - the last two weeks

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Hiya, hope everyone's well, I'm fine thanks.

Th last time I wrote was the day Lucy and Laura got to Sydney I think. So, we had a week in Sydney before setting off on the ox experience bus tour. We visited Taronga zoo and saw wombats, platypus, koalas, alligators, all sorts of lizards and frogs and lots more. Very hot day but good to see proper aussie animals.

I haven't brought my journal down with me so I can't remember loads of what we did. What else did we do? My memory's awful!! We took my aunty Jen and Clare out for a meal the night before we left, to an African restaurant which was very atmospheric and had great food.

On one day, we went into the city for the day to shop - bought some shorts and a jumper (it was cold that day hehe). We stayed in for dinner, then walked to meet Paul at the harbour bridge. We had arranged to climb it the night before. We got kitted up with a boiler suit type thing, beanies, hankies etc and then set off to climb. There were 12 of us in the group and walking up it was just like going up stairs really. We had a couple of vertical ladders but the rest of it was very tame. We wanted to go at night becasue the views looked amazing on the leaflets (plus it was the cheapest!). The views WERE amazing and we bought some photos which our guide took for us with the opera house in the background - cool!

On the Saturday, we went on our first organised tour with Oz Experience. We went to the blue mountains, an hour or so out of Sydney. This day was great. Very hot, lots of walking through rainforest and many beautiful waterfalls to see along the way. We co8uldn't swim in any though as they were a bit far away and quite dry due to lack of rain recnetly.

So, on Tuesday we casught a taxi at 5.45 from the house to the Oz Exp. office. We signed up and put our bags in the trailer. Everyone was a bit sleepy but our guide kept us awake by telling us lots of interesting facts about Sydney and the surrounding areas! His name was Guido and he was a bit weird but in a good way. It was quite sad to leave him after three days. Our first stop was a place called Barrington. It was truly in the middle of nowhere and was basically a outside building next to a river which was perfect for swimming in. After a long hot journey, we all jumped straight in the river as soon as we got there!! Loads of slime on the rocks which caused much amusement but it was cool cos there were rapids which we sat in and it was just like a natural jaccuzi!!

That evening they cooked pizza for us all and it was eat as much as you can. I managed five slices but the record for a girl was 25!!!! Apparently she was sick after though. Nice.

After a tummy full of pizza and strongbow - (yep, they have it here too!! different label though) we all put wetsuits on and clambered into kyaks!! Our activity was night kayaking. We were supposed to have training for the rapids in the day but everyone was a bit laid back so we just practised in the dark!! We set off in the jeep to the top of the rapids and put our head torches on to offer us some sort of safety. However, these were soon turned off as the amount of moths attracted by them was immense! I swallowed one and a few went up my nose. I felt like I'd rather go donw the rapids blind than suffer that! Our guide Dave took us down and we just had to stay right behind him so we knew where to go. There were five rapids in all and I manged four without capsising...the last one was called the killer jaws of death haha and it had four steps. I made it down the first one then ended up sideways and fell out going over the second one. It was quite scary cos it dragged me for a while before Lucy came bombing over the top of me still in her kayak!! She assures me that it was a lack of control which caused this, not a need for amusement!

So, rafting completed, we jumped into the hot tub which was literally that. No bubbles, just a metal tub with hot water in. We all squeezed in and enjoyed some more drinks. After a while we decided to put some more hot water in but ended up going a bit far and all felt a bit faint ha! Great night though.

The next day we set off for Arrawarra where we had two surf lessons booked for us woop woop!! We arrived and pretty much got into wetsuits straight away. We carried our boards down to the beach and did the stereotypical thing of lying on them on the sand in a semi cicle, practising how to stand up. I couldn't help cracking up at the image of us all being so crap. We got into the water and tried it for real. There was quite a strong current so it was tiring but fun. I managd to stand twice for about 2 seconds which I'm quite proud of, but it was hard work. Trying to remember all the things you have to do and do them all at the same time. There were many aches ad pains the next day. These were not helped by the fact that we were in the water for our next lesson at half 7 in the morning!!

So, after a shower we set off for Byron Bay. This was to be our stop for two nights. Byron was a really nice place actually. It wasn't too big or too small, had a great beach and some good pubs. The first night we went to a place caled cheeky monkeys accross the road from our hostel. It was a bit like a meat market with a wet t shirt competition - which I'm glad to say none of us entered!! A few more bottles of cider and there was lots of dancing on tables and chatting to sexy Irish guys hehe.

The next day we went on an organised tour to a little place called Nimbin. This is the weed capital of Australia apparently. The bus was wicked - the guy had a perfectly timed soundtrack to all our steps of the journey. Foe example, he'd talk about someting then say 'this song will take us to such and such and i like it because blah blah' and the song would literally finish as he pulled up in a place. Very well done. Yeah, so we had a few hours in Nimbin. TRes hippy like and lots of people trying to sell you stuff. We bought some cookies but haven't had any affect on me yet - will try again lol! I really like it there, a cute little place in the mountains with a very laid back atmosphere.

After Nimbin, we came home and I made a hair changing phonecall. At the surf camp, there was a girl with freadlocks and I asked her how long they';d taken to grow. She told me she'd had them done in Byron by this girl and gave me her number....so now, after four hours that night, and three hours yesterday morning, I now have a full head of dreads!! I'd been thinking about them and wanting them for ages but just never done it. Now I have and I love them!!! Luce thinks they feel like sheeps wool - a bit wirey but kind of soft too.

So, yesterday we travelled here, to Surfers Paradise. We all slept when we got here then got ready to go out and ended up staying in the hostel haha!! We're now travelling with a scouser, Bev (Bloke) a swiss guy, Manuel, and anothr english guy, James. Dunno how long we'll stick together but they're all cool and we get on really well. W're off to the beach now, so I'll write another blog soon. Hope all's well back wherever you all are and look forward to hearing from you soon.
Love you lots, Rach/ Perry xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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Comments

[Helgawig]

Ooh how exciting.
Hello my dear. I am so happy to hear of you furthering your adventures and furthering your brain from all of this outdoor activity and the meeting of new people and great fun. I'm glad your are alive and kicking. I'm a little apprehensive, though, at the thought of what you mgiht be subjecting me and Al to when we meet up again in the spring- night kayacking- double eek! Oh well, I'm sure I'll rise to the occasion- just remember the monkey bars my friend... All the best. H.xxxxxxxxxx