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Oceania » Australia » Victoria » Kangaroo Valley
March 30th 2006
Published: May 4th 2006
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Me and The African FoodMe and The African FoodMe and The African Food

That wasn't all for me, really, it wasn't!
I didn’t do a great amount the week after, (starting the 20th) but on the Wednesday I had a lovely day! I spent ages in this book store in Newtown called Gould’s. Its basically a book junk yard, sort of, and its floor to ceiling of books! Its amazing! I had a rummage in there and bougt an English book that was printed in 1909 and then a book of short stories that’s really crap. (I also went back there the week after and bought some little books for $1 each but they're also crap!!!!). I then mooched into town and read the English book in a lovely little café with a bagel, a coffee and a pot of peppermint tea, I was very happy! This inspired me to buy some loose leaf peppermint tea of my own so walked to Glebe and bought a lovely head scarf form a charity shop and then met Isabelle for tea!!! We ate at a food court, which is basically where there’s loads of food outlets on the outside of the space that are usually Asian, and you buy something and then sit where you want! I don’t think we really have them in
Isa, Shiv and MeIsa, Shiv and MeIsa, Shiv and Me

That wasn\'t all for me, really, it wasn\'t!
England but the food is normally lovely and cheap!

Thursday 23rd it was Lauren’s birthday so I went round to their’s and we got tea, but we didn’t go out as I was feeling poorly and Lauren and Lyds had gone out the night before and got wasted so weren’t really up for much! On the Friday night I met Lyn, Renee and Isabelle for a drink in Newtown and then Lyn and Renee went to watch a comedy show and me and Isabelle met Siobhan for drinks and tea! We had a really good night and ate in this African restaurant! When we got back to the house, Siobhan opened more wine and made me watch the weirdest film in the world, but we all fell asleep anyway, which I think might have been a good thing!

The Saturday we went for the tastiest breakfast and then I went into town birthday present shopping (you know who you are!). That night, I went to a BBQ with Isabelle and some of her friends on Tamarama beach, which is beautiful, and I was then meant to be meeting the girls to go out at Home, but that never
Tamarama BeachTamarama BeachTamarama Beach

The weather wasn't great but still this is one of the most beautiful beaches I've seen yet!
happened. Sunday was also a small disaster so the less said the better, but overall a thoroughly unsatisfactory day!!!!

The Monday was “last day in Sydney day’ so had lots to do! Was meant to meet Isabelle again but didn’t get chance. Spent the whole day washing, on the internet, packing and sending stuff home! Made a tasty tea for Shiv and Linc though and then me and Shiv went for a drink and played a silly game in the local pub! It was really lovely!

Tuesday 28th April was D-Day and the girls picked me up to leave for Melbourne. I've added a picture of the route we took, so that you can see where we went etc. I was actually really sad, I felt like I was leaving behind some really good friends and that’s never nice! The car was a huge, station wagon, that we still managed to fill the boot of, between three! Hannah stayed in Melbourne with her friend Anna. We set off and were half planning to get to Bega that evening but failed miserably! Lyds had seen a place called Kangaroo Valley on the map and so thought it might be good to go to see kangaroos, but we got completely lost! Well not completely but partly due to my fault we went right instead of left and ended up miles away! We had to stop to ask directions at a garage and when we went to drive off the car wouldn’t start!! Luckily, they had a jump-start machine and so we were all right but how typical is that!


The car we got was really cheap as basically you’re moving the car for the company. All you pay for is petrol and then we chose to pay some insurance as well so the excess wouldn’t be as large if anything happened!! We eventually got back on the road again but by this time had almost eaten all of the sandwiches that Lyds had packed, bugger!

Anyway, back on the road again, we finally reached Kangaroo Valley but there weren’t any Kangaroos anyway! We were very disappointed. We drove some more, well Lyds did as you had to be over 25 to drive with this kind of deal and

Then we started to think about stopping for tea. The first place we stopped at was called Moruya,
Tamarama Beach With RainbowTamarama Beach With RainbowTamarama Beach With Rainbow

Look how beautiful it is
big mistake! We were looking for somewhere to sleep as well and even though it looked dodgy, we thought we might give it a go, trying to keep an open mind and all that, so we walked in, and apart from five ‘country women’ around one table, we were the only females in there. We immediately wrote off asking about staying the night, but thought that we might get some information about the distance to Bega. So we waited at one of the bars and the guy stood next to us said “Alright” and we said “Hello”. Then he goes “What you girls on?” and feeling a bit confused I replied “Nothing”. He then said “Oh we’re on ecstasy” and started laughing, his eyes were all over the place. Feeling increasing uncomfortable I was willing the barman to hurry up, at which point our new friend says “Sorry I shouldn’t have said that” and in the next breathe “What’s your problem anyway!”. At this point I began to worry about the possibility of physical violence (well, Lauren is from Manchester) so went in pursuit of a more compesmentas individual. We asked the patrons at the other bar where how far it was to Bega. Where, to the disgusted looks of the other women in the bar, the men started saying “Stay here with us, don’t go there, we’ll look after you!” Hmm I’m sure they would have! And whilst the older generation argued about whether it was one hour or three days to Bega, me and Lauren slipped away into the hearse and sped off to the next weird place! How bizarre!! It wasn’t even a weekend!!!!

So the next place we stopped was called Bodalla. As we’d had problems with the battery earlier on, we didn’t trust it to switch the engine of, so while me and Lauren went scouting for rooms, Lyds had to stay with the car! One place was full (it was only tiny) and 솓 THE OTHER place had just had to have their dog put down, so the landlady was half cut and the bar wasn’t open! It was also a bit run down and we would have had to stay in separate rooms, and after the other experience, we were all a little scared! So we carried on to the next place, Naroomba. Incidentally, the half cut women told us that there weren’t any other large towns and certainly nowhere we could get food for ages, so we were starting to envisage having to stay there, when we turned a corner and came across the Ecotel! These lovely little hut things, no not huts, like a caravan but a solid structure and on the ground, not raised or anything! Anyway, the woman behind the desk was lovely, it was really good value for money and the rooms were decent and large! We had two single beds and a Queen for $25 each for the night! It also had a swimming pool and was next to the beach so if anyone’s passing
through that way, I would strongly advise them to stay there!

So waking up in the morning after a really good sleep and some hot pub food we carried on! We stopped in a little town but I can’t remember the name. It was really pretty but felt like we could have been in the outback of America. We’ve found that a lot of the smaller places in Oz feel like that, it overall has quite a strong American influence. We carried on to Merimbula, which is a posh little coastal town and had lunch there, and then we set off, again, but this part of the journey was really boring. The road was exactly the same all the way, twisting and in forests so there was nothing to see! We did stop somewhere and have an ice-cream though so it wasn’t all bad!

The next part of the tale gets scary and there is blood so those of a faint disposition should not read on! We carried on for further and further until we got to Lakes Entrance, which turned out to be a gathering site for OAPS. The views were lovely but there wasn’t really anything there for the young, sprightly and skint! Lyds was starting to get tired now as we were on the look out for somewhere to stay. Two hours later and we still hadn’t found anything suitable and the few places we asked at were full, as we were getting closer to Melbourne and therefore the motels etc were full of business people and tradesmen! It was dark now and about 9.30pm. The stars as we were driving through the county were beautiful, spoiled only by the truck driver with a vengeance against English lovelies and stayed up our arse for about 8 miles, causing us to go round the roundabout twice just to get away from him!!! So we decided to try at the next place and by this time Lyds’ driving was deteriorating at a rate of knocks (don’t know where that expression comes from!) and as we were pulling onto the road a motel was on, Lyds drove up the wrong side of the road! I swear, I saw my short life pass before me very quickly. Luckily there was nothing coming the other way, otherwise we’d have all been gonnas AND the motel was full, I was not amused! The next place was full as well and so we had to get back on the dual carriageway, I was very scared! I would just like to add here that in no way am I judging Lyds’ driving, as we all know (or rather those who were unlucky enough to be in the car with me to Cocktails, oh what an evening!!!) that occasionally, my driving has been less than would have been expected from one who is so practically perfect in everyway!!!! Ah ehm..

Anyway, the next place had rooms and by this time it was about 10pm so we all were deserving of a good rest! However, being the smart arse I am, I managed to pull the boot door down onto the bridge of my nose, cutting the skin, making it bleed and almost knocking myself out! I had stars coming at me, and when Lauren came out to get her stuff, it was to find me wedged between two cars carrying my backpack, with blood smeared down my nose and a coat hanger stuck in my jeans! Oh dear, bringing the name of Yates into disrepute again, it just wont do!! Sorry dad!!

The next day Melbourne was finally within grasp, so a quick snack and we were on the road in high spirits! We got to Lyds Great Aunts who is 85 I think and only speaks Greek, on the 30 ㅡarch!ㅡ(at this point I have to really apologise for the random Korean characters in this entry! I don’t know why but it keeps adding them every now and then and I’ve done everything I can think of, but for that particular place, it wont go back to English!! Its meant to say 30th March). She’d kindly let us stay the night but me and Lauren felt awful as we couldn’t speak to her and from what Lyds said, she 몽 some really interesting stories to tell! I was allergic to something in the room as well and so was sneezing all night, sorry Lauren! And that concludes this entry. Any questions, please post them on the entry system! Actually whilst we’re talking about that, have you looked at any of the other blogs?! Everyone else’s friends and family leave little comments and Pat is the only person who leaves them on mine! I feel left out and a little bit neglected so can I have some comments please! If you’re not sure what to put, just look at any American’s blog for inspiration, things like “Hey dude, your trip looks awesome, and you haven’t got fat at all!” things like that, not “Jesus Julie your hair gets worse with every entry” yes?! Good, lets move on…….





Additional photos below
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Map Of JourneyMap Of Journey
Map Of Journey

So you know what I'm on about! Apparently this route is 1040km, which is about 646.22 miles
The MobileThe Mobile
The Mobile

Its huge
The BootThe Boot
The Boot

Look how much stuff is in it!
The Room In NaroombaThe Room In Naroomba
The Room In Naroomba

Bit of bottom grabbing going on there


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