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Published: February 23rd 2010
Rottnest Island
Good Beach Attire!We arrived in Darwin on the 26th January, Australia Day! After checking in to our hostel we headed out for the night to a local bar called Monsoons. We spent the evening celebrating and joining in the festivities with the australians, we met some guys who were on leave from the army and had just finished a tour of Afghanistan, which proved to be a very entertaining night.
We spent the day in Darwin before our flight in the afternoon. We walked down to the beach and tried to find some wild crocodiles but had no luck, we didn't go swimming as the crocs are such a threat there. We then headed back in to town and passed a deck chair cinema on the way which looked like a lot of fun but it was unfortunately closed for the winter.
We flew to perth and for the first time I was in the luggage allowance and had a spare 1/2 kg to play with, which I found very exciting. In Australia you are not allowed to carry fruit, nuts, seeds and soil across state borders. I decided to take some apples and peanuts on the flight with me as
Phillip Island
Grand Prix Circuit there would be no way they knew. As we disembarked from the flight there was a sniffer dog waiting for us, Who promptly started jumping at me, to begin with I decided denial was the best course of action. So when the trainer asked if I had any fruit on my I said no. Unfortunately this resulted in her asking the dog which bag the fruit was in, to which the dog complied by jumping at my backpack. My amnesia was temporarily lifted as I 'remembered' about the apple in my bag which I handed to her. The dog got a treat, she was happy that she had impeded an apple smuggler and I was happy that the peanuts were still safely tucked away in my bag hidden and out of harms way.
Once we had made it away from the officials and collected out luggage, Simon Kim's friend from home met us at the airport and took us back to his place. Kim and I got our own room there and the house in general was a good size. It was great to have our own space and a kitchen that wasn't rammed with fellow travellers.
The
first full day in Perth that we had we spent with Granfer. We megt up with him in the city and spent the day viewing the sights. We went for lunch in the main shopping district and I had chili con carne with a jacket potatoes and nachos which was really good. We then headed up to Kings Park which was a really lovely park area. We went on some trails around the area and stopped for a drink at the end. As it is on a hill it had great views of the Swan river and Perth. We then headed back in to the city and went to ferry terminals, where we sat at one of the bars on the waterfront and had a drink. As we headed back into the main area we went through a street known as London Court which was built in the style of tudour London and was very quaint with little boutiques and cake shops. We then left our personal tour guide for the evening whilst we headed to woolworths to buy some groceries. We caught the bus back and managed to miss our stop, we ended up at a bus station, confused
and waiting for another bus. Later in the week we caught the bus again this time I actually kept my eyes open and managed to get us off the bus at the right stop, which is quite a difficult feat.
Simon took the day off of work on the Friday and we went to Cottlesloe beach in the morning. Perth is the 2nd place in the world where you are most likely to experience a shark attack, needless to say I stayed on the beach and didn't venture into the sea. We had lunch at a place called Dome and then spent the afternoon at Scarborough beach where again I spent the time topping up my tan and not practising my front crawl.
On Saturday we met Granfer again and all headed on the train to Fremantle where we met up with Tony and Louise. We had a look around the town of Fremantle, which was basically the same as Perth just smaller and not as busy. We then saw the harbour area and went on a tour of the prison. Which had been a working prison untill 1991. Once we had finished the tour we were driven
to Rockingham and went to the beach, however it was so windy that we were being sandblasted so we didn't stay on the beach long.
On Sunday we had a lazy day and caught up with all our washing and generally chilled. We went to the local pub with Simon and Chris and sat outside in the sun drinking Magners and eating roast beef. It felt like a lazy day in the summer at home.
On Monday we got up early and caught a bus to the centre of town where we then caught a ferry to Rottness Island. The ferry took 2 hours which was a lot longer than we were expecting. On arrival at the island we decided to hire push bikes. At the hire company we had a choice of bikes with gears or without, we got them without because it was cheaper. To begin with this wasn't an issue untill we started experiencing the hills of the island, my legs got a work out that day! We used the bikes to travel around the island, stopping at points of interest along the way. We stopped at lots of little beaches, look out points and
a light house. We even saw some lakes that were pink which was pretty interesting. At one point we were coasting down a hill when a snake slithered onto the road, luckily it was the other side and we were going downhill so we got past it quickly but it certainly made for interesting cycling. At 4pm we got the ferry back to Perth and had Lasagne for tea that I had made on sunday.
We had to get up at 3.30am on tuesday so we wouldn't miss our flight to Melbourne. On arrival in Melbourne, luckily without the apple drama's of last time, we got the bus into the city and found a relatively cheap hostel in the CBD and really close to the bus and train station. The location couldn't have been better and it really was nice as far as hostels go we even got free breakfast.
We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping in Melbourne as it is the fashion capital of Australia and booked ourselves onto a tour of the neighbours set for the next day.
The next morning we woke up bright and early and jumped on the special neighbours bus
to head out to Erinsborough. We saw the secondary school that was used for filming untill a couple of months ago, we visited the studio head quarters and saw the outside sets for the police station and newspaper office, whilst there we met up with one of the stars of the show, the guy who plays 'Lucas' who we had a chat with and had our pictures taken alongside him. We were then taken to Pin Oak Court, better known to you and I as Ramsey Street. The day we went there was filming occuring which initially was really good, we got to see a new character and Donna acting out scenes. However as the filming was happening we couldn't go down the street and see all the house which was a little annoying.
Once we were back in the city we got the free tram to the discount shopping centre and spent a few hours there. As we were tourists we were given special discount cards and we were able to get a free milkshake and churros with melted chocolate dipping sauce, which was tasty!
That afternoon we boarded the bus to San Remo which took about
Phillip Island
Yummy salmon quiche! 2 hours. In San Remo we were picked up by Fritz, a friend of Kim's and we stayed with her for the next 2 nights. We had an 'ausi' BBQ for tea which was really good and only our 2nd one of the trip.
The first day in San Remo we droppe Fritz off for work and she let us borrow her car. Which conveniently was exactly the same make and model as the camper van. We drove over the bridge to Phillip Island where out first port of call was the chocolate factory. I had a Hot Chocolate which was really creamy and luxurious. Then we drove to a beach where we parked the car up and headed on a nature trail that would result in us seeing the natural rock formation known as 'The Pinnacles'. It was one of the scariest 4km of my life. The path was about a metre wide and sandy with lots of grass and bushland either side. Definatelty the kind of place where you would expect snakes to live. At one point I saw a thick black scaly tail, which scare me to death on closer inspection it was just a big
Melbourne
Grafitti Street lizard, but needless to say we were freaked. We made it to the pinnacles which were really cool and then hurriedly headed back once again jumping at the big lizard. Talking to Fritz later apparently the path is known for having a large number of snakes in the area, and the aggressive kind, so we were actually really lucky that we didn't spot any.
We then headed for Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit, where we were given a tour, we even got to stand on the podium which was pretty fun. On our way from the race track to the main town of the island we stopped at a vineyard/winery where we did some tasting. They were all really good wines and were made from grapes grown on the island so we got Fritz a bottle to say thanks and helped to support the local industries at the same time. We then headed to Cowes which is the main town on the island and had a spot of lunch, though it did start drizzling which was an unwelcome addition to my meal. I had salmon, brie and asparagus quiche which was a really good. We headed back to San Remo
Melbourne
Grafitti Street then to pick up Fritz and the boys and spend the afternoon back at her place.
The next day Fritz had taken off work so we went to a factory outlet shopping mall, as it was raining and our original plans of the beach wouldn't have worked so well. We then headed up to Melbourne where she took us to a street that is allowed to be grafitted on and was covered in lots of different murals. We said goodbye to her and Kim and I headed off to the Ice bar. We had to get kitted out with moonboots, 2 sets of gloves and a big coat. We weren't meant to take pictures but I used my phone, sneakily. Due to the temperature you are only allowed to stay inside for 30 minutes, we started off with a shot which was served to us in an ice shot glass. Mine was rum, cherry, coconut and white chocolate flavour and was really good. We then had cocktails again served to us in glasses made of ice. I had a choclate orange, which was rum, vodka, orange juice and milk chocolate. We sat at tables made of ice on chairs
Melbourne
Dressed up for the Ice Bar made of ice, that were conveniently covered in reindeer skin, surrounded by statues made of ice. It was a lot of fun and I might try going to the one in Sydney. On our way back to the hostel we went to a swanky bar where we had pizza and cocktails before retiring for the evening.
I am now on my way to Sydney, where hopefully lots more exciting things will occur. I'll keep you posted!
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