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It seems a long time ago since we left Melbourne, so I shall briefly run through our adventures since we last wrote.
We made it to the Sanctuary and saw loads of native wildlife, including the Platypus! There were few people there so we had a lovely day walking around wildlife spotting.
The next day we were just sunbathing/snoozing in a park, when we noticed we were next to Melbourne’s theatre where “Mamma Mia” was playing and people were waiting to be seated for the matinee performance. We thought that we might cheekily enquire if there were any spare seats….yes, we got in, and yes, it was one of the best musicals we have ever seen. We highly recommend it!
(I’m sure all of you will be interested to know, the new room was much nicer. No mushrooms!)
We then had a grotty all-night express bus journey to Sydney. We didn’t sleep much, but it saved one night’s accommodation.
We had a couple of hours kip at the Y.H. ( v. nice in a lovely leafy suburb of Sydney) when we finally arrived 11 hours later and then decided to explore. We ended up at the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. What an amazing sight! It was really warm and they both looked v. impressive.
The next day we decided to make use of the weather and to try out Manly Beach, north of Sydney and accessible by ferry. It is a huge expanse of yellow sand and huge waves. It was very windy, we attempted sunbathing, but it only lasted for 15 minutes as we were quickly becoming a sand dune, so we gave up and decided a trip to the local shark aquarium would be nice. That was an experience.
It is Good Food Month in Sydney, so every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in October there is a collection of stalls selling cheap dishes from local restaurants on a hill over-looking the Opera House. We went there for some great thai food, with a few glasses of different wine. As we were by the Opera House, we went to have a look round and ended up buying 2 cheap seats to watch our first opera of Mozart’s ‘The Magic Flute’. It was fantastic! We were both v. surprised how much we enjoyed going to see an opera. Do you think the location helped??!
We have pottered about the city and the suburbs, meeting up with a few of our friends from uni/school (some whom we haven’t seen for a number of years). It has been lovely to see faces that we recognise and to have a proper chat (Annelise from Bruton, Warwick from Queen’s and Mark from Loughborough).
We are off to Sydney’s Observatory tonight to do a spot of star gazing, which should be good. Tomorrow we make our way to Shoal Bay, near Newcastle, where we may be lucky and see dolphins. Now that would be an experience!
From now on we will probably be spending a short amount of time visiting lots of towns/attractions going up the east coast, as we have quite a large distance to cover and are rapidly running out of time.

It’s been a v. hectic time over the last few days, as we have been travelling between Adelaide and Melbourne (11 hours between by Express coach). We decided to do the local tour called ‘The Great Ocean Road Tour’ which takes you down the South Australian coastline between the two cities, with a one night stop-over to break up the journey.
It was a really beautiful road (the original road was dug by the returning servicemen after WWI, to give them work) following the sheer rocks and passing through limestone cliffs. Many of these limestone cliffs have eroded to leave stacks sitting out in the ocean, and we viewed all the important/famous stacks such as ; The 12 Apostles, London Bridge and the Arch. All pretty much self-explanatory as to what they looked like! They were all v. spectacular, particularly the 12 Apostles.
We also went into an extinct volcano which has now been left as a nature reserve, and we saw a v. tired koala sitting in the fork of a eucalyptus tree (apparently they sleep for 19 hours a day….what a fantastic creature!). We also saw quite a few red Kangaroo’s jumping away from us and wild emu’s grazing all around. It was truly amazing.
We saw miles of beaches: all unspoilt and sandy. The views were incredible. We travelled through Torquay, a famous surf town…..sound familiar??! It is home to the big surf named brands such as; Rip Curl and QuikSilver.
A down-note though….our hotel (which we had to book due to school holiday “urban camps” in Melbourne taking all the Y.H. places……darn kids!!) is disgusting. There is a collection of mushrooms growing happily out of the wall in the Men’s Bathroom, about the size of my hand. Now usually we would be resourceful and cook up a risotto or something, however the thought of it being in the bathroom is rather off-putting!!! To say that this “hotel” is not clean is an understatement. However, we shall persist for another night, and then we shall have alternative accommodation for tomorrow. (Apparently, through the backpackers grapevine, a chap found a baby bat and bed lice in one hostel, so really we should count ourselves lucky).
Melbourne seems nice. We shall be hoping to go to a wildlife sanctuary and also watch the Fairy Penguins on the coast at Phillip Island. The city is famous for having four seasons in one day, and so far we have been pulling our jumpers on and off. Victoria (the state) is the same size as Britain, so it is v. unlikely that we shall be exploring much more than Melbourne itself.
On a serious note, we have been following the news and it seems that Australia has been prey to lots of hoaxers concerning sending white powder through the post. Melbourne has evacuated two buildings with scares, fortunately the day before we arrived. Sydney has also been experiencing the same problems. Though we don’t seem to get a lot of news about the U.K. over here.

Still having an amazing time out here, with lots to do and lots to experience.
After another 6 hour bus ride from Alice to Uluru (Ayers Rock) we were pretty fed up with sitting on buses! We went straight to the famous rock itself and were told all the history behind the Aborgininal stories of the Rainbow Serpent and it’s creation. We then went to see some more rock art and the billabongs created from the excess water coming from the top of the rock. It is a really impressive size 340 km above ground level and very red due to the iron oxide in the soil. We watched the sunset on the rock (with many others!) and hopefully we will have some great pictures. We then had a cook your own BBQ back at the hostel and crashed into bed as it had been a v. long day! (I have to say that I was v. wary of all the fauna in the area…apparently 4 of the 9 most venomous snakes were found around there…!!)
The next morning (early) we went to see the Olgas, another famous set of domed-shaped mountains nearby and then on to the rock again. Unfortunately it was tipping it down and the climb was cancelled - this made life easier for us as we were still undecided as to whether we were going to climb up due to the wishes of the Aboriginal people, a moral dilemma. Instead we decided to walk (9.4 km) around the base which took 1.5 hours and we got completely soaked. It was well worth it though. I do hope our photos come out.
We then returned to Alice Springs - in the rain - and slept for ages! Alice is quite nice considering that it is a pass-through for thousands of tourists everyday headed for Ayers Rock. The hostel was much nicer than Darwin and certainly more friendly.
we then had to catch a plane to Adelaide. We arrived in the rain!!! I’m sure that Oz is supposed to be warmer and drier than the UK?!! The hostel is so nice, it is just like a hotel and actually thinking about some of the dives we have stayed in, probably much nicer. It is clean and loaded with facilities (even a cinema screen!). The city of Adelaide is lovely with lots to do. Today we went to The Centre Of Wine Tasting, which has been opened 7 days. What luck! We tried rather a lot of wines and have been smiling and giggly all day! Great wine!

Just got back from Kakadu National Park (300km’s from Darwin) having had a fantastic experience. The park was much hotter and in the middle of Aboriginal Land, so there was plenty of culture to absorb which was fascinating.
We went on a boat cruise and saw plenty of crocs and loads of wildlife, which was quite thrilling. Best of all, we spent 7 hours with just us two, two rangers and an Aboriginal lady called Patsy - can’t stop associating that name with Ab Fab! - going round the Bush where most tourists don’t go. We got really close to Water Buffalos, Dingoes, Frilly-Necked Lizards and Wallabies. We were allowed to hold a File snake (lives in the rivers) that some Aboriginals had caught for their tea. We then ate from a fire, Magpie Goose, that Patsy had caught that morning and then cooked traditionally on the coals of the fire, and Johnny bread (damper)whilst drinking tea made in a billy-can watching the sunset. What a brilliant experience! Words fail to capture how amazing this was. We were so lucky to have got that trip, as it was through the bus driver who seemed to have had quite a laugh with us. Wow!
We also visited loads of Aboriginal rock art sites, which were ace, especially when you see the grindstones that they would have used over 20 000 years ago, just sitting there in front of you.
The only down-note: the mozzies love me!
The accommodation in Kakadu was v. good but Darwin hasn’t been too impressive, but then that goes for most of Darwin. It is a bit of a dive just catering for smelly backpackers like us! Never mind, it has all been worthwhile so far by meeting Patsy.
Off tomorrow to Alice Springs, where the humidity will hopefully decrease and unfortunately the tourists will increase. I have discovered that I really dislike other backpackers….they just want a swimming pool and set tours! How boring!
Anyway hope the sight of all the Christmas stuff in the shops is cheering you all!! I’m back off for a stubbie.