I Owe You

Dublin was light years ago and is shadowed by the brilliance of further 2009 adventures. Hip and I partied amongst Cologne’s Carnival. The University Boxers created havoc in Salou, Spain. We hen partied in Magaluf. The Waverley Roaders screamed our way through the Isle of Wight festival. The Sucre Babbies VIPed in Madrid. Again, the uni girls camped in Newquay and drank through Summerbreak. The Never Forget Girls sang with Take That at Wembley’s reunion. And the past week has been spent eating and exploring London; Greenwich Park, Portobello Road, Bond Street, Hanover Square, Gay Parade, St Jame’s Park, Sloane Square – making a change from the usual delights of Leicester Square, Holborn, Covent Garden and The Strand.

This is a promise to tell you about Cologne in Germany plus Salou, Magaluf and Madrid in Spain. Festivals, Summerbreak, Camping and London Discoveries are on my To Do List also but first and more excitingly is the next big travelbuzzing experience. IBIZA – 2 MONTHS – Molly - No Job – No Accomodation – No Hesitation

Dream Dublin, Ireland

The taxi pulled down the cobble streets of Temple Bar and we were greeted with a street party and an atmosphere of general chaos. It was fantastic. We quickly checked into our hostel – Oliver St John’s Gogarty and were totally delighted with what we were given. A modern crisp white room, 3 bunk beds and an en suite. What more could we ask for! Perfect. And with the location smack bang in the middle of what can only be described as party central, a huuuuge pub/restaurant ajoined, free tea and toast to nurse our hangovers with and AbraKEBABra directly opposite we just could not complain.

Heels , bags dumped and off we went. Irish pubs lined the streets and party goers danced the night away. Personally, I was shocked at how ‘Irish’ Ireland was – we were told to expect a commercial overpriced strip. Temple Bar was far from it, it was authentic, quaint and with the bands and smooth Irish bouncers we were whisked away.

The Temple Bar, Fitzsimons (where we spent New Year on the roof top terrace), Elephant & Castle, Gogartys are the very few place names I remember. Cider & blackcurrent coupled with rank white wine has contributed to slight memory loss – however, the Irish really aren’t big fans of rose wine which is something that got our goat. The bars only sold individual small bottles of the stuff which simply meant we had to down our white poison quicker and race with the pints of cider. Problem solved. The club 6 Dame Lane is a big recommendation if you want to get away from publand and dance in what we would call a real club – 1 minute from Temple Bar – dress to impress girls!

Our first full day was spent with our mate Harry Hangover wondering around the Guiness Storehouse. It’s just ten minutes walk from Temple Bar, 7 storeys high,  with a few bars, pour your own pint stations and a brilliant circular ‘Gravity Bar’ at the top which over looked the whole of Dublin. The atmosphere in this bar was buzzing but old Harry couldn’t handle the pace leaving only Claire and Dawn as the only girls who could finish their pints.

We clambered aboard a horse and carriage which showed us some more city sights including the river, cathedrals and city halls… Remembering back is slightly blurred but it is definitely a must-do. Wrap up warm and ride that horse through Dublin!

On New Year’s Day Dublin Castle was surprisingly closed but we enjoyed the fresh air and wondered around the beautiful grounds and garden. We found a gorgeous pub with a gorgeous barman (Molly fell in love) called the Hairy Lemon too, well worth a visit! We also staggered across the famous Japanese Karaoke Bar which was closed that night so we missed out on that, looked good from the outside! A pot of Irish Stew was also enjoyed and scoffed this day.

Dressing up in neon/fame for our last night on the cobbles we did Portsmouth proud. We screamed across Fitzsimons to the poor guy on the guitar who then thought we were Temple Bar’s first hen night of 2009, that was his biggest mistake as from then on the night was ours. We certainly put on a show. Later, back in the Hairy Lemon all 6 of us did our free vodka shots, chatted up the really old man Tom and squeezed into our favourite barmans tiny BM to wangle a lift to Copperface Jacks. 10 euros to get in and 11 euros for 2 smirnoff ice, we expected no less after 7 euros for our beloved cider. It was less showy than 6 Dame Lane or even Club Five in Fitsimons (5 floors, 5 DJs) but we still had a night to remember! 3 of the girls certainly got their Christmas kisses!

On our final day in Dublin we left our luggage in the hostel which I would prefer to almost call a hotel, and lazily strolled across the city. Dublin On Ice was crammed with kids and loud music which our delicate heads couldn’t handle so we opted for the mini big wheel – Becci was horrified as we spun the pod, we were all nearly sick! We walked past Jameson’s Whisky Distillary and whizz around the courtyard in a barrel on wheels, much to the managers dismay who gave us the daddy is disappointed face. The rest of the afternoon was spent in a beautiful Irish pub drinking yet more cider and dreaming up our next new year’s eve celebrations…. who knows what 2009 will bring.

For Hip and I our next stop is Cologne Carnival, Germany.

Oh and again, I’m still rubbish – facebook me for photos!

P.S

Ryanair – SORT OUT YOUR WEBSITE. If we cannot check in online why should we be mugged off paying checkin fees at the airports. Jeeeeeeez. Get rid of the ridiculous landing music too, the in your face yellow seats are enough to cope with.

6 Girls, 3 Nights, NYE & DUBLIN

3 months after hip and I’s return from Oz the time has come for another adventure… this time the girls are coming.

With semester 1 nearly done we are emerging from the vodka haze in Portsmouth to pack our bags and head over to Ireland. Yes, we are staying in a hostel – The Oliver St. John Gogarty`s Hostel. As poor poor poor students we have no choice but we are reassured that the hostel is OK especially as there is a bar in the building. And the location is spot on.

Temple Bar seems to be the place to be in Dubbers, although many people have warned us of over priced drinks. Seeing as drinking is what we do best, it’s a good job we’ve saved enough Euros by staying in The Oliver. 

A few things in the pipeline so far – a visit to the Guiness Factory, an open top bus ride, a neon themed dress up. If any of you fellow sta travelbuzzers have any hints and tips for us which we’re open to explore with you, let me know! 

For now, the hoodys never got ordered and the plans never confirmed - but one thing is for certain; we’ll be singing Auld Lang Syne at the top of our voices and drinking to 2009 with real Irish style.
 

STA Travelling Photos…

Skydiving onto Mission Beach

 

If you want to see photos of the Australian Adventurers just add me on facebook and take a look, anything in particular that you want to see, just ask!

STA Travelbuzzing – the wrap up

We’ve been back in the UK now for 9 days which means for every day we’ve had back here we’ve had 1 weeks worth of adventuring in Australia. It doesn’t seem real that we’ve been there, done that and locked up the memories in our memory banks. Our 9 week tour has proved that dreams really do come true. Our experiences in Australia which we had everyday are on someone’s ‘To-Do List’ - we lived to tell the tales of what real dreams are made of. People all over the globe have ‘things they’ve always wanted to do’. We’ve gone ahead and done it. And we’ve done it properly.

We’re really proud of ourselves in that with the help of STA Travel we made a plan, had an itinary that worked and we stuck to it. At no point did we backtrack because of a hangover or tiredness and at no point did we mess everything up. There was no tour missed, no bus missed, no party missed and no rock unturned. We explored every avenue we could and we did it our way. The two girls from London have officially backpacked up the East Coast of Australia and honestly had the time of our entire lives.

Now we’re home people keep asking us what the best bit about the trip was – how can we answer that! There were places we loved more than others but the whole experience was so awesome it seems unfair to start mentioning favourites! We would recommend everything to you guys out there who are inspired enough to pack your bags and jump on a plane. Obviously some things we would suggest you avoid… like driving your vehicle into bog, only taking Summer dresses in Winter or even just spending all your time in one place. Some tour companies we would also suggest more than others especially if you want to party and meet like minded people; Groovy Grape, Oz Experience, Koalas etc.

When we arrived at South Molle Island on the Whitsundays our captain said to us, “You have just arrived at the best bar in the world, there are no rules.” IT WAS TRUE. If you are planning to go to the stunning Whitsunday Islands, book to go with Koala’s and book to go on the Pride of Airlie (boat) and book to stay on South Molle Island i.e. not on the boat. And yes, you can book that through STA Travel back here in drizzley England. Koala’s also sort you out with the 4×4 adventure tours to Fraser Island – book this so it’s included in the Whitsunday packagae and save yourself some dollars.

Skydive with ‘Jump the Beach’ and land on Mission beach. This was the best thing I have ever ever done – as you plummet at 157mph and the parachute gently slows you down you really are falling over one of the greatest scenes in the world; the Great Barrier Reef, lush rainforest, tropical islands and golden sands with a few sharks, whales and turtles if you’re lucky!

Go to Ayers Rock and drink champagne watching the sunset. Hike through King’s Canyon. Go to the Domain Chandon vineyards. Climb Sydney Harbour Bridge. Go to a rugby league game in Brisbane. Whale watch in Hervey Bay. Cuddle a koala. Learn to surf. Sleep in the desert under the stars. Sandboard. Zorb (if you’re brave). Fly in a helicopter over the Great Ocean Road. Snorkle on the Great Barrier Reef. Be amazed on Whitehaven Beach. Go to Wilson’s Prom. Do Kangaroo Island. Stay in the Cape Tribulation rainforest. Party on Magnetic Island. Jungle surf. Take a seaplane over Sydney Harbour. Taste it, feel it, smell it and do it. Let your memory banks explode.

You will come back a changed person too. We have. When your breath is taken away, all the luxuries you think you need, all the worries and stresses of home life are suddenly irrelevant. Travelling will put your life into perspective and it will teach you want is important and what really isn’t. It will show you who your friends are, it will make you love people more. We went away city girls, we’ve come home appreciating the countryside, the outback, the desert, the rainforest, the ocean and the islands. We’ve learnt that people can live lives so differently to ours. We’ve met people from all over the world who have also taught us a lot of new things. Our friendship now is stronger than ever too. Open your eyes and experience it all.

So until December you won’t hear much from us. Email us if you have any questions nutley6@hotmail.co.uk because there is nothing more we love than reliving our insane adventure to Australia.

Next stop – 3 nights in Dublin over New Years Eve. 6 girls, one hostel and Temple Bar to play on.

2nd stop – 4 nights in Cologne, Germany where we will be reunited with our great mate Justin and experience the Cologne carnival!!

Next Summer – NEW ZEALAND where we will get our faces known on the Kiwi Experience…

For now.. we’ve rolled straight into Fresher’s Fortnight at Portsmouth Uni. We have a year of hard work and hard play ahead so we can save enough money to start all over again. Wish us luck!

George

Wayoutback Safari and The End…… until next year!

G’day G’day for the last time…
 
This is sadly our last big update for you all as we’re heading home in a day. But still have loads to tell you! We last wrote when we arrived in Alice Springs so I’ll kick start our news from there..
 
We explored Alice ‘town centre’ which is a few streets in the middle of the desert. Here we were faced with our first ‘real’ aborginals and what a real difference between them and the modern Australian community. As we walked through Alice, on the streets and in the ‘parks’ (which are giant rocks with shrubs) there were traditional aboriginals which actually look like our street tramps in Britain. They have homes so we are told but they look and smell like they dont. They were loads of them sitting in what looked like family groups drinking and laying about looking quite menacing.. We have learnt that the aborginals who now hang around the outback towns are in fact alcoholics who now cause trouble. One boy we met way back in Sydney even told us a story about him being chased for ages because they wanted his camera! I have no doubt that not all of the aboriginals out here are a pain in the butt but these guys we saw on this day seemed to be and they certainly fitted in with all the stories we had been told.
 
On this night we decided to splash out and go to an Indigenous Dinner Show in the Red Centre Dreaming. We got picked up and dropped out in the bush where our night under the stars awaited us. We had a champagne reception and were seated on tables (about 30 people altogether), there were kangaroos jumping around the place too. One of the tribe members spoke to us throughout dinner and taught us about the aboriginal culture – their beliefs, their artwork, their songs and dances and the way they survived in the harsh desert environment. The show began and there were 2 quite large men painted traditionally dancing and howling and playing the digeridoo. Our tribe member who was leading the night also led the show and was the chief singer, a baby boy was also on the dirt mound (stage) running about hitting some sticks together. They showed us dances which related mostly to hunting animals and the difference in men and women roles. We were priviledged to see the dances and meet these tribe members as only initiated tribemen are usually about to take part. Every story they told us about how the earth came to be in the form that it is, is truly believed like a religion so we had to almost play along and believe that snakes froze and emu poo froze to make rocks etc. This Dreaming ‘religion’ was totally new to us. Anyway as the show went on the more emotional we got. It really was so good and so surreal being out there with these amazing people (who are completely different to the drunk aboriginal’s in the town of Alice) especially remembering that the night before we were in Cairns hunting for some decent souvenirs. Basically we learnt A LOT and had a great time even though it was a bit chilly because of the storm the night before. Also on this night we got talking to a 75 year old lady who has just started to travel the world (lives in Sydney) – she really opened our eyes up and was great fun too. She fell over a rock and hit her face on the floor which was a bit eventful/sad but she carried on laughing and joking with us and as with all our other new friends, we promised to keep in touch!
 
At 6am the next day we got picked up for the first day of our 2 night 3 day Wayoutback Safari. Our truck looked like something from the army with massive giant wheels to get us through the sand, we clambered aboard and were a bit shocked to find our group of 15 aboard were not our usual rowdy lot! We had a mum and 2 teenage sons and some older Europeans, one young american dude and some people from Hong Kong. First stop was a camel farm which actually just appeared out of the red sandy rocky distance – naturally Claire forced me on a camel and I screamed my head off as it started running much to the delight of the onlookers – showtime, again. Our drive to Ayers Rock was going to take 6 hours and we were figety already on the boiling truck (air con was broken!). We carried on down Lassiter’s Highway and stopped occasionaly at wooden shacks including Curtin Springs cattle station for food and water. It was quite an amazing view. Brilliant blue sky and bright red desert for mile after mile. We even saw huge wedgetail eagles swooping around eating roadkill – the road by the way was tarmac at this point. Soon we hit a sand storm so it was difficult to see out but eventually we reached the Ayers Rock Resort. This was just an area of bush where people were allowed to camp because the base of the rock is too sacred to allow campers there. We had a huge lunch and moved onto Ayers Rock itself.
First we looked around the Aboriginal Cultural Centre and learnt more about the indigenous way of life then we drove onto to start our base walk. Ayers Rock had appeared in the distance some hours before which was pretty amazing as the landscape had been flat but as we approached it now our jaws dropped even further. It was absolutely humongous!! The base walk was 9.4km and it took us 2.5 hrs to walk around in our summer dresses and flipflops. Thank god it was flat and not too rocky. Some areas didnt allow us to take photos because it was too sacred and the aboriginals don’t want anyone touching or climbing the rock. However, the government has managed to secure one tiny area where people can climb it but it was unfortunately shut due to the storm. On the path round we saw a thorny devil which was a pretty amazing very spikey lizard too. Once we dragged ourselves back to the truck we drove up to a sunset view point.
It was then our guide cracked open the champagne and nibbles and there we were watching the stunning sunlight go down on Uluru. Wow what a moment – time stood still. Every ten minutes the rock changed colour and at that moment we really were awestruck.
Once we got back to camp our guide cooked up a big pasta and we sat around the fire drinking our beloved goon and swaping english insults for aussie insults with the young kids on our trip. Then we stuck our sleeping bags into our swags and looked up. My god. The stars were incrediable. The kids showed us the Southern Cross and shooting stars were going over our heads. At that moment it dawned on us, we were in the middle of absolute nowhere, hours and hours from any kind of civilisation, under a blanket of stars with nothing but a fire and a few random people next to us. Sleeping in the desert in the night sky was definitely a highlight of our adventure for both of us.
 
Up at 6am the next morning and quickly walked up to a hilltop nearby still in our pyjamas, to watch the sun rise over Ayers Rock from a distance, it was, in a word, fabulous!! Back down to have breakfast by campfire, packed up our swags and hit the road again to another top National Park called ‘Valley of the Winds’. Many large rocks and walking paths, so we trekked off for a 6km walk. After 3 hours of suffering and lots of bush wees, we recovered by having lunch (at about 11am!) at a picnic site right by the hike. After a few energising sandwiches we drove on past another huge desert rock called Mt. Connor – looks very like Uluru, stopped at a huge dried up saltwater lake – Amadeus, for a lookout, and then arrived at our stop for the night, Kings Creek Cattle Station (not like our first experience at a cattle station!) There was a shop, and a pool!! oh what a relief! we stripped down to our bikinis and got a good last hour in the sun and dipped in the water before driving just a few miles in to literally the middle of nowhere to set up camp. As the sun gradually went down we sat around the campfire and made dinner again, drank some more goon, and low and behold, our guide pulled out a surprise! A dead kangaroo tail – for us to eat!! ahhhhhhhhh! it still was furry at first, she cooked it, and buried it under the campfire sand as though it was in an oven, for a good hour, then made us try some – uuuuuurrrrrrrggggggggggghhhhhhhh, it was foul! but least we can say we’ve tried it! Then we toasted lots of marshmallows over the fire, set up our swags and told ghost stories (about british backpackers mainly – thanks) while we settled under the stars again for another amazing night! WOW!
 
Oh my god, we were woken up the next day at 4.30am!!! what a joke!! we were not impressed, but there was a reason behind it all. the weather was getting so so hot it was ridiculous, even at 8am, so an early start for our next hike meant we missed the crazy heat, and hopefully got most of the park to ourselves. So we had a quick breakfast and packed up, headed straight to Kings Canyon, an amazing place, part of the George Gill Mountain Ranges, had an exhuasting hike up to the top of all the mountain rocks and walked the entire rim walk, over 3 hours again, totally worth every minute even though the two of  us were dying at every step! every corner produced a new view, a new rock  formation, a cliff dropping side, a beautiful garden of plants, a waterhole, it was just stunning. After catching our breath back and slapping on a load more sun cream, we finished around 8.30am! missed all the school kids thank god, and drove back to the cattle station for another quick sunbake and pool dip. Lunch was a massive bbq to top the trip off. Tired as we were, we jumped back in to the truck, and were driven through red sand dunes and dirt track bumpy roads all the way back to Alice Springs!! Dropped back off to our hostel and just practically passed out before having another bbq ourselves for dinner – cooked our own shrimps on the barbie!!! bed early from our early start.
 
So today we woke, and yes, realised this was it. We had a final day to spare in Alice Springs, so we chose to lay by the pool and just relive the memories of the last 9 weeks. What a holiday. We were transported back to the airport and after a quick, sleepy flight, we’re now back safely in Cairns. Our last night - what can we do but rummage around in the souvenir shops buying more crap that we won’t want when we return, and our last meal, a bloody chinese takeaway!!! (George’s request).
And so this is it, we are moping about the hostel not knowing what to do with ourselves, and wondering why we haven’t got to book our next tour, get on our next bus, make our next load of friends, this it it, but blimey what a trip this has been.
I really hope you have all enjoyed reading our update emails, i know some have been so long you’ve needed to take days off to read them, but we truely are writing from our hearts everything we have done and felt, wanting you all to realise how great it was for us and wanting to include you all.
 
If we could recommend anywhere in the world for you all to go – Australia it is. What a place!
 
Hope you are all well, cannot wait to see every one of you, even though we don’t want to come home!!!
 
Lots of love to all, for the last time from Oz,
 
C & G xxx
 
P.S One of our friends got delayed going back to London for 3 whole days so you never know what could happen on the trip back.. Darwin, Singapore, London then Pompey – here we come!

Aussie Outback, The Coast, The Great Barrier Reef, The Rainforest, The City and the Desert‏… Jungle Surfing, Whitsunday Islands too!

Hi!! Over to Claire…..

Hi all, so so so sorry it’s been a while, bet you’ve all been waiting in for our next update with mass anticipation (yeh right!!!!).
 
Anyway, we have literally been so so busy with jam packed adventures once again that we haven’t had time to sit down and write. So i think the last time we did write, it was after Fraser Island, then we moved on from Hervey Bay.  So next morning we were picked up at 7am by the Oz Experience bus once again and joined the Bruce Highway further up the east coast. Stopped in Bundaberg the home of the  famous rum, and then Mackay, filled with sugar canes, then drove inland more into the outback. Early afternoon we arrived at Kroombit Cattle Station, our stop for the night. Really outback cowboy type place, only buildings in miles of land! Had a big bbq lunch, then George and I braved the horseback riding activity! Each got our own horses and trotted off in to the fields, up and down the hills! My horse was called Bob, he was pretty easy going, liked to eat lots of things along the way. George had Rusty (the horse they give all the kids cos he never runs or  does anything bad, and she had been too scared and panicky about the horseriding – just like zorbing, so they gave her the easy one to calm her and shut her up!).  Anyway, off we go, one by one in line following the instructors and George is suddenly shouting ‘Claire Claire’, good old Rusty had run (his first time in about 10 years) off in another direction!!! So funny, but what the hell did she expect me to do eh?!! Anyway, al lwas fine, back on track and our next task was to muster the goats in the field (on our horses) in to a gate / pen. So we all, on our horses, got behind these tens of goats and shouted a tune to make them all move through the fields, it was amazing, we were mustering!!! A couple of the baby kids kept falling behind but we trotted round behind them and got them in to line!! After eventually grouping them all together in this pen and shutting the gate, we rode back to our base.  (George had conquered her fear!) Then we were taught how to throw a rope cowboy style to catch a goat by its head (we only practised on a goats skull though, dont worry!!!) After a rest, the next game was on – branding the goat.
So we’re all outside this round pen, looking in like it was a boxing ring, and we had to get in to teams of 3. The man would release a goat in to the pen. One of us had to chase after the goat, grab its horns and drag it in to the middle, the second person would have to pick it up by two of its feet, turn it upside down andput it on the ground holding it down, and the third person would get the branding stamp and stamp it down on to its leg. Ok, so basically the team who did it in the quickest time would win – so so random i know! A boys team went first and they got the goat straight away, did really well, then the next team did the same, etc,etc, we went in, and the guy released a baby kid into the pen, so i was chasing round this fast little bugger who didnt even have any horns to grabm hence i fell over like an idiot, scraped all my leg and cut myself! everyone laughed of course. so i stopped and demanded to start the time again – with a new FULLY SIZED easier goat! After chasing it around like a lunactic (i couldnt catch it for ages), i finally dragged it over. yet we only came 5th out of 6 teams!!! all fun and games though, so so strange!!! Then for an ‘extreme’ challenge, the guy made us all stand in a big circle holding hands and then gave two people a proper high voltage elctric shock, which went through all of us, then people dropped out so the individual shocks got worse!! hilarious! It was an animal buzzer thing. Back to base, had few games of volleyball and some drinks before dinner – our first ROAST of the holiday, and very nice it was too!! played some more drinking games, and then we were taught how to ‘crack a whip’ loudly! was very difficult but we managed to produce a few sounds despite whipping our own arms painfully along the way!!! Then next was our goes on the mechanical bull! So so funny, no-one could stay on for longer than a few seconds, it was impossible, toughest bull ever. Ended the night quite chilled, some drinking games around a campfire, then off to bed.
 
Up early for our departure, on the road a few hours before stopping at this beautiful picnic type place where we were right at the start of, and looking out over the Great Barrier Reef, our guide made us a big bbq with fresh fish etc too.  Carried on driving over the line we crossed the Tropics of Cancer, in to the proper heat now and stopped and a little town called Sarina where we all had a few games of bowling and a lawn bowls club (all included with our tour bus!!) v.random but good fun in the sun with our bottles of cider. The old men were sitting around laughing at how bad we were! Then eventually we arrived at our next destination – Airlie Beach. Checked in to our hostel ‘Koalas’ nice cabins with pool etc, and then walked in to the town, mainly a strip of food places, shops, clubs and bars!! Had a leisurely stroll and grabbed some dinner, then as usual, we’d all agreed for our tour group to meet later on at a pub in the centre for free drinks and get together etc. More and more drinks, on to another bar, then club and later night banter in the streets just as you’d find in any tacky resort such as Magaluf etc!! Even the police were messing around with us!Very good night though, bed extremely late though and up early next day to check out!!

So we got up, moved our stuff in to our friends room as we had a couple of hours to wait around, in which we got food, packed, wandered around shops and generally just recovered in the sun! The around lunchtime we had to meet for a briefing, there’s where we met our group for the next few days. We grabbed our snorkels and gear and walked down to the beach marina, to board the “pride of airlie’ cattamaran! sounds all very posh and professional, but really its the biggest party boat you can imagine! we set sail out of the harbour and out on the the ocean, wind knocking us a bit, but  sun making it al lthe worth while as we were bathing up on deck! We headed straight to our base for the two nights actually which is this tiny island called South Molle. we moved in to our mini beach huts right literally on the beach nearly in the sea, really lovely. We had a restful afternoon, before going to the little bar – part of our resort, on the corner of the island, for our included big dinner and plenty of drinks. We started off with a couple (as we usually do) which turned in to jugs each etc etc. Then the guides got us involved in drinking games. we were sat on bench tables and the main aim of each game was to be the loudest, shout the most and sing the loudest, no problemo there, we’re two girls from London with 3 years worth of uni experience, noise is natural to us, hence we won everytime!! A boy said we had the loudest voices he’d ever heard – we were so proud.Games involved screaming your national anthem at the top of your voice (there was a mixture of about 10 al lgoing at the same time) and stomping ont he tables jumping from one to the other, there after the night got messy, we took over the bar (the one rule about this tiny bar shack hut is – there are no rules!!, it stays open until we want to leave, we basically pay what we want, and there’s never any bouncers so do what you like whenever you like!!). Poor barman didn’t see what had hit him, we took over, helped ourselves and others to drinks, took over the dj set and ran riot generally, they loved it though! it was one of the best nights we’d all ever had!! Late night again, but up early to watch the lovely sunset over breakfast! Back on our big boat and sailed off around the Whitsunday islands, every one a different size and shape etc, saw plenty of turtles swimming by us, then we arrived at Whitehaven beach, absolute paradise. We jumped off the boat and swam over to this pure white silica sandy beach. Sat around for few hours sunbathing and swimming in the sea, and literally didnt want to leave. Probably one of the most beautiful places on earth and i just did not want to get back on that boat – leave me there forever!! After being dragged back however, we had lunch on the boat then sailed over to a spot called Caveman’s cove where we jumped in to the water and snorkelled around for a while, saw plenty of colourful fish and got some good pics too. Back to the island resort, went for a swim in the main pool, relaxed by the sunbeds with some cocktails preparing ourselves for another night of drama!! Dinner again and the same type of night, crazy loudness and running drinking games, running the bar, was insane but so much fun, made some really really good friends too, then the worst thing that could have happened, happened  -  GEORGE LOST HER CAMERA. OH MY GOD. was the worst feeling in the world, mixed with alcohol and emotions we cried, screamed, accused, scampered through bushes and everything you can imagine, but nothing. The hardest thing about it is there were over 2000 pictures on that camera, of every memory since the start of this holiday, ones that we can never get back to show you all, we don’t even care about the camera, but the pictures are absolutely priceless. George nearly got battered by Croydon girls who didnt like her accusations! Anyway, not to put a downer on things, after a few tears, we realised i’ve pretty much got double of them all anyway, only a few missing, so its not going to ruin our holiday. But.. that night was officially party over when George kicked off- never seen a tantrum like it.
 
Next morning woke up still a bit numb, but carried on as usual. Got back on the boat after breakfast, went to a spot to do some more snorkellling and swam over to this tiny cove beach thing, was so pretty. and finally sailed back to Airlie Beach. We had the rest of the day free so we went with our friends down to the lagoon on the front (as basically there’s not much of a beach. its known to locals as ‘Airlie no beach’). feeling really shattered we had an easy night, grab some pub food in our hostel bar, did some washing and went to bed early!!
 
But up early again, 6am pick for our next Oz experience bus ride, had a cool driver called Forrest (we’d met him in Sydney too so that was cool), drove back on to the Bruce Highway, through loads of towns again, stopping to learn about each of them (but i wont bore you) Got right up north to Townsville and caught a short ferry over to Magnetic Island, unfortuntely we’d missed the full moon party, but we were still up for a good night (as it was my birthday the next day). We got there early afternoon, so had beautiful weather, we lazed by the pool which was on the beach by the sea, and chileld with a few drinks!! Then after freshening up, our group had a big dinenr on the decking and started with the drinking games again!! We sat in big circle by the beach and must have played about 15 different drinking games, going on for hours!! Was hilarious, we were so loud as well, but pretty much everyone in the hostel joined in too so it was fun!! And the hostel resort was the only one for miles. As the clock approached midnight, Happy Birthday played on the dj set (George had requested earlier), and everyone sang to me, as i was gradually being picked up and carried by a few of the boys (led by our tour guide driver), on the way further down to the beach. After being given the bumps, with glee they all threw me in to the ocean, fully clothed!! Was actually pretty warm and fun so they all joined me afterwards! We had a big birthday party in the sea!! was amazing!!! more tequila shots, and feeling the night was due a finish, we stumbled back 10m to our beds!!!Really was such a wicked feeling under the moonlight.
I was woken only a few hours later with George and our friends singing happy birthday at the top of her voice in my ear, and shoving balloons and cards in my bed!!! awww, was lovely really!!! packed up our things and had a traditional ‘hangover cure’ breakfast in which they put in a singing happy birthday pink candle in to my toast!! what a treat!!!! Such a lucky girl ahahahah!!! Then we jumped back on the bus, ferry back over to mainland, happy birthday songs all day long on the bus too mixed with georges gob!! Around lunchtime we arrived at Mission Beach, where we were quickly told to drop our things and get on the next tour bus – for jump the beach!! yes i was doing a skydive on my birthday! how insane! it al lwent so quickly i’d hardly had time to be scared or even think about what i was doing!!Got to the place, shown videos which petrified us, harnessed up and briefed, got a cameraman with us individually at all times, and of course the all important diver. I had Des, the main man, was pretty with it. I kept getting freaked out but he’d hold my man and calm me down!! George had young joker Toby to scare her more.Went up in to a tiny plane, there were 5 of us, plus all a diver each and few camera men. Plane was going up so so high, ears were poppinh, you think you’re nearly there but you’ve only done 5000ft, still another 7000ft to go! was insane! kept screaming as i looked out the window!! was attached so so tightly to my man but still was worried something would go wrong, asking him stupid questions like ‘have you definitely got the parachute then?!’ ‘are you sure it works?’ ‘am i definitely strapped on to you properly?!’ god they must get annoyed – he was like ‘claire, i’ve done this jump over 17,000 times, i think i know what i’m doing!!!’   ok, i was reassured!!! but still, looking out the window oh my god, was just madness. i was first out as the door opened and we’d hit 14,000ft.no, hold on, i was having second thoughts!!! my cameraman just jumped out no worried infront of me and went down like into space. i couldn’t believe it, it was my turn. Des rocked us up to the edge of the plane, dangled our feet out, i didnt even have time to look back, ask him to wait or scream any type of fear as he just counted a quick 1 2 3 and threw us out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After an almighty tumbled in to the air, somersaulting hundreds of times we flew out flat downwards, and then it was, he just said to me ‘look down’, and did and my god, it was out of this world, breathtaking truely. Right over the sea, with the coastline right by us. We were freefalling at 157mph for what seemed like forever, yet not long enough!! Was like i was flying! my cameraman was out infront of us holding our hands and taking lots of snaps!! it was honestly the best feeling in the world. After sometime the parachute automatically dropped and we were tugged back a bit, then going alot slower, practically sitting down in the air. We were heading further out to sea to spot dolphins and turtles!! then we passed george closely in the air waving frantically at each other as i know she’s jsut been through the same experience as me and it was just crazy!! after about 5 minutes we drew closer to the beach and embarked upon and very safe landing down on to Mission Beach, literally outside the door of our hostel pretty much! Absolutely gobsmacked and speechless (not often you get that from us), we caught our breath back and just hugged for ages on the beach!
After thanking and hugging the guys who took us through the whole adventure, we walked back to the hostel and just talked over and over it again and again!!! Later that evening, we treated ourselves to a huge buffet style resort hotel meal and ate and ate until we couldn’t eat anymore!!!
BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!! only problem is, how am i going to top that!!!
 
OK – hi! its George now.. just to add in on the skydive I was in the plane and one second Claire was there and the next she wasnt. That feeling of having her there then knowing she was falling from the plane was heart renching, I stopped panicing for me and started screaming her name in the plane which was still crammed with divers. Thank god it was loud they would have thought what a nutcase. Toby was shouting move onto the edge George – I had been cocky the whole time and for once not being wimpy but  at that moment I froze so he scooched me along the seat to the edge of the plane – the next few minutes were as Claire described and probably some of the best in my entire life. Cant wait to show you the DVD – well emotional!
 
When we woke up in Scotty’s Hostel it was our first day when we had absolutely nothing planned.. and we needed it! We lazed around by the pool, drank vodka, ate sweets and sunbaked with a group of our friends. We did go to the shops and the highlight of the day was seeing a wallaby at the side of the path just sitting there being cute. We’re definitley going to miss seeing the kangaroo’s once we’re back in Pompey!
The next day again we had a ‘holiday morning’ around the poolside and our Oz Experience bus picked us up for the very last time. It was cram packed full which was new to us as we were used to spreading out across 3 seats. We recognised every face on the bus and plenty of memories from further down the coast were being shouted around the party bus!
First stop was a Crocodile Farm! Yes, that’s right – a farm of crocs being bred for their meat and skins! As we walked in a baby croc was being thrown around having photos with everyone. Claire did her usual thing of bullying me into holding it so I am now proud to say we’ve both cuddled a croc! The tour guide led our gobby bus group around the farm which was small areas of concrete with a pond in each one. Every croc had a name, one was even called Andrew! Hi Dad! The guide went in and there was literally just thin chicken wire separating us from the beasts.. the guide would loudly growl their names and smash them on the head with sticks to get their attention so they’d come out of the water. When they did he would dangle a dead chicken in front of them and grrrrrowl to make the agitated and snap about for us! They left the gate open so as you can imagine our whole group was silenced! It was wicked and the crocs were loads bigger than in the Steve Irwin’s zoo. They really were huge! And just to set the seen there were emus and kangaroos wandering around next to us, again we took too many photos and one of the boys even tried to pick up a wallaby which was funny! Our guide said that the crocs often smash out their areas which doesnt surprise us seeing as they let ‘food’ wander around the farm too! Next we came to the dingoes who had puppy litters mixed in with the pack. We had to stroke mum so that she’d let us hold the puppys! By far the cutest animals yet! One even pooed all down Claire but she still clung on and was sad to put the pup back down. Definitley not as scary as the dingoes on Fraser Island!!
We carried in our journey and soon reached the city of Cairns – our final stop on our Oz Experience party bus and the end of our coastal adventure. The bus was all cheering congratulations that we’d survived and made it to Northern Queensland. We were staying in 149 Caravellas which was right on the esplanade overlooking the beach with a pool outside our room. We then got ready to paint the town red – and we certainly did that. After a free dinner in the Woolshed it was another wild night of partying with all 24 of our bus mates – if only London bars let us dance on tables and throw drinks everywhere! We got to sleep at 3am knowing full well that we had to be up and ready for 7.30am, which we did and it was like hell. 
We dragged ourselves up and out to get picked up for our adventure to the rainforest! We headed North to Cape Tribulation and stopped on the River Daintree. The boat took us doen the swamp where we hunted for snakes and more crocodiles which we did see but they were babies compared to the beasts we’d seen on the farm. It started raining and by the next minute we were caught in a tropical rainstorm! 30 minutes later the sun was burning and we found ourselves on a walk throught the stunning breathtaking Daintree Rainforest. It was amazing learning about the trees, swamps, mangroes, vines and root systems – sounds silly but you all have to experience being deep in the forest! By lunch time we got dropped off at our Cape Tribulation Beach Resort where we were staying in lovely wooden cabins in the rainforest but 2 mins from the beach. Out came our bikinis and we sunbaked for the rest of the day. The sea was really warm but I was wimping out because of the stingers (jellyfish) and crocs which were only a river away!
The next morning we got picked up to do our Jungle Surfing! I’d never heard of it before but again it was absolutely brilliant. We got harnesesd up with helmets and climbed up the mountain side to a platform high up in the trees. The guide hooked me up first to the zip wire and he literally said walk off the edge – and there I was screaming my lungs out high up in the tree canopy dangling by a wire. He slipped Claire off the edge and released us so we went flying through the tree tops disturbing the peace. Looking downwards to the forest floor was so scary but it was so much fun. On the last wire they made us dangle by our feet and shot us whizzing through even faster – I screamed louder and hated it but still loved it at the same time! We even saved $80 dollars each because the guide ‘forgot’ to charge us! Result! When we got back to our resort we went in the pool for a while which was beautiful surrounded by trees and animals including a bush turkey walking around! When our tour started up again we stopped at Alexander Look Out to see the whole of Cape Tribulation and the islands on teh Great Barrier Reef. We were told that Steve Irwin was killed directly out to sea in front of us. We got to Mossman Gorge which was a gushing fresh water river with perfectly rounded boulders scattered through it. We jumped straight in and was swimming next to the waterfalls. Then we walked across and jumped all over the Rex Creek swingbridge which is just like the one in I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here! Next stop was Port Douglas where all teh famous stars have huge mansions. We rocked up like drowned rats and hunted out a chip shop while all the gorgeous people were having drinks in sophisticated bars – one day that will be us eating a $700 meal! When we arrived back in Cairns it was nice to be back in a city and not have to worry about giant lizards or snakes, so we got ready for another crazy night on the town! Again another free meal and dancing on the tables. There was even a goldfish racing for 30 mins in the bar which meant we got to scream louder than ever for ‘Lord Windsor’ and ‘Sushi’ to win. Again bed at 2.45am and….
up at 6.45 am. By the way everyone – we have not missed a single bus/trip/outing by sleeping in, we’ve gone along drunk instead! This day for me at least was the day of hell. We walked along the mariner and beach front and to my shock saw people jogging and working out at 7am – could you imagine the British people doing that?! There’s even a big lagoon on teh front in Cairns which was full of screaming kids at 7am too! Anyway, we arrived at our boat the Sea Quest and got set up with our snorkelling gear for a day on the Great Barrier Reef. I have never been so sea sick but it was all worth while when after 2 horrendous hours we could sea a break in the ocean and the marvellous reef. We looked fantastic in our wetsuits and gradually began talking again after a whole morning of moaning and grunting to each other. We jumped straight in the beautiful blue and faced down to a new world of stuning fish and coral. We desparately looked for turtles and white fin sharks and even tried to find Nemo but as everyone else splashed about pointing we were too mesmerised by the clown/parrot fish and coloured coral to spot them! I could go on and on about what we saw but one day just go for yourselves and experience swimming in a tropical fish tank! At one point I did freak a bit thinking there was a jellyfish but one of the crew assured me it wasnt stinger season and it was a parrot fish mucus bubble – yuck! Again once we got back to Cairns we had yet more free food in the pub and hunted around the Night Markets for cheap souviners to clutter the uni house with. On this night we had to say bye to some good friends we’ve made so it was a bit sad but there were plenty of promised meet ups in London or Portsmouth.. and the giant cockroaches flapping about in our room were distracting too!
Today we caught a cab to Cairns airport and had a Hungry Jacks at 10am (fatties) and had a 2 hour flight over the desert to Alice Springs. Now we are here in the real Aussie Outback awaiting to go on tour to Ayres Rock tomorrow… It turns out that yesterday there was a very rare storm here so all the scrawny desert trees are knocked down and its a bit chilly. One other funny thing is, some guys we’ve been on tours with a few times missed their flights out here today- so Mums and Dads – you really should be proud that we haven’t missed a single trip and have done every single thing imaginable out here that there is to do!! 6 days to go and sooooo much more to cram in.
All the dreams we’ve had are coming true and soon sadly we’re coming home to you!! No worries though.. our next big adventure is in the pipeline!!
 
Lots of Love
G & C xx

Fraser Island

Two 4×4s, camping gear, maps, 16 nutters, wild dingos, 300 beers and 6 boxes of goon, 2 nights, 3 whole days and one magnificant island – FRASER ISLAND.
 
At 6am we left Hervey Bay after 3 different meetings with the Koala Adventure guides. They told us how to drive the 4×4, what maps to use, how not to get fined by the island rangers, how to get to the barge, how to set up tents, how to store foods so dingos dont attack, how to keep quiet we dont get fined blaa blaa. They scared the crap out of us, Claire drove out of the pickup sheds with our 6 other group members whilst I was in the front seat panicking about maps, which gear stick to use, did we have enough food, was everyone strapped in etc. I didn’t stop fussing for 3 days.
 
Our jeep was paired with another jeep which had another 8 people in it (one from Folkestone!!) so we decided to have our crazy adventure on the biggest sand island together. As we left the barge the road turned to sand tracks which were the bumpiest roads I’ve ever seen. Massive drop one side and beautiful rainforest hanging all around us. First stop was Lake McKenzie – and WOW!!!!! It was amazing!! White sand, burning sun and the clearest bluest FRESH water ever. Had a lovely swim and the groups got to know each other more. I think it was the most amazing place we’ve been to yet! I was expecting a swampy old lake so to stumble upon this was the best thing ever!
 
Next stop was Lake Birrabeen and then our final stop for the day Lake Boomanjin which was actually brown because of the tea trees all around it. We set up our tents in a big circle and moved the tables into the middle for a big feast and drinking session. It got dark at 6pm so we started early! Yes, me and Claire struggled with our tents and yes we put on the whole help us help us which didnt work because the guys were already quite drunk. We actually camped in a dingo cage too! There were dunnys a good 2 min walk away so we wrapped a sheet around a tree dug a hole and got on with our business there! Luckily we had a lovely chef with us (from Yorkshire, wicked accent!) who helped set up the gas bbqs, however it got dark so quickly we were soon fumbling around ike fools eating raw sausages! As time went on people gradually went to bed… not us, we carried on drinking until way too late with 3 guys who then started to tell us horror stories. I was a nervous WRECK anyway because as you all know I really do not like animals (parrots, lizards, DINGOs, ants, bugs, giant centipedes, you name it we saw/felt/heard it). The stories went on and with a mixture of tiredness, goon (cheap wine) and the horror stories I absolutely freaked out. I was a mess!!! It was ridiculous, I am ridiculous but that is how our night ended – with me being gagged and held down by our new crazy friends and Claire giving me a smack!
 
4 hours later we did our usual trick of getting up in the DARK and trying to pack away everything so we could drive as soon as it was light (this is 5am) - everyone was excellent, silent and helping each other. Off we drove down sandy bumpy as hell tracks for what seemed like forever – we drove out of the rainforest onto the East beach. And WOW it was so worth it. The sun was coming up over big crashing waves and the longest whitest beach ever. The sky was beautiful and for a few minutes we were all gobsmacked. One of the guys drove us down the beach (while we suffered in the back being thrown about) over soft sand which was awful to drive on then wet sand and over creeks. We stopped at 6am and everyone perked up a bit while we ate cheerios out of tin mugs (too lazy to get bowls) watching the sunrise. Best breakfast of our lives on that beach with the sun rising up.
After 2 hours of being completely bruised and thrown about more we arrived at our northern spot – Indian Head. We scrambled over rocks and hiked for ten minutes to the top the view was stunning. I know I’m saying it was amazing but it really was! The rocks stuck out and there was a massive drop each side down onto shark infested waters (no joke, we were not allowed by law into the sea anywhere on the island). We could see miles of fresh beaches and out to sea we could see whales!!!!! We caught some sunrays and stumbled down where it was my turn to attempt driving the 4×4.
 
I say attempted because within 10 seconds I had us stuck in the sand. God knows what I was trying to do, we were told to stick to the wet harder sand unless we really needed to drive on soft, I headed straight into the soft. Everyone pushed the car out and then 2 minutes later after stalling a couple of times, I did it again. This time a 4×4 (which are the only vehicles allowed on the island) full of fishermen all stood smirking. One of them jumped in and blurted out that I was in 2wheel drive not 4wheel drive, at that moment in time I didnt have a clue what he was talking about, I just had a real shakey leg on the clutch and 2 cars of people moaning. Ha!
I drove for half an hour then told Claire to drive.
 
Like I mentioned before there were freshwater creeks running out of the land over the beach into the sea. These created sand banks either side which were fine most of the time because we drove over them at the sea or land end so the river dip was only shallow. The tide was coming in fast so we ony had a short time to get off the beach and we were rushing. On one side of this particular creek the dip was shallow but on the other side there was a massive sand bank to get up. I told Claire to put her foot down so we would make it up the bank. And oh my god – she listened! She went smashing up this bank, water splashed everywhere, loudest bang. I saw the front of the 4×4 go up and up and bang come down as the back went up and came thudding down. People in the back were screaming as the food heavy boxes came crashing down on them, beer everywhere, injured heads and necks. The other group in the other car came running over to check we were all OK. All we wanted to do was get over the bank and boy did we do that! The other car could not believe their eyes at all. Jesus, we went flying practically horizontally.
 
This was our second day and it felt like all we did was drive. Both cars were bickering and it soon became apparent how hard it was to make any decisions in a group of 16 people. We took a vote and instead of setting up camp on a dingo infested beach we drove on another 30mins to a campsite at Central Station. We were starving as we hadnt eaten since our beautiful 6am brekkie. We were tired and hungover. And the drive took us 2 hours. Yes, 2 more starving painful hours. Then when we arrived we found out we could not camp at the lake. War nearly broke out!!! Seriously it was the worst moment ever! 
We drove back on ourselves and with sore bumped bums, sore heads and being absolutely starving we arrived at Central Station campsite. A ranger was by the gate driving through at then told us if we made any noise on the FAMILY campsite “he’d come back and nail us with a $150 dollar EACH fine”. At this point we didnt care, we hauled everything out the trucks and totally pigged out.
Yorkie made a huge bolognese and once again we drank our goon and stuffed our faces, then we flaked out in our tents.
 
Today we got up at sunrise and decided to ignore the instructions set by our guides back in Australia. It was too hard trying to pack up camp in the dark. I took charge of the vehicle and got some courage – I actually drived us pretty well (after getting lost because the group were arguing too much over the route) to Lake Wabby. Now this Lake will disappear within 3 years so it really is amazing that we were there! We walked 35minutes through the rainforest to it and left the 4×4s on the beach. Lovely walk but tiring and hot. On one side of the transparent lake we really tall rainforest trees and on the other were huge mountainous sand dunes!! I felt so small! We jumped in the lake and sunbathed – that moment made all the disgusting camping, headaches and bugs worth while. I climbed to the top of the dune and on the other side it was sand which went on forever and ever, up and down, dune after dune, desert I guess!
Our barge back to mainland Australia was at 2.30pm so we decided to leave around 11.30 to head back across the island. And good job we left early. One of the boys sent us the wrong way for a whole half an hour so I had to do a brilliant 3 point turn in the biggest car ever, on sand, with a big drop at the edge of the track and go all the way back onto the beach to go another way through the forest.
We made it with half an hour to spare so grabbed warm ham made sandwhiches and got our barge back to Hervey Bay. We even saw 2 dingos on the beach digging holes looking for dead animals – they are so wild humans have been eaten and killed so humans cannot make eye contact and have to keep away from them. I never thought wild dingos really existed but now we have learnt they do! And they are dangerous – so be ‘dingo-safe’ like our guides taught us!
 
Fraser Island was like being on shipwrecked (the tv program) and no I do not want to go on that show anymore! It was stunning and a really wicked experience. We both had the times of our lives but the camping and the group work is defo not for me! Digging a hole to wee in whilst having friends with us with weapons to hit dingos if they came is just not my idea of fun. But, I’m so happy we did it, we survived and we had the best time ever ever ever!!
 
Next stop – Whitsunday Islands!

Sydney to Brisbane

So, since Sydney we have been gradually getting up the East coast, passing and stopping in many places along the way, so here is the next load of news.

We went out on our last night in Sydney with a group of blokes who were in our hostel room. Went to a few bars and ended up in a nightclub / bar in Darling Harbour righ on the river front, was wicked. Ended up getting home rather late and banging about being noisy again, and realised in a few hours time we had to be up and out of there.
 
Once again, we rose at 5.30am and the Oz experience bus picked us up at 6am, heading straight to our first stop – Surf Camp. We slept nearly the entire journey (as usual), been more than unsociable with the new group of people we had on the bus. Finally we arrived late afternoon to our ‘Spot X’ surf camp, right on the beach front, and we were staying in little cabins, very sweet. After wandering around the place, and finally perking up enough to get to know our latest travel buddies, we were presented with a big 3 course dinner (all-inclusive), and sat round a massive table with a few other groups there and all the aussie surfer dude instructors.  After dinner, we moved to the campfire and sat round drinking goon (cheap nasty aussie wine) out of a box, playing drinking games til silly o’clock once again – knowing full well we all had to be up v.early the next day for our 7am lesson. Oh well, we’re used to it now! So up we were woken at 6am! Have felt better, but believe me, the waves woke us up later on. Big cooked breakfast on the table for us and then quick rush to get our wetsuits and boards. Our cool instructor Darren led us down to the beach, and we laid our boards down to practise our skills there first before heading in to the sea. Once we were prepared, we strapped our foot to the board and dived in to the rather chopping morning sea (great weather though). Attempt after attempt we were know good, but luckily that was where our instructor came in handy. He would wait for the wave, hold on to the back of our boards while we laid front down, paddled as the wave approached us, then push us forward shouting at us to stand up, then still holding on to us as we surfed with the wave all the way to the beach. We looked the part, totally awesome surfer dudes, however, without the help, i’m afraid we were like new born babies trying to stand! Our lesson went on for a few hours and by the end of it we couldn’t take any more, the waves were getting stronger and our energy was lacking, so it was time to give up and realise a career in surfing wasn’t on the cards. So of we went, showered, bought the dvd (of course), and back on the bus up to our next stop – Byron Bay.
Still with the same group of people (who are wicked luckily!), we checked in to our next place, rather nicer apartment resort right by the beach. We had an apartment to the 8 of us, kitchen area etc, very swish compared to some dumps we’ve been in. We all decided to take a wander down to the beach and have a nose around this small town. Loved it, very holiday typey but not in a bad way, cute littleshops and a beach hotel on the front where we had a couple of drinks. Slow walk back to the apartment, picked up some food to cook back at our place and drank more beer and goon before heading out to a few bars, taking our cards with us and playing more than enough rounds of ring of fire with snakebite (feels just like uni life!)! after being thrown out by the manager for being too loud and drunk, we slowly stumbled back home, to cause more carnage wiith the loud groups next door!!
 
Next day we had booked a trip to Nimbin, Australia’s ‘weed’ capital, a very very funny place, full of hippies and colourful shops etc. We went with a tour company called ‘Jim’s alternative tours’, well that was about right! We had the lpeasure of having Jim take us himself, been doing it for 20 odd years, told us millions of stories. After spending a few hours around the town and now getting sick of sayinig ‘no thank you’ to marujuana cookie sellers, we got back on the bus where Jim took us to an old friend of his’ house – Paul. Paul is a very strange little man, lives on a 88 acre fruit and weed plantation, he’s been stoned for about 50 years, very happy little chappy, and really nice guy. He’s a total hippy! He took us on a brief walk through his land, to his little house by  a pond, then through the fruit trees, givinig us all huge fresh grapefruits and oranges, and also macadamia nuts, was great!! But very strange!! All in al a good day, far too many sleepy people on the bus on the way home!! Back in Byron, us and our room mates were so knackered we got some take away pizzas, rented a couple of dvds and dozed off in our lounge!
 
Next day, up early, George and I had booked zorbing!! Brilliant! We were driven up to a hilltop farm, brought near to the ball, and we were first in. We were told to go in together cos it’d be faster and more fun, well, that it certainly was!! Both strapped in as much as we could be, we were all of a sudden rolling down the hill at very high speed!! I couldn’t stop laughing as all i could hear was George’s screaming, and as we were oppposite each other rollinig over, her face was a picture!! Was so much fun but kept thinking my neck was goinig to break everytime i bumped round on the ground!! Eventually we stoped at the foot of the hill on flat land, and the guy stops us so that i’m hanging down, and George is laying on her back on the ground – picture it. George had a panic attack. Great timing. She was screaming and nearly crying, shouting to the guy ‘get me out of her now, ahhhhhhhhhhhh, get me out of here i’m upside down i’m uppside down’, well hold on a minute, no she’s not. The man was shouting back at her ‘no you’re not upside down, look where you are, you’re mate is dangling above you, she’s upside down, now calm down so i can unstra you and you can get out’. Oh no, she was still screaming like a baby and waving her strapped in arms about and kicking her legs throwing a proper wobbly. Meanwhile i’m having my circulation nearly cut off hanging upside down strapped in very tight!! the man was stroking her arm saying ‘pleasse, be quiet and calm down, we can’t get your friend out untiil you get out, this is dangerous for her to be hanging like that for so long’. I was laughing but still in pain, stretching out to try and slap George to pull herself together!!! Finally, she stopped the panic and i could be realised once she’d got out. Bloody hell what an experience!! After catching our breath, we were dropped back to Byron where we met back up with our friends down at the beach sunbathed for a bit. One of them asked, ’so how was zorbing girls?’, George replies ‘oh i loved it, it was great!’  WHATTTTTTTTTTTTTTT?!?!! I COULDN’T BELIEVE SHE JUST SAID THAT!!! what a joke!! hahaha, anyway, we had lunch, looked around the shops a bit and then our bus picked us up to take us up to Surfers Paradise. Checked in to a lovely resort overlooking the beach/sea. Had a look around the town with our group, a chinese meal and then went out to a casino and club for a few bevvies.
Woke up next day to really beautiful sunshine, and we saw Surfers Paradise in all its glory. Had big breakfast and laid on the beach soaking up the atmosphere. They descrbe this place as ‘If Paris Hilton were a place, she’d be this one’. It is totally high rise buildings next to beautiful white beach, sun, sea, sand, designer shops, exclusive clubs, restaurants, aussie surfer dudes and blonde tanned bikini babes strutting up and down the streets in high heels!! We liked it though, not a great deal to do, but to be there was wicked. So we only had the day to nose around then got picked up again to be transported only a couple of hours further up to Brisbane.
As we approached the city, we came over the Story Bridge and past Kangaroo Point, straight down in to our very central back packers hostel. Anyway, it was evening so the two of us just wandered in to town to get a feel for the place, very lively and happening, loved it. Then stumbled across a mall with a cinema and thought we’d have an easy night so went to see Batman The Dark Knight (finally)  – wickd film, really really good, i recommend it if you haven’t seen it yet, totally not my type of filim but we both loved it!! Back to the hostel late, just got in to bed, and guess what – the fire alarm went off!! The entire hostel were out on the streets and there’s a bar underneath us so millions of drunk people sprawled out on to the streets harrassing the policemen and fire engines!! After some light rain to make it more fun being stood out in our pyjamas, we went back off to bed ready for an adventure tomorrow!
 
Up very early, picked up by crocs connection tours, to be taken to – Australia Zoo, Home of the Crocodile Hunter!!! Our driver Chris was so lovely, he is a friend of the Irwins and actually knew Steve very well. Was quite sad hearing lots of stories, and little did we know, but the day we had chosen to go to the zoo – 4th September – was the 2nd anniversary of his death, spooky or what, we had no idea. They didnt’ do anything special though, the family weren’t in the park though, they were mourning in private. Anyhoo, on the journey there, we were shown a dvd on the life of Steve Irwin and now what his kids do, little Bindi is taking over the empire, she’s amazing, only 9 but so so ambitious and passionate to follow on from her dad and keep his legend alive. We arrived at the zoo and were told to go straight to the ‘Crocoseum’ – how appropriate! Where they do the live animal shows, with elephants, crocs, birds and snakes, its where Steve used to do all his wild croc tricks, you would recognise from tv. Then we walked through the walk of memorial to Steve, so so sad, really, so many nice messages and tributes to him. We saw all the usual, tasmanian devils, elephants, tigers, wombats, dingoes, reptiles, emus, kangaroos, birds etc, patted a koala, and then………… we hugged one for a photo. My god they smell, we were given a male and apparently they have sweat glands which let out this odour to attract the females, well my god, if i ever smelt a male like that i’m run a mile!! anyway, he gripped on to us, and clawed our arms tight!! If you’ve seen our pics on facebook, i’m not actually smiling, i’m grittin my teeth in pain!! No, honestly, was great though! totally worth it, and probably will never do it again! When we got picked up we were given an additional tour round to the massive new 4 million dollar animal hospital, and shown all the land expansions for the future plans for the zoo – orangutans, monkeys on iislands and a boat trip down the river round the zoo with alligators in the water!!! Also were shown the family’s house, located right in the centre of the zoo, its where they spend alot of there time, other than that they own a couple of mansions by the coast!! All in all, was such a good, but very sad day.
Back to Brisbane and we strolled along the river bank, went up on a big ‘London Eye’ type ferris wheel by the water, and had dinner in a lovely restaurant.
 
Woke up the next day and had a bit of a lay in, took a walk around Brisbane, had lunch in a very posh Venice restaurant on the riverside, looking out to the Story Bridge (we’re not your’e average backpackers sometimes!!!) then strolled on back through the city before deciding to make a quick decision to go to the Castlemaine XXXX brewery right in the centre of town. Queensland’s favourite beer, has been for years and is well known for it. So we decided to do the tour, got taught about how the beer is made, what ingredients etc etc and walked around the entire brewery. You end up in the XXXX bar where you are given 4 free pints of the different XXXX beers, whatever ones you want to try. So we did, and as usual, the night got messy…….!
We ended up speaking to some guys who were also drinking in the bar, happened to actually be workers at the brewery, got chatting etc, asked us if we were going to the footy game across the road. We had no idea there wa even a game on, let alone the stadium was right infront of us. Turns out, the bar was full of men who were drinking before heading to the game at half 7. Anyway, as we were sat there with our disgusting stouts (Dad you’d have loved it), a lady walked around saying ‘does anybody want a couple of tickets to the game, free of charge??’. so yes, we piped up and took them! Awesome, we were going to the game, but didnt know who was playing or what game it even was of!! So the blokes we’d met took us and we were sitting with them too, was absolutely hilarious. Massive stadium called Lane Park, Suncorp Stadium, we were watrching the Brisbane Broncos vs. Newcastle. We were told to support the Broncos so out came some more beers and plenty of cheering. Football game here is just basically what a rugby league game is in UK. So the Broncos were winning, and they’re known as the horses, so everytime they score, they let a real horse out to run around the pitch! Its insane. There were cheerleaders in next to nothing luminous pink outfits dancing around the pitch. It was so so much fun, we got proper in to it learning all the slang and team banter, we were getting thrown around by our mates from seat to seat, such a good game too!! After the game we headed back to our hostel, bumped in to a lady holding a blanket close to her chest with a bottle of milk poking out, but it looked too small to be a baby in there – it was the smallest baby kangaroo we’ve ever seen!! It was the family’s! and they’d just taken it to see the game too!!! Crazy!
Back at the hostel we were very merry and decided to carry on the good evening, so we wandered far…… to the bar underneath us for a few more bevvies, which turned in to a raving night, lots of dancing, singing, drinking etc, and finally decided we’d had too much around 2am – probably best as we were travelling the next morning, early!!
 
Same situation as always, rustling up at 6am trying to grab all our stuff to get it together in our state – used to it now, to get on our bus – took us to Hervey Bay. Stopped at Rainbow Beach on the way, cute little village with different shades of sand, then drove through the original home place of ‘Mary Poppins’, finally to set down in Hervey Bay. Had a crazy driver who told us about this bar to go to later on for v.cheap drink and food, so we sorted our things and thought we’d just pop our heads in to socialise with the group – well, guess what, it ended up being a bit more than that!! Our whole group were there, people we’ve met before weeks ago, so we had to! Had the cards out again for games, jugs of snakebites and a drunken walk home nearly petrified our new lovely roommate!!!
 
Up early next day, we had booked a whale watching tour as Hervey Bay is the place to do it, more so than ever this time of year as the humpback whales are all in the migration right off the coast. Was amazing. We got on this big boat, loads of us, drove bout an hour at least out to sea and stopped when we saw a few, was pretty amazing, we thought that was going to be it, but we drove further and we ended up seeing so so many, plus loads of dolphins!! The whales would come so close to the boat and they were absolutely huge!! The additional excellent thing about this boat was that it had a platform at the back which lowered down to the actual sea level so we were practically touching then when they were playing around by us. They love human attention and we were told to wave our arms because they look for that, and call them too. They would wave back, flip over and come right out of the sea. Was one of the most unbelievable sights we’ve ever seen, we were just speechless at how amazing they are and how close we got to them, my god, seriously. After spending a few hours out there in complete ecstasy the boat headed back to shore. We spent the rest of the day having briefings and meeting our new group of friends for the next few days at Fraser Island. We were being taught all about how to handle the 4 wheel drive car and how to stay away from Dingoes etc. Was rather chilled evening and we were so excitede for the next couple of days!! (George next to write)

Sydney in a nutshell

So, here we are, about to leave Sydney! It’s been one hell of an exciting week and we are sad to see the back of this city!
 
First things first, we have had the worst week for sleeping that we’ve ever had. We have a rhino in our room who snores so loudly you can hear it shaking the room through ear plugs. The other night some idiot was being sick keeping us awake and then then night before that we had TWO fire alarms which did actually scare us. I swear there was smoke filling up the staircase and believe it or not we were 7 whole floors up – turns out drunkens were spraying chemical spray about.
 
So over the last few days we’ve been on the monorail and have been strolling around Circular Quay completely taken aback by the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge and an aboriginal man playing the digeridoo on a kangaroo’s skin chair!! The Rocks and Darling Harbour are pretty cool too. Sydney is really buzzy and busy and the city workers are all out in force! We took an open top bus from George St and saw all the sights including Woolloomooloo Bay and the Star City casino complex! It was our very first warm day with the sun shining so cheeers to that!
 
We couldn’t resist having a tour of the Opera House and it just so happened there was a dance show happening that night so there were hundreads of girls running about in tutus, quite entertaining! The Opera House was v.impressive so we had a drink in the bar outside as it filled up for ‘after-work’ drinks with plenty of designer divas, we definitley stuck out in our hoodys and boots! Brilliant atmosphere.
 
On Monday it was one of our favourite days yet.. WE CLIMBED THE SYDNEY HARBOUR BRIDGE!!! It felt like forever preparing for the climb with safety talks and loads of equipment being attached to us. We were given really attractive grey boiler suits to wear and got harnessed on to the bridge. So exciting, I was talking jibberish. It was absolute perfect weather and with only 4 short steep staircases then a huge slope to walk up over the arch of the bridge we reached the top in one piece, and it was SO worth the struggle! We could see for miles over the harbour and even to the Blue Mountains. Our guide took loads of pictures which we got sucked into buying, so I’m sure you will see them once we get back. Afterwards we had a pizza at The Australian Hotel in the Rocks – I wasnt quite brave enough to try the crocodile or emu though!
We had a nap and somehow managed to look half decent with our limited clothes to experience some exquisite dining. We went up to the Sydney Tower revolcing Restaurant which spins around giving you sky night light views over the whole city! It was amazing, it really was. And the cocktails were nice and strong too!
 
Yesterday we caught a bus to Coogee Beach and HIKED for an hour and a half through Gordons Bay, lots of other cliff side town and villages, to Bondi Beach!! It was meant to take 2 hrs but I was so hungry I practically made Claire (who is quite ill at the mo) run. Massive huge surf waves, white beaches, surfer dudes and warm sun as well as another pizza (eventually) – it was so worth the walk/hike. Bondi Beach is fabulous – everything you can imagine and more.
That evening we went on the Sydney Showboat – 3 course meal, unlimited alcohol and a razzle dazzle show all whilst watching the harbour float past. Glass of champagne in hand, opera house one side, harbour bridge the other, city skyline in the night distance, 5 star meal on the table and your best friend infront of you, Could life get any better than this??! Time of our lives. We even visited some bars in Darling Harbour afterwards.
 
We got picked up with a banging headache (made worse by lack of sleep as the monster was growling all night in our room) to go to the Blue Mountains!! The bus was full of old grandads so if you’re booking tours out here go for the student companies! Nevertheless, again we had an amazing day. The mountains are beautiful and we went to some amazing look outs. I took great pleasure hanging off the rock edges while Claire screamed get back get back all day. We went on the steepest train in the world straight down the cliff edge (which was so scary, videos to follow) then caught a cablelift back up the mountain – breathtaking. The rainforest was cool too but no it was not hot like you might think. We saw the 3 sisters and heard their story too which was interesting. On the way back we headed through the Sydney Olympic Park and caught glimpses of all the amazing stadiums.
 
Yesterday we got a Sydney SeaPlane! Was wicked sailing through water, then all of a sudden we flew over Bondi Beach and the amazing harbour and we could even see Manly beach in the distance. It was just us and our pilot - our very own seaplane! Last night we needed to take it easy so we decided a trip to the city theatre was in tow - to see Billy Elliot – cried like babies the whole way through – was a brilliant show.
 
Today we kind of said our goodbyes to Sydney and walked for hours soaking up the atmosphere. With just under 2 weeks here we’ve done everything possible. Even treked up one of the Pylons on Harbour Bridge just so we could see the view for a final time. Had a smooch around Star City, went shopping at Harbourside and are now getting ready for our final night of city lights and free drinks!
 
Sad to be leaving, but prepared ready for the next place – byron bay and brisbane – ox experience here we come!
 

 

p.s. stay in Base hostel or Wake Up – both are brilliant but Base is more central!!!! West End backpackers is disgusting BUT they give you 15 free drinks vouchers – yes 15!!!!!!!