Hey Everyone
Long time no Blog! Guess i must have been having way to much fun to bother writing it all down. Well, I'm sending e-mails when I can and, with the help of my trusty diary, I'm keeping note of everywhere we go and everything we do.
Anyhoo, at this very moment I am in Sydney. We successfully navigated our way from Cairns across to the Red Centre, down to Adelaide and East through Melbourne and Canberra to finally reach our destination. And, until about an hour ago it'd been raining non-stop for two days - woo hoo!
Cairns was fab! We went on a brill two-day trip up to Cape Tribulation and got very drunk with a Dutch guy, Kiwi Guy, Canadian Guy and a German girl - good times! The funniest thing was that Dutch, Germany and Canada all had a snorkelling trip the following morning and, needless to say, they were suffering! The big, strong, manly Canadian had to use a float to keep from going under as, in his words, "it hurt to breathe" he he! The Daintree Rainforest, which was the reason for going to Cape Trib (not the booze) was amazing! It is estimated as being 70 million years old but, some believe it's over 120 million years old - how astounding is that? There are so many different types of trees and plants and the energy throughout the forest is intense! You really feel as though you've stepped back in time and are treading where no one else has ever been (apart from the conveniently carved paths). Mossman Gorge was particularly beautiful, as was the beach. Lovely place. Ness enjoyed it too although she also felt somewhat worse for wear after our drinkies! On our arrival at Jungle Village (our hostel) we promptly discovered a giant black spider hanging above our door. Now, Ness isn't too keen on spiders and she decided she wasn't going to sleep in her bed (from where she could still see the spider through the window - he he) until she'd had it confirmed that it wasn't deadly! Needless to say it wasn't. Turned out to be a Golden Orb Spider and apparently quite beautiful although, we didn't quite see it.
A few days later it was time to pick up our rental car and head for the outback!!! Eddie (our car) is a dark blue, Ford Falcon Staitonwagon (estate to you and me) and he's about 10 years old, bless him. Apart from a few hick-ups, like the cutting up of my credit card, we had no trouble collecting Eddie and getting on our way. First stop was the supermarket to buy some food. We camped the first night in a small place called Karri. It wasn't too far from Cairns as we wanted to test everything before we went too far from the rental place. No troubles at all.
We stopped in various small towns in the Outback and were increasingly surprised by how not boring the driving was. The towns were VERY small. Usually only consisting of one or two stores (always a bottle shop) and what seemed to be just a few homes. Completely by surprise we bumped into some old Smut Hunting buddies in a random Road House who'd started working there just five days before and invited us to stay the night. The offer of a real bed and air-con was too good to resist! We had a lovely night chatting with them about the good old days and having a few beers. Bless us!
And so, we finally reached the Red Centre. Alice Springs was a pleasant surprise. I had, for some reason, expected another small town with not much going on but, in fact, if it wasn't so isolated it wouldn't be a bad place to live. The people were friendly and the surrounding areas were beautiful! We visited the Royal Flying Doctors and the School of Air (a school which teaches children in remote areas in the outback originally via radio but now by internet) and a Desert Park which were all brill! But, the best was yet to come - Uluru!
From the ver first day it was talked about I always said I wouldn't climb Ayers Rock as I'd been told the local Aboriginal people considered it disrespectful but, once we rounded the corner and I slowed Eddie so Ness could try and get a picture, all I could think about was how I wanted to stand on top of it! For some reason I saw it as the biggest challenge so far and one that, if I let pass, I'd always regret. So, I started to think that maybe I would give it a go! When we got there I saw that there were loads of people, young, old, male, female, and loads of different nationalities attempting the climb. As wrong as it may be, I decided that I wanted to join them. And so, I stepped up...and up...and up! It's pretty steep for the majority of the climb and, when the chain that you can hold onto for the first part ends and, you have only your own balance and judgement of the wind to keep you from tumbling down to the bottom (and believe me when I say when you start to tumble, there's no stopping until you hit the floor). It really is tough, at least I found it tough and you have to make sure you stop as much as you can in order to catch your breath and have some much-needed water. But, once you reach the top, once you see that monument at the peak and you realise that yes, you have done it, it feels as though you've conquered Everest!!! Obviously, Everest would be much harder but, you know what I mean. The sense of achievement is overwhelming. I soaked in as much of the view as I could before I made the obligatory call home to tell my mum and dad!
The climb down was almost as challenging as the climb up as you have to hold your body at such an unnatural angle in order not to fall but, as with the ascent, we did it!!! WOO HOO!!!
While at the Ayers Rock Camping Ground we also went for a walk around the Olgas which are basically a load of little Uluru's although they're more rounded and there's about 30 of them. Still very impressive stuff!
At this point we had noticed a little problem with one of the back doors of the car in that, it didn't lock. Considering our whole lives were in that car this was a bit of a bummer. We contacted our rental company and they sent us to a mechanic in our next stop - Coober Pedy. This is an old mining town where a lot of them actually live underground. I'm not kidding, they have proper homes down there but, as the car wasn't locking we had to camp above ground. It was sooo windy! We honestly thought we might take off at any moment but, luckily we didn't.
Adelaide was a pretty place but not a whole lot going on and we were getting anxious to see Melbourne as we'd heard such good things about it. The drive through South Australia and Victoria was beautiful. Such a stark difference from the red desert of the outback to be suddenly surrounded be green! It was like we'd entered another country.
Melbourne was really good but, didn't quite live up to our expectations. The nightlife was good but, everything was so spread out that we found it difficult finding pubs and clubs that we liked. Everywhere else seemed to have a strip somewhere or a certain area where you can go out but Melbourne was hit and miss - for us anyway. There are, however, hunndreds of restaurants with every single type of food you can imagine! We had a few nice meals out. One thing about Mlebourne is you're right next door to the Great Ocean Road - possibly my most favourite place in the world. So amazing! It's even more breath-taking than I could have ever hoped. Such an atmospheric, magic place. Loved it!!!
What made it even better was that, after a week or so in Melbourne our good friend Mel arrived and the three of us jumped in Eddie and scooted off down the Great Ocean Road. Got some fab pics and stayed in a lovely little hostel aptly name, The Thirteenth Apostle. On our way thre we stopped and saw some gorgoues wild koalas just sitting up in the tress - brill!
After all that excitement and a few days in Canberra (the majority of which were spent trying to sort out our flights - we'd decided not to go to Fiji because of the troubles and wanted Hawaii instead, $200 later, we had it). Anyhoo, after all that we were back in Sydney. As a backpacker, it's always strange going back to a place you're been before. Especially as we felt as though we really knew Sydney having been there for aout six weeks back in March/April. It was nice though. We stayed in a new hostel and had some really lovely days. We also met back up with Melly and her cousin, Amanda, and went to see Kylie in concert. Well, I must say I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't actually realise she could actually sing and she really can. Bless her!
On my last day in the Land of Oz I climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge at sunset. It was spectacular to watch the sun go down for the last time on country that had given me so much from such an iconic position. It really did bring tears to my eyes - ahhhh!
I've loved my time here. I have met some beautiful people who I hope to be i contact with for many years to come! Whether they like it or not. I have achieved so much and (here comes the cliche) grown so much that I really feel like it has been the life-changing experience I was hoping for!
33 °C
