The long journey home

Well, this will be my last post from Australia. I'm all packed and ready to go so just got a final farewell lunch and then I'm off. It's with mixed feelings really. I'm really sad to be leaving because I've had the best time of my life here but am also looking forward to going home now and seeing family and friends and obviously doing a whole load of washing. Hopefully will sleep a bit more on the planes back than I did out here and am fairly shocked that everything still fits in my backpack!

So a HUGE HUGE thanks to Adey & Lara, Lou & Matt, Hughesie, Pommie & Frank, Mary and Denise for the beds, food & drink, chill out time and lots of fun!

In the (slightly amended) words of Arnie : "I'll (definitely) be back"

Emergency tanning

Said my final farewells to Cairns this morning in, surprisingly, the rain!! Was up in Cairns for 2 weeks this time and spent half in the centre at a hostel and then half with Lou & Matt. So have had mixed bag of going out partying and just chilling out. The hostel in Cairns (YHA Cairns Central) was brilliant - had a pool, jacuzzi, nice big kitchen and good folks. Again, here we didn't really do much just baked in the day by the pool, then went out in the evening. Afraid not too adventurous here either going to P J O'Briens and then the Woolshed every night. Woolshed rocks as you can dance on the tables which is funny and if you're feeling brave (or is that drunk!) you can swing on the beams too which was all god fun. Oh, went to the Mad Cow on the first night but that was a weird place so remembered to steer clear from that one again!
Said bye to Debs on the Wednesday as she went back to Brisbane when the rest of us (me, Hughesie, Denise & Bertie) went up to Cape Tribulation for the day. Gotta say that I honestly wasn't that impressed with it. We did a rainforest trek which was pretty disappointing. The only other sign of life there was 2 people pushing some kind of boardwalk cleaning machines around the place - not the kind of noise I expected to hear in the rainforest. Anyway it's another tick on the list - maybe if we'd ventured further we might have seen some good things but hey ho - back to Cairns we went. Was hard work driving back as it absolutely bucketed it down and was on some really really narrow windy roads before getting the ferry at Daintree so was definitely ready to go out when we got back. Had a really good night (it was Valentine's after all - I expect all my cards are waiting for me at home, right ;-) and had Paul and Pricey come round to our place for drinks before we went out for a big one!
Sunday saw Hughesie fly off to New Zealand which was all very emotional (he'll like to hear that !) - having spent the best part of 6 weeks travelling together was weird not hearing him cracking jokes anymore! Then Denise went off on Monday (again very sad - my crazy Scottish goon-drinking buddy leaving me!!) and I went back to Lou's. Just chilled out a lot here and watched a lot of TV as has been raining so much and Lou's been working really hard.

Finally went out to the reef with Matt yesterday (again Lou had to work) and had such a brilliant time. Definitely picked the best day to go as was sunshine all day and pleased to say got some colour back from lying out on the top deck all day! We went to 3 locations on Opal Reef and I just did snorkelling - was going to be flying the next day so couldn't dive (well, that's the excuse I was using not really because I'm a wuss and scared of seeing something big and hungry down there!). However the snorkelling was fab, saw a huge big friendly fish nicknamed Marvin by the crew who Matt got me to feed with some beef, a huge turtle, some Nemos, parrot fish and loads of other ones that I have no idea what they're called. Most people got to see some sharks but I didn't and was really gutted actually. Matt & Scotty went out to try and find some but visibility wasn't that brilliant and they weren't showing up. The boat was brilliant - all staff really fun and knowledgeable, food really good (loved the anzac slices at the end) so would highly recommend it to anyone heading that way - Calypso. I've got millions of photos from there that Pete the photograher took and will upload them when I can (grr - nowhere lets me use CD here!) to prove that I was actually at the Great Barrier Reef!!

Have now come back to Melbourne for the weekend to see Denise before heading back to Sydney as it's about half the price to get to Sydney this way (including hostel prices) rather than going direct from Cairns. It's sunny again here (yay!) but just so brown everywhere as had forgotten the drought's still on down here compared to so much greenery and colours up in Cairns.

I'M NOT READY TO COME HOME YET ;-(

Missing in action

One Sony digital camera lost/stolen. Last seen in the Woolshed in Cairns. Please post a comment if you've got it. No reward (remember I don't have a job) just some sincere thanks.

Update....

Guess who's back?
Yes, I am still alive - is just quite hassly updating blog from internet cafes so I haven't done. But I'm trying to avoid going out tonite so thought I'd update it a little bit! So here's a fairly brief update of what I've been up to since I last wrote anything.

Hunter Valley with Adey & Lara.
Had a great time driving around tasting all the different wines, finding our favourites and then taking them to a restaurant or back to our cabin for long lazy evening. Saw my first big spider too!

Melbourne
Back from Hunter Valley and straight on a plane to Melbourne to meet up with Hughesie who I'd met a couple of times in Winchcombe a few years ago. Stayed with his friend's family and had a great time there just chilling out. Went to the MCG to watch Australia v England in a one-dayer. Obviously we lost the game (although amazing to think now that we actually beat them in the finals of it last weekend!) but was great to go watch. Hired a car and travelled down the Great Ocean Road for the weekend. Was glorious sunshine on the Saturday but cloudy and miserable on Sunday when we went down to see the 12 Apostles which are some famous sea stacks in the sea (although more like 9 apostles really as they keep on falling into the sea). Got back and I went to stay in a hostel on my own to just get used to it and had a great time. Was a fab hostel - huge kitchen, really friendly people and wasn't full of drunken teenagers like I was expecting.
Such a relaxed place - we were staying in Brunswick which has some really cool and funky little bars and restaurants but then the South Bank is a bit smarter with more wine bar type places. The centre was great just to hang out in - little lanes filled with coffee shops and bars and little boutique places - just turn up with a book and I could sit there for hours just people watching! People so friendly there too - LOVED Melbourne basically - could very easily see myself living there!!

Stayed at : Greenhouse Backpackers

Brisbane
Flew to Brisbane on the 17th to go as Mike had a family party to go to on the Friday so we decided to get there a couple of days before and go round the city. Hostel which was OK - bar underneath it but not loud in the evenings. Wandered round the botanical gardens, had lunch, went out for dinner, went to see his family for his cousin's 50th and stayed with Auntie Mary for a few days chilling out. Went to a basketball game which the Brisbane Bullets won! Brisbane was OK but that's kinda about it - maybe needed to spend some more time there to see properly. Hired a car for 3 weeks to go proper travelling and get up to Cairns!

Stayed at : TinBillys

Maroochydore
First stop on the East Coast tour was campsite for 2 nights where we stayed with Mike's cousins friend Kath and her kids, the lovely Shelly, Alex and little Lockie. Totally relaxed there - scorching weather, tent right next to the beach, watched kitesurfing for hours - just great! Played lots of cards and baked on the beach!



Noosa
The celebrity playground - very rich people here! Shame the hostel we stayed in was shocking - had to pay to use everything - crockery, sheets, the lot, filthy and tiny kitchen. The only plus was the bar which had a band on the first night we were there which were pretty good and got us all up boogying away. Met the lovely Deborah, Denise and Bertie there who we've since been travelling with pretty much most of the way. Stayed 3 nights there and had a great time although think I had a bit of sunstroke after spending 6 hours on the beach after our first night there - doh!

Stayed at : Koalas

Hervey Bay/Fraser Island
Straight up here on the Saturday with the aim to get to Fraser Island. Recommended a YHA place by some friends of Deborah so we stayed there and it was a great place - huge communal area with tv, bar, pool, hammocks. Went to Fraser Island (world's biggest sand island) on a guided tour which was amazing - such a beautiful place - freshwater lakes, 75 mile beaches and Alex the tour guide was fab too - "no worries, no dramas, too easy" were the catchphrases! Stayed back in Hervey Bay for a couple of days for a rest before heading on.

Stayed at : YHA

Town 1770
Basically it started raining as soon as we left Hervey Bay. 1770 is a really lovely place but when it rains, there's bugger all to do really so we just chilled out at the hostel which was brilliant. Some guy came round and gave everyone free face masks (obviously trying to sell it but it wasted some time)

Stayed at : Cool Bananas

Rockhampton
Horrible place. Famous for the best steak in Australia which was very good but that's about it. Really rough, hostel rubbish. couldn't wait to leave. can't think of anything good to write about it all. Rained the whole time.

Stayed at : YHA

Mackay
Poured with rain. Hostel fairly crap too - no drinking allowed on site so after being there for an hour just went to the pub. I'd had an alcohol free week after the sunstroke but this place just drove me to it. Met up with Leon and the lovely Russ who we'd met in Noosa too and all just got drunk basically. Nothing much more to say about the place either - slightly better than Rocky but not much.

Stayed at : YHA

Airlie Beach / Whitsunday Islands
Still raining ;-( There's a reason why they call it the wet season up in this part of the world. Also cyclone season and a couple of biggies were out at sea. Great as this is the place to go sailing round the Whitsunday Islands! Great place - full of a lot of the same people from our travels already - stayed in hostel with Denise again and some other great characters. Had a couple of days chill out there and then went on the boat. This has been by far the best thing I've done since being out here. Out on a proper racing yacht called the Southern Cross for 3 days and 2 nights in winds just under 35 knots (they're not allowed to go in over that) with 14 passengers, a skipper and a host/deckhand. It didn't stop raining so spent the whole time in the same clothers and a rainmac as nothing would get dry as it didn't stop! But the wind made the sailing even better. Great bunch of people on the boat too - luckily we all just laughed about it and just drank beers and boxes of wine in the evening. Fab fab fab. Not the picture postcard you expect but a great experience anyway.

Stayed at : Backpackers by the Bay

Cairns
Decided to skip Townsville, Magnetic Island and Mission Beach and just head straight up to Cairns. Took Denise aswell as Debs in the back and should've been about a 6 hour journey. But there was a horrific fatal accident on the highway which shut it for 4 hours so we were completely stuck on the tarmac as no other roads we could go on. Was really really horrible and turned out 4 people killed which made me a bit nervous driving on esp as it was dark by now and was getting tired. But anyhow made it to Cairns about 10 and me and Denise just went straight out to hit the bars - great great times up here so far! There's loads of folks we've met who are up here so is good fun catching up with everyone and of course seeing Lou & Matt again. Will be up here for a while I think!!

Stayed at : YHA Esplanade and YHA Cairns Central

Will write more detailed stuff and put up some photos when got a bit more time.

WOW!!

Have just come back from doing the Harbour Bridge Climb that I got as my leaving present from E3. It was just AMAZING! Honestly, I'm really not good at heights and even though I knew it was gonna be fab I was just pretty scared about the whole thing. Spoke to one of Adey & Lara's friends on NYE who did it and he told me the worst bit was crossing over from one arch to the other which didn't make me feel any easier. But he couldn't have been more wrong in my opinion - the worst bit was the beginning. I was doing it on my own and everyone else was in 3's or 4's so I sandwiched myself between 2 couples from Fernback, Oz and a family from the US. Luckily for me the guy behind me was as scared as I was and we kept just wittering on to one another in the hope that we'd forget that we actually suspended in mid air with just a harness holding us on to the bridge! I actually got to the point where my feet wouldn't actually move cos I was so scared but I just looked ahead and carried on as there's no turning back (well actually there is as the last guy in our group decided he couldn't do it and had to go back - pah!) .

When we actually got onto the arch of the bridge itself, after climbing up 4 sets of ladders, it was all just absolutely fine and I felt great. Suddenly being able to look out around the whole of Sydney was just fantastic and we were soooooo lucky that we'd had the most perfectly clear day (and I know that cos I spent the day at the beach !) as you could see EVERYTHING - the Blue Mountains were to the left, the opera house, Bondi and Manly were to the right, the CBD behind and Luna Park ahead.

It seemed to go really quickly and I almost felt as if I could run and jump at this point I felt so relaxed! All the way up you stop every now and then for either some photos to be taken or just some general info from the guides. You're not allowed to take anything up with you - I even had to take out my hairgrips - in case it falls down onto the traffic below but they take loads and loads of photos so that's not a problem.

After about 3/4 hour I guess we got to the top and it was timed superbly with the actual sunset so we turned round to watch that which was pretty spectacular. Then had to walk across to the other side, which if you remember me saying, was meant to be pretty scary again but I was so high on adrenalin that I really didn't care at all - just loved every second of it! Across on the other side it was more of watching the city come to life with all its lights. The coathanger light was still up from new years eve which was cool too and cos that's on they don't have the normal bridge lights on which meant it was darker than normal so we had to put on our little headlamps! Felt like I should've been singing a song from my Welsh roots and been going down a mine ha ha (sorry mum !!) There's groups going up and down all the time, one right behind one another and as we watched another group just getting to the top on the side we'd just climbed up we suddenly realised that the couple at the end of the group were getting cheered by everyone in their group and were having a great big hug and kiss so realised there was a little proposal going on there which was quite cute (although very cunning of the guy I guess - no way she could say no up there!)

Going down the bridge was really great too as it was getting really dark and if you looked back to where we'd come down from you could see the massive full moon in the background as it was so clear. The final bit on the really narrow bits directly above the water wasn't too bad this time round and even though I felt quite relieved to be on firm ground again I loved every minute of that whole climb and would recommend it to anyone!!!

Thanks E3 xxxxxxxxx

Next steps

So I'm sat here resting my ankle that Adey kindly strapped up for me before I do the Harbour Bridge Climb this week



I'm looking out to a very sunny Sydney and thinking that I'll head down to the beach (poor Adey & Lara both now back at work!) .

Also thinking about the next part of my trip as can't believe I've already been here for a month and only got 2 left to go now - boooooooooooo :-( Thinking about heading down to Melbourne as I know a couple of folks there or maybe just drive back up north again. Too many options, too little time to waste thinking about it. P'raps will just go to the pub with my trusted Rough Guide and play Russian Roulette with my options !

Happy New Year

Hope you had a good one - I had an AMAZING time watching the fireworks in Sydney. I've never really been fussed about new years eve as always feel torn about who to spend it with and it just ends up being a bit of anticlimax although always a great party ;-) But being in the sunshine with then the most awesome firework display was something else. The day started off fairly relaxed as we'd been out the night before with some other friends from uni who are over here (George, Rachel & Bex) for a meal at a place called Malaya (was also Rachel's birthday) which was really nice but a fairly civilised affair as everyone gearing up for the next night. Had a bit of a barby for lunch and then cracked open the bubbly before getting ready - always a bad idea getting ready after a couple of glasses as makes me even more indecisive on what to wear! Weather forecast was for clouds and rain (typical) so wasn't really sure how it would actually be cos recently the forecasts say rain but then it's really sunny and hot - don't get it. So we got a cab down to Circular Quay and then found our way to the entrance of the event we were going to only to actually have to queue up for about 3/4 hour while they check tickets, bags etc. Pain in the arse really as our do was only for 1000 people so thought it might have had its own exclusive entrance but what do I know - I just don't like queuing.

We were in the Royal Botanical Gardens at a do called "Midnight at the Oasis" where we'd paid about $230 and for that we got a free drink when we got in (beer or bubbly - after queueing for so long the long cold beer was a much needed option!) , tables and chairs for the whole thing (again, I like to know I can sit down at some point in the evening - guess it's an age thing!) and then a meal. The meal was done buffet style where you went up at alloted times to collect your starter, main and dessert/cheese which was all fairly well organised and didn't have to wait much. Although the quantity of stuff you got was less the later you went up as me, Adey & Lara found out even though the beef we had was gorgeous!

Anyway I can feel myself rambling so will crack on ...
Once the light started fading a little bit a big red question marked appeared on the bridge in the middle which I'd heard on the news was meant to represent the making of new years resolution but I think now that it's actually just meant to keep you guessing about what the fireworks are meant to be like when they eventually go off.

The family fireworks went off at 9 after a big countdown by channel ten presenters on speakers that were right behind us. They were sooooooooo good I was fairly choked up actually as have never seen fireworks that good - and these were only the starting ones!

So then we decided we were far too civilised so far so made a more concerted effort to start getting in the swing of things. Bottles of wine were only $20 (about £12) which was really good as we thought we'd get stung for it as there was nowhere else to get booze from. The music was really good too so we just boogied around the table and then again the midnight fireworks seemed to come around really quickly. There's 3 main sets which go off in : Circular Quay(on and around the bridge) and now I can't remember where the others one are - will check and find out. They're all synchronised to be the same so that no matter where you are you'll see something and then the bridge has the main ones on. They're set to music too which was pretty cool - opened up with Diamonds are Forever as there was a big diamond theme as it was the 75th anniversary and then Diamonds and Pearls - you get the drift? But they did also have the Superman theme in the earlier ones which was quite funny.

I've also now realised that I am RUBBISH at taking photos which is why there's not many here! I have no idea about what the right setting is to use for in the night and when I turn the flash off and put it into night mode they're just awful as I can't hold the camera still enough!! So I just resorted to taking video clips instead which actually turned out ok. Will try and upload those somewhere too.

Some good pics can be seen on some other sites that I just found:

Panoramic Views

My videos :

(Oh sorry for any horrible shouting/singing by me - don'tcha just hate the sound of your own voice)

Early in the day

Family Fireworks - Superman theme music

Midnight Fireworks opening - Diamonds are Forever theme

Midnight Fireworks - CBD Buildings

Midnight Fireworks - BRILLIANT!!

In fact there's quite a few so just go and look at them all!

So all in all a really great night even though I did fall over (wasn't too drunk at that point) and bugger up my ankle. Although when I'd actually had more to drink I don't think I noticed too much - only realised the next day how bad it felt - doh!

So am now thinking that 2007 is going to be a good year - yay!

Truthfully speaking now, 2006 was my least ever favourite year. To be honest I'm pretty glad it's over, although don't get me wrong, there have been some very very good times too - especially when I actually decided to jump on that big plane and run very quickly away from it all! Being away really has made me think a lot and really not trying to sound too overdramatic it's made me realise even more that I've got fantastic friends and family who've looked out for me when I've had the bad times. I know that I've sometimes been selfish, wrapped up in my own rubbish and generally not thought about the consequences of my own stupid actions and probably not shown those people who really care about me as much appreciation, courtesy and support as I should have done. But I'm not going to dwell on the bad Helen and mistakes I've made (and hopefully learnt from) - I think that the smiley, silly, giggly and sometimes just plain daft Helen (that I know is my preferred Gemini twin!) made a few appearances too and it's that one that's taking me into 2007 and beyond !! Amen.

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