| 26th Boxing day- Started early with a quick call to Mum (sorry about the line!) but them made some sarnies and headed to the MCG to watch the cricket. The place is a huge arena and with a missing stand, you get a view of Melbourne thru the stands. We sat there for about 70mins b4 the game started but it was rather busy. The game started and the sun came out - what a hot day. The cricket wasn't anything good (but I am not a big fun at all!) but you go for the atmosphere of all the Brits there (about 15,000) all singing. The guys I went with all wore melons on their heads (tradtional??) and there were so many comments/fotos thru out the day. In fact they managed to get fotos for several local and UK papers and were mentioned on the local news, they are big celebraties at the boxing day thing, did you see any fotos ?? Following day Andy drove me and a couple mates to the Yarra valley to check out a wildlife sanctuary (where I saw my first Platypus's) and also wine tasting. The Yarra valley is world renowed for its wines... Sat 28th - Checked into a hostel in town and then did some shopping. Went to the Melbourne gaol. We saw Ned Kelly's outfit (big bucket!) and learnt a bit about the criminals here... I went to see Lord of the Rings 2 (great movie, different to the book though!) Off down the Gt Ocean Rd in the morning, then arriving in Adelaide for NY's eve, its gonna be wild there:) I won't be on email for ages now, so don't worry as my next civlised stop will be Alice on the 11/1 approx. Melbourne is a nice place, more of a lived in place. The trams are ace and free but their isn't that many tourist things to see here. Dave was staying in a trendy area with nice food and cafes, so that was nice to see another side of the city...plus it was ace to have Dave around as he knew the city and let me crash on his delightful sofa (ta Dave!) and took to the cricket! I left Melbourne on the 29th (with 7 others, everyone was going to Sydney/Melbourne for NY) and we headed down the Gt Ocean Rd. Spectacular scenery awaited us, it is defintily one of the best drives around. Although way too many tourists... THere was a nice mixture of people on the bus; 2 from Thailand, 2 from Sweden and Holland and one from Switz. International bus! Stayed over nite at some beach place at Warrambool. Next day we drove into the Grampians and did some hiking there. Awesome places to see and had a nice meal as it was a grp dinner so we all got stuck in. The following day was NY's eve, so after checking out some caves we were all quite eager to get into town a rainy and cold Adelaide. Adelaide is the village of the dammed. We started out in the hostel bar until 11ish when we headed out into the rain to watch the town celebrate. The 4 fireworks were shocking, the Blues Bros band was positively disgraceful and it was chilly. ALthough, the late nite tattoo parlours on the main street were v busy?? I left there after 13 hrs and got the bus, feeling worse for wear, on New Years day at 6.30AM!! Cos I crossed from Victoria to South Aus in the same day the clocks went back 30mins so I had 24.5 hrs for my NY eve... One of the guys on the bus (Matt), we played pool together the previous nite. There were only 7 of us crazy enough to leave on that day. 2 Dutch, Austrian, English, Japan and Canadain... We left and drove into the Flinders ranges. Stopped at Parachilna (pop 5) where there is only a few houses and one bar. Had some ferel food there( camel, Emu and Roo!) and then chatted as the sun set and the bar warmed up. The next day we headed to Wilpena pound ( a hug mountain range) and we climbed one peak - hard work in the heat but some awesome views. We then stayed over nite at Rawnsley Park sheep station. No one else there...bizarre how quiet it was. The following day we drove to Coober Pedy - what a screwed up place, it looks like the moon and a rubbish tip plus its so hot here. Did a wee city tour, saw how the opal is mined there (90% of the worlds opals come from there) and stayed in a hostel built into the rock, in effect a cave where the temps are cool. Weird place, and why anybody wants to live there is beyond me. Mad max and pitch black have been filmed there... Up early and drove to Uluru for sunset. Went on a wee 60min base walk so that our guide could explain the signifiance of the site and of certain caves/areas. Sunset was enjoyed over some champagne and nibbles. The rock went lovely colors which should hopefully appear on my fotos... Slept outside on a swag...really nice with a warm temp and millions of stars in the sky... Up really early at 4.30 and headed to the rock. The ranger was there and said that he may not let us climb as it was too windy at the top. He let us go though, and 10 of us headed up. It was so hard and I stopped regulary. it got even harder at the top where there were sheer rock faces which we had to scramble up and over into gullies. You can only see 1/3 of the walk from the base, there is loads more at the top. I was seventh up there and the views were incredible, unfortunately we missed sunrise but the colours around were all brill. The top is cratered and full of these steep gullies. These aboriginal elders must have been fit to climb up there... Climbed up Kaja Tjuta or the Olgas after which were pretty amazing. But at this stage my legs were like jelly... Back to the hostel and swimming for lunch and then rested. Drove to Kings canyon in the afternnon. Climbed up Kings canyon and checked out the garden of eden (waterhole) and the nice rock formations. Left there and back to campsite for another swim and lunch. Drove for 5 hrs to Alice... Arrived in last nite (6th) and had our farewell dinner and many beers. I stumbled to bed after chatting/dancing and drinking all nite... What a nite. I am staying at Melanka's here and its a huge hostel with over 200 rooms... The 6 day tour was really good, the guide knew his stuff and we had some fun. THis travelling malarky is fun so far, although I hear the 80% humidity in Darwin could make it tough up there!! I am here till Thurs when I head off to Katherine then the Kimberly on Sat. Matt and the 2 dutchies are also on the tour! So we took off and drove north and checked out the Devil's marbles - they were kinda cool. WE just drove all day and arrived in Tennant Creek. However, on Thurs its the Aborignal pay day so they close all the bars and off licenses, so in effect, its a dry town. Thankfully, the cattle station we stayed at had a bar...it was an interesting nite as we chatted to the owner and heard his ideas on the world. He made Hitler sound like a liberal! Left there and drove to Katherine where we bought some booze and checked into our campsite in the middle of nowhere. BBQ dinner and loads of wine and champange. Interesting evening, esp as the drinking games came out. I think I slept in the right tent but was up early with all the animals at 7ish... I jumped off the bus and hung around till I caught my bus which took me to Kunururra in WA. At the border there is a quarantine checkpoint and a 1.5hr time switch. WHen I arrived there, the sweat started to drip off me, it was hot there! Went for a swim with the rest of the hostel (Kununura Backpackers) to the ord river. Back to hostel to watch a movie (Evil things) in the heat. THe next day I woke at 5am and caught the 6am flight to the Bungle Bungles. They are a spectacular mountian range with beehive formations and colours that were only discovered in 1984 (its the size of the grand Canyon!). WE flew over Lake Argyle, the Argyle Diamond mine (produces 33% of the worlds diamonds) and then onto the range. The shapes and gorges where amazing. Pretty good overall! Back to hostel to sit in the pool for the day as the heat was bad. Imagine 40c with 70-80% humidity, welcome to my world! The following day (Monday 13th) was similiar but I did go for a bush walk to the hidden valley and check out the local rocks and plants. I met some elderly Irish lady at the pool and I started to chat to her - she had booked for Kakadu but didn't want to go, so she offered the ticket to me, free of charge. I offered her money, but she declined - so I have a trip leaving this Friday called Safari in Style...wow! It is now Monday am here and I am back from the disease ridden Kakadu national park with so many bites... My first day here I spent wondering around, checking out this 'thriving' metropolis. Bumped into the Dutchies and had a wee chat with them. Didn't do much then but sort stuff out that I was going to take with me to Kakadu (torch and 100% deet!) The following day I did some touristy stuff here, checked out the old buildings and WW2 offices and then bought some Aboriginal art for sending home. There aren't really any old buildings here as a cyclone and Jap bombing wiped out most of the city. Although one of the only buildings that remained was the Victoria Pub. I went there to see it and utilise my free meal. I left at 1am, fully researced up! I met Matt there and had a chat to him as he was off to Brisbane the next day. Met my tour and we started to head towards Kakadu. We went for a bushwalk in the morning, in the heat and humidity thru some really thick swampy jungles. We were all covered in leaches and mozzie bites. The mozzies were licking the deet! The leaches are horrible swines! Jumped on a boat and crusied down the Mary River - saw loads of interesting birds, eagles, geese and other large chickens. We saw a croc sunning itself under a tree and I got the most amazing picture of it - we were so lucky to see one. ALthough, the river is full of crocs and sometimes they jump into the boat!! That nite we had an Aboriginal nite with some local dudes who were painted up. We all had a sing song and dance to some great local tunes and we all had a go at the diji playing. The lightning in the background created a strobe lighting effect as it was almost every 8 seconds... Kakadu is No 1 for lightning storms in the world... Back to campsite for some food, beer and anti-bite stuff! |