Darwin - Nov '08

Darwin was just simply gorgeous... despite people saying I wouldn't like the heat and humidity of Darwin, I really did think it was lovely! It was hot (around 35+ degrees daily) and very humid - BUT it just felt like you were on holiday... Especially with the mediterranean feel along the street cafe's n bars (outside seating, lighting).

The hostel (Banyan View) was pretty ok - I had air con and fan - it was about 5 mins from the hubbub of the of the town - had a pool, spa and overlooked the rainforest... I was definitely impressed (altho it was a bit on the pricey side!).

Botanical Gardens, Poser...!

I arrived in Darwin off of the Ghan and spent about 5 days there before returning to Adelaide via the Ghan (48 hour journey!). And, I fitted in AS MUCH AS I possibly could!! Starting with a tour of the city... visiting the Museum that housed the exhibition about Cyclone Tracy disaster of 1976 and Sweetheart, the crocodile (apt name eh?!). Also visited the Botanical Gardens and the first church of Darwin (1897). It's a beautiful city.

Kakadu National Park...

Day trip wise, I went to Kakadu, Litchfield and Katherine Gorge... Kakadu is an extremely large national park which has amazing views, aboriginal rock art, and yellow river - where we done a cruise to watch the animals n wildlife. The best part of this was watching 2 crocodiles fight for dominance. It happened only 5m from the flimsy boat we had - was a pretty spectacular fight!!

Holding a Crocodile... I was the only girl to do so... was chuffed with myself!!!

Litchfield...

Next was a trip to Litchfield which was for crocodile feeding, holding a baby crocodile (altho it was still about 1m long!), seeing n swimming in some falls n blowholes (despite 'risk' of crocodiles about!!) and learning about termite mounds! Finally ending with champagne n prawns to watch the sun setting over Darwin! Was a brilliant (but long) day!

Katherine Gorge...

I done this as an optional trip from the Ghan as we were nearing Darwin - it was basically a gorge that I took a slow cruise up. The gorge was beautiful but unfortunately it rained as we were cruising and everyone got soaked... hence there was no trekking up the gorge that day for me (in flip flops!)... Still, it was a gorgeous sight. Glad it was only a 2-3 hour trip though as I think I would of got bored of trekking after spending 24 hours on the train to get there!! Lol.

An Aboriginal Poem about 'The Lost Generation'...

A Town Called Alice... Nov '08

One of the highlights of November was my week's trip to Alice Springs and undertaking The Rock Tour! So I'd come up on the Ghan from Adelaide to Alice, which took about 24 hours - and the first thing I did, as anyone would do I guess lol, is went on a Quad Biking adventure (I hadn't even checked into the hostel!!). I booked it from the train... and had an absolutely amazing first 3 hours in Alice!!!

There's not much to do in Alice Springs itself... And the town is a lil on the shabby side so you really do have to be safety conscious. But i did do a few day tours to Palm Valley and the Finke 'River' (altho it was dry!), the Alice Springs 'School of the Air' and 'Flying Doctor Service' - which were both amazing - Anzac Hill and The Reptile Centre. The biggest highlight of my trip was THE ROCK TOUR!!!

So, for 3 days and 2 nights I went off on tour visiting Uluru (Ayres Rock), Kata Tjuda (The Olgas) and Kings Canyon. HOW AMAZING WAS THAT TRIP!!! Wow. First stop was Uluru where we trekked around the base which was 9.4km's to go completely round!... There was about 6 people (out of 20) that choose to hike UP Uluru although you're asked not too as it's a sacred sight... I myself, choose to respect the request and just walk around the base... not that I could of hiked the 65 degree angles of Uluru!! We also got to watch Uluru (from a distance) change colour during sunset, and again the next morning for sunrise... (drinking wine of course!). That was after sleeping out (well, for a few hours at least between drinking, bonfiring, and setting the swags up!) in swags under the stars... What an experience!!!

Next stop was Kata Tjuda and another trek through that... the distance wasn't so much the problem as there being NO BLOODY PATHS!! I think it was only about 6km's in total, but it was actual rock climbing and trying to ensure that your foot didn't slip - even slightly - so that you'd end up at the bottom of the canyon head first... Me being only in a pair of CROCS, decided after about 1.5km's to turn back rather than risk my life any further lol...!! Still, was an 'experience'!!!

The last rock 'to tour' was Kings Canyon... Pictured below is the first part of the hike, called aptly 'Heart Attack Hill'... No need to second guess why it's called that!! Lol... It is a monster to climb!!

And Oz, being Oz, yep - no safety precautions in place - if u wanna rock climb in Crocs, that's your choice lol... Anyway, as you can tell - I made it up and back without any injuries lol... And it was SO worth the mini heart attack everyone had with climbing it... the views were stunning... we walked the 6km's around the top of Kings Canyon - including a downward n upward path to go and see 'The Garden of Eden' - a beautiful but freezing pool of water that's meant to give you health benefits.

Three other main highlights of the tour was eating Kangeroo Tail... a delicacy it seems! We had it in place of a cake for someone's birthday... It was cooked on the open bonfire and everyone - without exception - had to take a bite! It was actually very nice... despite my scary face!!! Lol. And, while I was in Alice Springs - amidst the storms - the Todd River actually flowed for the first time in 7 years... Was an amazing site and all the locals were dancing and bathing in it!! So, I though I'd take a picture to commemorate the event!! Lastly, was the end of tour PARTY! We went to Bojangles in Alice Springs (the only club!) - and drank, and drank, and drank... Was a brills night :)

Adelaide - Nov 08

I enjoyed being in Adelaide but it's not a city I could live it... It's relatively central and places can be reached easily, but it looked a bit in need of a 'facelift' in places! I stayed just outside Adelaide in a place called Glenelg which was gorgeous... was about 20 minutes on the tram :) The hostel - Glenelg Beach - was one of the friendliest hostels I've ever stayed in... and was in SUCH a prime position - 30 second walk to get to the precinct which had the tram stop, restaurants, cafe's n some shops... and literally 70m from the beach... was brills! I'd definitely go back, given the opportunity!!

I done 2 tours - 1 to the Barossa Valley (wine!) and 1 to Kangeroo Island... on the way to Barossa we visited the worlds LARGEST ROCKING HORSE - which you could climb if you wanted too, altho I chose not too!! Instead I opted for the Cafe Latte's in the coffee shop :) lol...

16687km's to London, 16586 to Paris... and NOT FAR ENOUGH from Bangkok!!

Barossa Valley...

The trip to Barossa Valley was fantastic - a very drunken affair unfortunately due to the bus having a 'young' group :) We first visited Jacobs Creek vineyards and visitor centre - which was fab, coz it's one of the brands that I LOVE... although it wasn't the best wine I tasted over the day, surprisingly!! After tasting about 8 wines there it was off to 2 other wineries... Richmond Grove and Bethany Wines (which had by far THE BEST wines). I met some great people and sampled some stunning wines before the tour ended and we all went drinking in Adelaide to continue the party atmosphere.

Leave me here... pleeeease!!!!

Kangeroo Island...

Kangeroo Island WAS GORGEOUS... but I got completely n utterly soaked due to an 'unusual' storm (seems to be happening a lot to me lately!). There's only about 4000 residents on the whole island and it's just sooo peaceful n serene and beautiful. First stop was Seal Bay to see seals in their natural habitat... couldn't get too close incase they attacked... but got as close as i could!

Next stop was the 'Remarkable Rocks' which we could scale, walk over n generally have no regard for safety lol... in the pouring rain too anyone could of easily slipped (the UK would of shut the attraction down I'm sure!). But it was a magnificant sight!!

Next we had a bird of prey show given by the late Steve Irwin's, cousin... which was pretty spectacular but the photo's are on facebook if you wanna have a lil look!!

Throughout the day we went to lots of seal sanctury's... really the island should be called Seal Island, not Kangeroo Island!! It was a good trip tho - I didn't get a pic, but Kangeroo Island is the only place in the world where the trees grow their trunks underground!... Was a fantastic sight - but it was pouring with rain n the glare from the coach window meant I couldn't photograph it!! And I did do ALL of these walking treks in the pics to see the seals... alot of peeps didn't on the bus coz 'its raining' lol... but i did :) What's a drop or bucket of water eh?!! Might of got wet, but did see some amazing sights!!!

Perth, WA - Nov 08

I LOVED perth!!! It's a gorgeously stunning modern city... it's very isolated being the only 'city' on the other side of Oz, but it's lovely, well planned and well structured!! I stayed in a hostel called 'The Witches Hat' in Northbridge - see pic... it definitely had character!! I was only in Perth for 4 days (before my return journey on 'cattle class'!) - but did manage to do a city tour, see the town centre, go to Rottnest Island and do a wine cruise up the Swan River :). Photo to the left is the Shrine of Rememberance - and I spent a nearly a whole day here watching the Red Bull Air Race on the lake below... was a spectacular view :)

The Bell Tower in Perth

Rottnest Island

Rottnest Island is a gorgeous island off the coast of Perth which houses the famous Quokka's (rodent like animal that Captain Cook thought were big rats when the island was discovered - the island used to be called Rattnest Island, but it was changed to Rottnest to aid tourism lol!!). There's only about 150 people that live on the island - and no transportation is allowed (only the 2 tour coaches, ambulance etc!). Otherwise, people have to use bicycles! There's only 1 school on the island and from the age of 14 (i think) the child either has to commute to Perth or attends boarding school there. People apply to live on the island IF they're in a 'required' profession, i.e. the policeman, teachers (3), postman or anyone in the tourist industry (there's 2 hotels and a hostel, plus various restaurants etc!). If you are required to work past 4pm (the last ferry) u can apply to move to the island (in writing!) - but it's impossible for just 'anyone' to purchase a house on the island as they're not building anymore... tis 1 place that has NO rich peoples holiday homes!!

There's not that much to do on the island - we had a tour and went to some v.windy spots lol... the pic to the left, there's no land between that point and Africa... where i'll be in January! It was extremely windy but very picturesque. Other than the tour, I had lunch and then spent a few hours on the beach soaking my still v.poorly toes!!! On, the only bad point is THE FLIES... my god, there's soooo many of them!!

Swan River Wine Cruise

Another highlight of my trip was the wine cruise... lol. I was the youngest on the trip, by far... as can be seen by the pics of me and my new drinking buddies above!! As soon as we stepped on the boat at 9.30am, the crew were pouring us wine (yup, my kinda trip!!) - by 10.30am we were cheese tasting too. We stopped at 3 wineries along the way, and yes i bought a few bottles of Port - god knows why, since i then had to lug it around for a few months til i managed to drink it lol... but it was a brills cruise and day out!

When we arrived back to Perth at around 5pm, most of the group decided to continue the sesh (yup the oldies!) and we went into the only pub on the quay... the name of which i found amusing... it'd certainly do well on takings on the Island!! Lol. Good drunken day was had by all!! The oldies I was sitting with - 1 set were Scottish living in Lincoln, and the other set were from Winchester living in Scotland - they were all doctors/nurses - AND they actually knew people in common... how random!!!