A Town Called Alice: Darwin and Alice Springs

So much drama happened in Darwin. This girl called Helen, who I'd met in Adelaide came to Darwin for a holiday so she stayed in the same room as me in the hostel. Helen arrived at about 3am and went straight to bed in the only empty bed. The next night security and reception burst into our room in the middle of the night demanding everyones names. Basically reception had buggered up and booked 5 people into a 4 bed dorm. They made one girl get up and move to another room because she'd been put in the wrong room, it was so harsh. It was handled so badly. The extra girl who had come back to the hostel after a night out, to find she didnt have a bed started shouting and blaming Helen for 'stealing' her bed. It was ridiculous. The next day we made a complaint and moved rooms. After we moved rooms, Judi from my Kakadu trip, had hired a car and drove Helen and I to Kakadu. We were going to have a day out to watch the sunset at Yellow Waters.
Along the way, we stopped off at a crocodile jump cruise. It was only $35 and it was so good! We went on a little boat with 10 other people, cruising down the Adelaide River. The boat driver, drove over to some crocodiles and hung a stick out with some meat on the end. The crocodiles jumped out the water to get the meat and some of the crocs were huge!! Some were up to 5 metres long!!! It was so much fun!!

After all that excitement, we carried on with our drive to Yellow Waters. The sunset was beautiful.

On the way home, we had loads of drama. Helen was driving and something hit the side window and the back of the car and shattered it. We spent the whole journey trying to work out what it could've been. The most likely explantion would suggest it was a stone, but I wasn't convinced cos it was on the side of the car. Other theories were that it was a bird of prey, my theory was that someone had targeted the car lol. It seemed obserd but it was like someone had thrown something at the window. I was worried because Helen was the only one in the car that hadn't been welcomed by the Aboriginal people, and she happened to be the one driving. The Aboriginals believe in spirits, and there is a book at Uluru full off apology letters where people had taken a stone or something from Uluru and then all this bad stuff had happened to them afterwards. So I was convinced that this had happened because Helen hadn't been welcomed lol. Anyway, Helen showed the picture of the shattered window to her Aunt and Uncle and straight away they said that it was a gun shot...

I guess we'll never know, all im gonna say is that Im glad it didn't go all the way through the glass because I was sitting in the back!

Then to top it all off, we hit a wallaby after that (yep, Helen was driving lol). The wallaby had cracked the bumper and left a nice tuft of fur in the crack. So we pulled over at the next roadhouse to inspect all the damage and push the window out. No surprise, we had to pay the full excess on the car, which was only about $100 each, luckily.

Other than all that drama, Darwin was good, we went to the night market, which was awesome. We watched the sunset at the beach, listened to some epic didgeridooing and browsed all the stalls, I saw that beardy Brad, hitch hiker guy again too lol, so random!

There was a day that Helen went to Litchfield on a tour, so Emma and I job hunted and sunbathed. We took part in a water volleyball tournament at our hostel, which we lost, but we were given free food vouchers and discount drink wristbands. So Helen joined us at HP, for the free food and drinks when she got back from her trip.

At HP, we took part in a crab racing competion. Our first crab was called 'I came to Darwin and got crabs'. This crab was shit, so we took part again and called our crab 'Crab Sticks'. Our crab was in the lead, then just as it was about to cross the finish line it changed direction! We then took part in a raffle, and my ticket got called, so I had to stand on the stage with a group of other people and take part in a scavenger hunt. I had to find a straw, a left shoe, a bra, a condom and an empty glass. I got down to the final 2, it was me against this other guy. The final challenge was to find someone to make out with. I lost lol. The bar was full of women for a start. Anyway, it turned out to be a really fun night.

We bumped into that beardy Brad guy again in HP, we got talking and I said how Emma and I were trying to get to Alice Springs asap becuase we'd found a job. Brad told us that he was heading down to Alice the next day to do a vehicle transfer, and asked if Emma and I wanted to join him and his friend Kate. It was perfect timing, I felt awful for leaving Helen but we couldn't say no to a free lift!

So we got up and ready the next day to meet Brad and Kate at 10am. We managed to get some of our money back from the hostel, which was good too!
The road trip was good fun, Emma and I just slept most of the way in the back of the car. When we pulled up to the campsite for the night, Emma and I hid in the back of the car so that we wouldn't have to pay. I got bitten by mozzies all over my face that night, I looked like I had chicken pox lol.

So after 2 days of driving, we arrived back in Alice Springs. We text Shane and Juno to let them know, and then Shane replied telling us to come over and that he'd found us both a job! So we got ready and went to his. Shane told us that we could become hosties for Adventure Tours and that we would start training on Sunday (today was Friday). It was insane! We originally came to Alice Springs because we got offered jobs as waitresses at one of the restaurants, but now we were working for Adventure tours as cooks! We went to a place called Annie's for dinner and drinks, we met loads of other people who work for Adventure Tours, everyone is really cool. Brad and Kate met us there for dinner too. After Annie's, we went to the Rock Bar, then to Monties, then to the Casino. It was a late night, but so much fun!

Emma and I were staying at Toddy's backpackers, so we spent the whole day sunbathing by the pool. Jimmy and Matt, two guys that work there, came over to us with a 10ft python around their neck. They told us to come and join them, where they were having drinks and snacks with some other guests. So we did, they kept trying to give us beer but we wouldnt take it. We had a battle with lightsabers and played with the snake. Jimmy and Matt were getting annoyed cos we weren't drinking, saying we were making it really hard for them to get us drunk lol. It was a funny afternoon.

Emma and I had our training with Gen on Sunday, we were on tour for 4 days to Uluru, Kings Canyon etc. with Benny as the tour guide. We all got on so well, we could not stop laughing, it was really bad lol *just chuck it in bru!* When we came back from tour, we met everyone out at Annie's. It was so much fun! We all got lemon meringue. It was an epic night!

Since then, both Emma and I have had one more training session on seperate tours. Emma has gone off for her first solo, and I have mine on Saturday!!! Im so excited/nervous! Hopefully it'll be ok, I'll keep you all posted!

Crocodile Dundee: Alice Springs to Darwin

Day 1:
Our tour guide Juno, who Emma and I had met the other night, picked everyone up outside Haven hostel at 5.20am!!! Our first stop was at the Adventure Tours office to check in. Shane came and banged on the window to say goodbye to me and Emma :) Scared the crap out of me though cos it was still dark outside! Then Juno drove us all to the Tropic of Capricorn, we stopped for a few pics and then headed off to Barrow Creek Pub. This pub was awesome, the walls were covered in souveneirs and merchandise from all over the world that visitors had left for the guy who works there. This guy was a legend, he knew everything about all his souveneirs, he showed me the new oyster card, which had a picture of Prince William and Kate on it. Crazy!! As if he'd seen it before I did! So, I left him and english stamp as a souveneir.
We then looked at Barrow Creek Telegraph Station, which was just next door. I fell in love with the building that were here, it looked like a really old farm house with a courtyard in the middle. I want it!

We drove for ages, stopping off at various roadhouses along the way. One was called Wycliffe Well, which is the UFO capital in Australia. It was so funny, the whole place was alien themed, the walls were covered in UFO sightings in the area, newspaper articles etc. It was pretty cool.

Eventually we got to the Devils Marbles. It was really fun, we had a climb and took some funny pictures, it was so much fun. It was so hot as well, so we spent a bit of time chilling in the shade. Afterwards, Juno drove us to look at a tree that had been planted by explorer John McDouall Stuart, who was the first guy to explore central Australia. There wasn't much left of the tree, it was kinda just a big stump with a big 'S' carved in it. Juno was pretty funny, building up the anticipation for the tree in a sarcastic way. Anyway, after all that excitement, we drove to our campsite near Tennant Creek. There were actual beds inside the tents, it was sweet as! We didnt do much in the evening, just washed a bit of bush telly (the fire).

Day 2:

I only just got up in time and all that was left was the crappy cereal, Juno packed up the brekkie just after I got some food. This young french couple came in and Juno told them that they were too late and to get up earlier next time if they want breakfast. It was so funny, they just stood there cos they thought he was joking. Anyway, our first stop for the day was at Daly Waters. It was lunch time by the time we got there, so we had a little bbq. Daly Waters was so cool, it was to smallest town ever, one pub, a little souvenier stand, a rundown tennis court, a police station and a telegraph station and a few houses. Thats it. Emma and I made a mock tour video of the town, we walked around the whole place in about 5 minutes. It's such a quirkey little place, there was a wall inside the pub which was covered in number plates, a tree covered in flip-flops, and the inside of the pub was lined with underwear, and other items of clothing. It looked cool though!

After this we drove to the Pink Panther Pub, which as you can imagine was pink panther themed. This pub had a mini free zoo, we saw crocodiles and exotic birds, I was even able to hold a snake!
We then drove to Mataranka. Emma and I had been rotating the front seat of the bus throughout the journey and I was infont for this bot of the trip, it was soooo hot! I thought I was gonna die! Luckily, we went swimming in the thermal pool at Mataranka. It was amazing! It was a natural pool in the middle of the national park, the water was really warm, I could've stayed here all day. Afterwards, we went for a swim at Bitter Springs, which looked like a swamp. It was really nice, we had to be careful of freshwater crocodiles, watersnakes and fish in the water though. It was ok though, I only came across algi. When I swam to the end, Emma and Juno were throwing algi at me and I got it in my eye :( lol.

We then drove to Katherine, we got a few things from the supermarket like marshmallows and chocolate. The security men at the supermarket we legends, Emma and I were having a bit of a laugh with them. I really needed a pee too, so Emma and I found this outdoor toilet that plays music while you pee. It was so funny. Juno had also left me with the keys to bus, so Emma and I were messing about pretending to be the driver until everyone came back.

We stayed at a different campsite tonight, in a place called Banka Banka. We were told to keep an eye out for cane toads, the poisonous ones, and buffalos. I didnt see any though. We all just chilled by the fire, eating marshmallows and comparing drinking games.
Emma tricked me at dinner time by telling me that we were eating buffalo, I was not impressed lol. Turns out it was just beef, but you can never be too sure! Especially seeing as we ate buffalo in Quorn on the last trip!

Today was probably one of the best days ever!

Day 3:
We got up nice and early and went to Katherine Gorge, where we went canoeing. I had a little rash above my eye when I woke up, which was irritating me all day - I reckon it was from the algi that Emma and Juno through at me lol. Anyway, Emma and I shared a canoe, it was really fun. We were racing against the Sydney boys, who were on out trip. We were told to look out for crocodiles, we didnt see any though, just crocodile traps. When we canoed to the end of the gorge, we climbed out and went for a swim in another rock pool. Fish kept nibbling me so I had to get out. We then canoed back up stream to where we started. I got absolutely soaked though for some reason.
After Katherine Gorge, we drove to Edith Falls, which was amazing! We climbed to upper waters and swam in this gorgeous rock pool with a waterfall. Emma, Amy (this american girl on our trip) and I climbed up the rocks and sat under the waterfall. It was amazing. There was a random well in the rocks that you could climb into and swim down about 2 metres, where there was a tunnel that lead back into the rock pool. It was so cool, I didnt do it though cos the water was stinging my eye rash lol.

Afterwards, we headed to Darwin, stopping off at the Adelaide River Pub on the way, which had the Buffalo from Crocodile Dundee in it.
When we got to Darwin, I rang Adnveture Tours and found out that Emma and I were going to be seperated for the last 3 days of our trip, we were gutted. It wasnt so bad for Emma because she was going to be with some of the young people that were on this trip. I negotiated with Adventure Tours and they said they moved me onto the same bus as Emma, and then my phone died mid convo, so I wasnt sure if it was confirmed or not.

When I got to my room in Darwin, these 2 girls were like 'ohh spare bed, here you go' and just pulled all their clothes off the bed. I was really confused. Anyway, the next day I found out that these 2 girls had been camping out in this room for 3 weeks without paying! Crazy!! So one of them had been sleeping in my bed :/

Anyway, I met the rest of our tour group out for dinner and drinks, which was really good fun.

Day 4:
I woke up ridiculously early this morning to see if I was going to be on the same bus as Emma. Turns out I wasn't. I nearly wanted to cry. There was no space on her bus either. I was gutted. So I went back to bed, got up a few hours later and just explored Darwin a bit. It was a really boring day.

Day 5: Kakadu National Park

Today I got up and got on the bus that I was meant to be on. Everyone on my bus was about 30 or over, so I felt a bit lonely. I got on well with the people on my tour though, so it wasnt that bad in the end. This guy called John was hilarious, he was just a bit of a dip stick. He sat next to me for the first bit of the bus journey and spent the first house talking about God. I just wanted to cry lol. Our first stop was for breakfast at a roadhouse in a place called Humpty Doo. We then drove to somewhere near Fogs Dam to be welcomed by the Aboriginal people of the Wulna commiunity. The guy welcoming us was a guy called Grahem, he was really nice. To welcome us, he took a mouthfull of water and spat it on our heads. It was so gross...and I'd just straightened my hair, so i had a curly patch at the front of my head for the rest of the day.

We then did a little boat cruise along the Mary River, we saw lots of unusual wild birds and a few crocodiles. I was so tired, it was interesting but I could barely keep my eyes open lol.

Afterwards, we went somewhere for a climb and to see some Aboriginal rock art. I have no idea where we were, our tour guide Lisa was a bit crap and never told us where we were. We also kept losing her on the walks too lol.

Our campsite that we stayed in was swags only, and all the electricity went out in the toilets at 9pm. It was so shit.

Day 5:
We drove to Twin Falls this morning, and when we pulled up I saw Emma and her bus in the car park, so I legged it off the bus and ran over to say hi. I was so happy to see them! We couldnt chat for long because her group were going on a boat cruise and my group were going to climb Twin Falls. The climb was really tricky, the surface was really unstable, every rock you stepped on would move. After we got to the top and took some photos, we then walked back down and did the boat cruise that Emma had just done. The boat took us to where the waterfalls were meant to be, but because it was the dry season, there was no water coming down.

Afterwards, we drove on the epic 4wd track to Jim jim Falls. We climbed to the top of Jim Jim and had a swim, which was cool, then we swam again at the bottom of Jim Jim. A few of us from our tour swam over to the rocks, where there was a waterfall and a plunge pool. We all jumped in, it was bloody freezing! It was stunning though. When we swam to get out, there was a man swimming next to me and I noticed he started breathing really heavily, so I asked if he was ok and he was turning blue. I didn't want to grab him to help him swim becuase he was quite a big guy and I was worried he would drown me lol, so I kept asking if he was ok and telling him we were almost out, but he wasn't answering me. So his friend noticed, who was sitting on the rocks, he jumped in and pulled his friend out the water. It was really scary! He was ok though. When we got out, we all headed back to the bus where there were two young guys with big bushy beards who asked if we could give them a lift to the main road. One of them, Brad, asked out tour guide if she knew Juno, and she didnt, so I said I did. Such a small world, he said he used to go to school with Juno, and I explained that I'd just had a tour with him, it was funny. Anyway, once we dropped them off we headed off to Barramundi Gorge. We Climbed to the top of the Gorge and had a swim up there. I had a wardrobe malfunction when I was applying my suncream, my bikini top pinged off twice in the process. I was horrified! I dont think anyone saw anything though :s I dont think anyone wouldve cared anyway because we had a pair of Spanish lesbians in their late 50's, who kept swimming topless. It was lovely...

After this swim, we climbed back down the gorge and had a swim at the bottom too. We swam over to the waterfall and jumped off the rocks and stuff. There were loads of big fish too! It was really nice!

After a long day of swimming, we headed back to the campsite.

Day 6:
We had a long drive back to Darwin from Kakadu, but eventually we got back to Darwin. We all met for dinner and drinks at a place called Monsoons. Our tour guide didn't turn up though, which I think was really bad. Anyway, Emma, Jochen (a German guy from my last tour), Brad, Nad and Steve (the Sydney boys from the last tour) met me in Monsoons. We did a bit of a bar crawl around Darwin, it was really good fun. I also bumped into that other Brad guy that knew Juno, so we said hi. Eventually we all headed home, but Jochen stayed out parting til like 4am on his own lol, such a legend.

Turn my Swag On - Adelaide to Alice Springs

Turn My Sway On - Adelaide to Alice Springs

The day I left melbourne, I took an overnight bus to Adelaide, which was hell. I had this really annoying man sitting next to me and he kept nudging me with his elbows the whole time I tried to sleep. I eventually arrived in Adelaide at 6am, and knew I wouldnt be able to check into the hostel til after 10am at the earliest. So I killed about an hour and a half watching videos on my laptop before I got a taxi to the hostel. The hostel turned out to be literally just around the corner, so I felt pretty stupid getting a taxi for a journey that was so short. When I got to the hostel, the guy at reception told me I couldnt check in until 1pm, but could hang out in the tv room and kitchen, so thats what I did, for about 6 and a half hours. I was so tired, I was struggling to stay awake but at 9am, the hostel started serving free pancakes :D

When I was finally able to check into the hostel, I dumped my bags and went to town to buy a few snacks and then slept til about 8pm, got up, had a shower and some dinner and went to meet my cousin Emma and her friends for drinks. Emma and her boyfriend Simon took me to a place called the Wall Shed. It was really cool, proper western style bar with a mechanical bull. I didn't stay out too late because I had to get a bus at about 6.30am for my trip to Alice Springs.

Day 1:
Shane, our tour guide, picked us all up outside the hostel at half 6 in the morning. Our group seemed to be mostly old people, apart from about 4 other people: Babsi, Matt, Emma and Julia :) I sat on the back row with Babsi and Matt, which was really good fun!

Our first stop was a place called Clare Valley, where we had brekkie and saw a wobbly bridge. We then travelled all the way to a town called Quorn, which is in the middle of nowhere. The village looks really western, just like in the movies. We stayed in an old flour mill, which we shared with another tour group heading in the opposite direction. After we found our rooms and had some lunch, we went to the Dutchman's Stern for a hike. We did a 4km walk up the mountain, whichw was hard work but the view was amazing. We got an epic view of the Flinders Rangers and the Spence Gulf. The weather wasnt great but we could still see for miles, despite the clouds!

In the evening, we had a bbq, where I tried Kangeroo and Buffalo! I preferred the kangeroo! Then after dinner, a few of us watched Pricilla Queen of the Desert in the TV room. Its about 3 trannys that travel through the centre of Australia to get to Alice Springs. It was really good, but really odd.

Day 2:Today we got up bright and early and drove to the Flinders Rangers National Park. I was so cold this morning, I had so many layers on, at least 2 hoodies and 2 long sleeve tops! We did another hike here to see Wilpena Pound. I think we walked about 6km. It was a nice walk but the view wasnt as impressive at the Dutchman's Stern. We were meant to do another walk, which would've been another 2.5km but the weather was a bit crap so we headed back to the bus for lunch. We saw some wild emu's wondering around while we were eating our packed lunch, it was so cool!!
After lunch, we went to the Yourambulla Caves to look at some Aboriginal rock art. Shane told us a little bit about the plants in the area and gave us a little demo on how the Aboriginal people would use them for medical purposes etc. It was really interesting.
Afterwards, we went to the Kanyaka Homestead. We saw the ruins of where the old sheep farmers lived and worked. The buildings were really nice, I want a country house that looks like these house lol. Preferrably still in one piece though!
On the way back to Quorn, we stopped off at Warren Gorge to see some rock wallabies. They were really hard to see, especially for me because I have crap eyesight. I manage to see a few hopping about though.

Back at the hostel, Shane and the other tour guide, Cara cooked us stew and crumble for dinner, which was really nice! And then a few of us were going to watch Wolf Creek afterwards but this irish lad called James, from the other tour group, persuaded Emma, Matt, Babsi and I to go to the pub with him and this Swiss guy from his tour. The pub was really weird, proper hillbilly place, and it closed at 10pm so we weren't there for long!

Day 3:Today we drove to Cobber Pedy. On our long drive there, we stopped at this amazing salt lake in Glendambo. The salt lake was called the Heart Lake or something, and it was the most beautiful place ever. I could've stayed there forever, there was not alot of water and the ground was pure salt. I can't describe how nice it was, and the sun was shining too. It was perfect.
When we got to Coober Pedy, we arrived at our accommodation, which was caves!! It was so cool! They were nice and warm and fully furnished, more like houses that had been dug out of the hills. We had dinner at a pizza place, then went for drinks at an underground/cave bar. The barman kept giving me and Emma free drinks, which was fine by us! Pretty cushty!

Day 4:Spending a night in a cave was really good, probably one of the best nights sleep I've ever had! Our first activity today was to go to the Opal Museum next door where we were taught about Opal mining. The lady gave us a demo of how to cut and polish an opal, which was cool, and gave us a guided tour around the mines. It was really interesting, but im not a fan of Opals.
Afterwards, Shane took us on a little tour around Coober Pedy and took us noodling for opal. He found a stone for me which had a bit of opal in, I was hacking away at this rock for ages trying to get this opal out. I gave up in the end and just threw the stone in my bag. I ended up losing this stone anyway somewhere along the rest of the trip. I dont know how, the rock was just a bit smaller than a tennis ball, so who knows how I lost it!

After that, we had free time to explore Coober Pedy, so Babsi, Emma, Matt, Julia and I went to look at the Catholic Church, which was so cute! It was really small and built in a cave. I would so get married in it, its so cute! We then went to the Old TImers Musuem where a guide showed us how to use the rock sorting maching. The guide was a right loon, clearly spent his entire life digging for Opal, hoping to make a fortune, which had obviously make him a bit loopy in the head. He was missing most of his teeth, real hill billy lol, he was cool. Then we found the BIG Winch! It was big. It was also pretty random.

After free time, we said goodbye to fruit loops of Coober Pedy and set off on the bus to a town called Marla. A pair of french guys from our tour group insisted on cooking the dinner for us, which was meant to be stir fry. The could not have buggered it up more...so Emma, Babsi and I took over (which the frenchies were not happy about), and we did our best to fix it. The frenchies wouldnt eat it because we'd 'touched the food'...so lame! At least it was edible! After 'dinner', we all sat by the campfire and I met a guy from another tour who was from Chelmsford! So weird, he went to Kegs and everything, small world!

Tonight, we all slept in swags. Swags are a canvas bag with a matress in, so you sleep inside that with your sleeping bag. It was so nice sleeping under the stars, and I slept surprisingly well!

Day 5:We got up at 5.30am and got straight on the bus, still in my pj's. We stopped at the Northern Terrirtory boarder to have breakfast and get dressed. I stupidly dropped my knickers in an ants nest, so I literally got ants in my pants. Once we were all ready, we hopped back on the bus and drove to Kings Canyon. Kings Canyon was amazing, I loved it here. The steps to get to the top were pretty challenging, but so worth it. I don't know what it is about Kings Kanyon, but it was so nice. In the middle of the Canyon walk, we came across the Garden of Eden, which was so pretty. There were water holes, and exotic looking trees. It was beautiful. After our walk, we watched the sunset, had dinner and swagged it up. Shane warned us about dingos, telling us to keep our shoes in the swags cos the dingos steal them in the night! We didnt have any problems though, but we could hear them howling in the distance.

Day 6:We went to Kata Tjuta for a walk this morning. It was really good, some steep rocks to climb! One guy who was passing me slipped because he was being impatient, luckily I caught him lol, somehow! The bell end didnt even say thanks! The place was packed with tourists though, we did the Valley of the Winds walk, which seemed to be pretty popular! Once we finished, we drove to watch the sunset at Uluru. It was really good! We had cheap champers and biscuits with dips, while we watched the sunset. We swagged it again tonight, I had the worst nights sleep ever. I just couldnt sleep, I wanted to cry when I saw how slow the time was going, everytime I looked at my phone I was praying that it would be time to get up lol.

Day 7:Luckily we got up really early to watch the sunrise at Uluru. We all did a base walk around Uluru as the sun rose, I had a horrible migrane throughout the entire walk, probably from the lack of sleep. We probably walked about 6km and halfway through I really needed to pee, so I had to wee in the sacred area. I felt really bad but I couldnt hold it any longer! After the walk, Shane picked us up and drove us to the cultural centre. It was ok, some interesting stuff. We then went back to Uluru for our guided walk. We were meant to have an Aboriginal guide but there had been a death in the community, so Shane had to do the guided tour instead. It was so funny, one of the frenchies was recording everything Shane said with a dictaphone. So weird! Luckily, Shane knew all the info and little dreamtime stories, which made the walk really interesting.
On the way to Alice Springs, we stopped off to look at Mount Connor, aka Fooluru. Mount Connor looks a bit like Uluru, and is often mistaken, so that was pretty funny.

Once we arrived in Alice Springs, we all met for a goodbye dinner and drinks and a bar called The Rock. It was really nice, and afterwards, Babsi, Matt, Emma, Julia, Shane and I all went to the Casino for drinks and a dance. It was such a fun night out! We met a few of Shane's friends too, one of them was a guy called Juno, who was going to be my tour guide for my trip up to Darwin!

Alice Springs: 
We had a day to chill in Alice Springs, Babsi made the nicest lunch ever for us all, we were all so tired! We got up to go and have a free didgeridoo lesson, but it didnt run on a Saturday. Shane text us asking if we wanted to have drinks round his house, so we all showered, did our washing and then went to his. We met his housemate Steve, who is also from Essex! So we were chatting shit about where we used to go out in Chelmsford and stuff lol. It was really nice to have a chilled out day.

Bright Lights in a Big City

Melbourne has been the best city so far, it feels like home. I've spent 7 weeks here, I've made some amazing friends from all over the world and I'm leaving with the best memories :) I'm really sad to leave Melbourne, but i'm heading back to Adelaide for a night, then I start a 2 week tour through the Red Centre to Darwin, the land of the crocodiles!!

I stayed at the yha hostel in the city for 2 nights, which was alright, but then I moved to St Kilda, to a hostel called Habitat HQ, which I loved! I'm walking distance from the beach, which is perfect when its sunny. Most of the people there are long term too, so I there was always someone about to hang out with.

One of the first things I noticed about Melbourne was the European feel. All the little lanes and bistros and stuff make you feel like you're in France or Italy, and the guy who designed the main shopping street designed it how he imagined Paris to look. I think this is why I loved the city so much, because it does feel like Europe, it feels really homely.

So I spent my first few weeks doing touristy stuff in the city with my fiend Melissa, from California, and my friend Sophie from Wales. I went to the ACMI Centre, which I loved (beacuse everyone knows I'm a film geek, and this is a Moving Image gallery). I was in there all day with Melissa, it was so much fun (and free!). They had a games room, so we were playing on the wii against each other. We also made our own mini matrix clip and a flip book of ourselves. It was really good fun! We'd been in there so long that it was dark outside when we left, but the whole of Federation Square, and the rest of the city was lit up. It was so pretty.

I went to the Melbourne Museum with Melissa too, we were in there all day (again) and all we had was an orange for breakfast. We were both starving when we left the museum, I genuinly thought I was going to die! So we went and pigged out at Nandos :) -its not as good as the ones in england though!

I went to the old Melbourne Jail with my friends Riccardo (from Perth) and Welsh Sophie, it was really interesting, we went back the next day to do the Jail Experience, where they locked us in a cell and we took mug shots and stuff. It was one of the best touristy things that I did in Melbourne. We found out all about Ned Kelly and all the other aussie criminals, most of them were hanged in the jail, and there was a really creepy feel about the place.

I've been exploring down all the laneways in Melbourne and discovered some amazing grafitti and art work. It was so cool! I had a little laneways map, so I followed their directions. I had one shocking sight down one of the lanes, there was no grafitti but a half naked tramp (half naked on the bottom half...). Kind of ironic seeing as it was called Cocker Lane...
My friends and I even discovered this wicked bar called The Croft Institute down one of the lanes, its all medically themed and they serve your drinks with a syringe inside, so naturally everyone ordered red drinks so it would look like blood. There was even a hospital bed in the loos. I loved this place, I thought it was so cool! It used to be a mental insitute, which explains why its all medically themed. Its so hidden away as well. Its tucked away down this tiny lane in China town, behind all the restaurant bins lol. Apparently there is a similar bar in Singapore, but the medical theme goes further by having wheelchairs for the seating. I really wanna go!

I went to the ballet with a girl called Claudia, who was from Germany. We saw The Merry Widow, which was great. We got chatting to the couple sat next to us too, who were from Persia. They were lovely, they bought us both a coffee afterwards and they were telling us how bizarre they thing the Australian accent it. It was a really nice evening.

After I'd explored the city and did most of the tourist stuff, I decided it was about time I found a job. This is when I became a milkman. I hated every minute of it. Basically, it was a bit of a con. I wasn't actually a milkman, I just worked for a company supporting Aussie farmers and I had to go round knocking of people's doors, trying to get them to sign up to having a milkman and place an order through me. I had one really really shit day and was determined to quit the next day, but I stuck it out for one more day (making it a week) and then I quit. I've never been happier!! The pay was awful, it was $300 base rate per week for the first 2 weeks, after that its all commission based. So most of the time, I took my ipod and just sat in a park to kill some time. It was such a long day, we had to arrive at the office for 11am, then they'd drop us off at our streets and we'd have to knock on doors til half 6 in the evening. Most days I didnt get home til about 8pm! It was crap! But they did give us a BBQ on my 3rd day!

So, once I quit my job I decided to do the Great Ocean Road, and buy a tiny laptop with my earnings lol.

The Great Ocean Road and the Grampians were amazing! I saw the 12 Apostles, London Bridge, loads of kangeroos and koalas. And I got attacked by parrots! It was so much fun. We stayed in a place called Halls Gap, which has more kangeroos than people! We had to meet our tour guide at 6.30am and he drove us to a mountain. So I climbed a mountain before 9am, its insane. I'm surprised no one if our group died or broke a leg, we were actually rock climbing lol, it was so dangerous. Unfortunately there are no tragic stories to tell from the early morning mountain climb and the weather wasn't that great (it was bloody freezing), but I can imagine in the summer it would be sooo nice! The Loch Ard Gorge was stunning and so was this other place called The Grotto, which had a little salt water pool. It would be so nice to go swimming in both these places if the weather was nice.

I saw the famous Bells Beach, where the Ripcurl surf competitions are held, its such a small beach! I also saw the lighthouse where they filmed Round the Twist.The tour guide didnt stop though, cos no one knew what that programme was! I was so dissapointed lol. 

My room mate Mike invited me, my friend Olivia, and my friend Tom to a house party just outside the city, which was Lady Gaga themed. It was such a laugh, we made last minute costumes out of newspaper, bin bags and 'fragile' tape - we got some interesting looks on the tram! When we got there, we looked like tits. Everyone else actually looked like Lady Gaga, with the blonde wigs and skimpy outfits! Olivia and I (the poor backpackers that we are) stole loads of food from the party lol. We wrapped chocolates, cheese and cake in napkins and shoved it in our bags lol. It was sooo worth it!

Unfortunately I didnt get round to doing the neighbours tour. I was going to do it for my birthday but I thought it would be a bit sad if they found out it was my birthday and that I was doing the neighbours tour on my own...so instead, I got my hair cut and spent the day at the local pool using the hot tub and sauna :)

All my friends from the hostel went out in the evening to a backpackers bar, the hostel gave me loads of free drink vouchers and a $50 bar tab! Pretty sweet!! It was a really good night!!!

My friend's Olivia, Tom, Mike and Kate recently moved into a flat so they threw a house warming party the weekend after my birthday. My cousins Simon and Emma, and her boyfriend and their friends came to Melbourne that weekend too, so I invited them to the party. It was such a good night, there were loads of people at the house party and everyone was really drunk!*cough couch..Simon* Standard house party!

So much has happened in Melbourne, there is so much that I've probably forgotten!

I didn't plan to go to Melbourne but I'm so glad I did, and I'm really sad to leave. I think I'm gonna have to have a Melbourne pit stop before I go home!

What the?

My time in Adelaide is unfortunately coming to an end, after 5 weeks have flown by! I met Auntie Mouse and Uncle Keith at the gate at Sydney Airport and we flew together to Adelaide, where my cousin Emma picked us all up. My first experience in Adelaide was at Myers, the department store, where Auntie Mouse and I went round the shop testing out pillows! We headed back to the house with 2 new pillows, one for me and one for Emma. Anyway, after that, I can’t really remember when anything else really happened, so here is a rundown of the things that I got up to during my time in Adelaide.

Auntie Mouse took Anne (my cousin Alex’s girlfriend, who is from Germany) and I to Mount Lofty, where we got an amazing view of Adelaide. Unfortunately it was a bit foggy up in the hills! On one of my first nights in Adelaide, Alex took Anne and I to a small house party, where there was a bonfire outside and the Eurovision on the tv inside. It was good fun, then afterwards we met Emma and her friend Victoria at the Robin Hood pub. Victoria told us some funny but gross stories about her day at work. Both Victoria and Emma are midwives, so you can imagine these stories were quite explicit!

On another night out, I joined Emma and her midwife friends for dinner in Glenelg – where the beach is. We had a really nice Indian and then Emma and I went to a few bars. The first one was the Jetty Bar, which I really liked because of the live band. Emma bumped into an old friend, so we went to a club called the Palais with him and his friend. It was a fun night, they came to hang out round Emma’s house after but Emma’s friend’s friend started freaking out (no idea why) and kept saying he had to get out of the house, so Emma drove them both into the town, but when she pulled up to the traffic lights, the guy who was freaking out, opened the door and legged it down the road lol. So weird! Anyway, Emma left them to it and came back home. It was a pretty interesting night!

On another night out, Alex, Anne and I met up with some of Alex’s football friends and we were at a bar in town and everyone in this bar was planking. It was pretty funny. They’re trying to ban planking in Australia because some guy died trying to plank on his hotel balcony. Anyway, we didn’t stay at this bar long. We all got a mini bus to a bar called the Ed Castle. I loved this place! There was a heated outdoor area where everyone goes to chat, there was a room with bands performing in it and another room with a dance floor. There was a band called Oliver’s Army that were playing that were really good!!

Emma and I had a girls night in one evening, we bought loads of crap food like crips, sweets and tim tams (chocolate biscuits, a bit like penguin bars). Emma invited some old school friends over, who were all married! They were all around my age too! One of them had even been married for 5 years! Crazzzzzy! Most of the people ive met in Adelaide have been with their partners since school and most of them are married or engaged! No chance of finding a nice aussie guy here!! Im past the sell by date!

I spent the majority of my time at Eden Hills Primary School, doing some work experience (3 and a half weeks!). I really enjoyed it at the school, everyone was really nice! I re-learnt how to play the recorder (pretty embarrassing!), I learnt a bit of German for the first time ever, so my German vocab has expanded to these few words: Viel Gluck = good luck, Lebekuchenmann = Gingerbread man, and Schneewittchen = Snow White. I was mostly with year 6 and 7’s, which is the final year of primary school, which I didn’t mind too much, the children were all really nice and well behaved! I had to give them an art lesson, which was fun!

I went a few school trips, one was to Colebrook, which was walking distance from the school. We went to Colebrook for ‘Sorry Day’ in Australia, which is a time where to country says sorry to the Aboriginals for the stolen generation. This was a time where the Australian government created a law that meant they had the right to take all half-cast children away from their Aboriginal families and were put into ‘missionaries’ where they were given a proper education. They did this until the 1970’s, and its horrific! Only a few years ago did the Prime Minister apologise for these events, therefore the beginning of Sorry Day. You should YouTube the trailer for the film ‘Rabbit-proof Fence’, it’s a really interesting film about this time in Australia.

Anyway, the 2^nd excursion was to Shephards Hill Reserve, which again was walking distance from the school. We went there for ‘World Environment Day’, where we learnt about the forests and all the different types of trees. I learnt that only the imported trees lose their leaves during autumn in Australia, all the native trees stay green all year round. So there you go! Lol.

My 3^rd school trip was to Oakbank race course, where I watched a selection of children from our school compete in the Cross Country race against all the other schools in South Australia. It was really good fun! 2 of the children from our school qualified into the semi-finals, where they’ll get to compete with the rest of the schools in Australia! They must have been pretty speedy because they had to pass the finish line in 20^th position or above out of about 200 other runners per race!

I found that I had to adjust my vocab at the school a bit, so that the kids would stop laughing at me lol. When I was teaching the children art, one of the kids asked if he could use ‘texters’…I had no idea what he was talking about until he showed me it was a felt-tip pen, they definitely thought I was retarded. I also got in trouble during the German lesson because I was in charge of handing out stationary…so I stood at the front of the class and announced that I had a box of rubbers if anyone wanted one. Big mistake. The teacher corrected me and told me to say ‘eraser’ from now on, as you can guess ‘rubbers’ means something else. Soooo embarrassing!

Ive had to start saying ‘high school’, ‘principal’, ‘recess’, and ‘white out’ instead of tip-ex. They call a duvet a doona, flip-flops are called thongs, and sweets are called lollies. Plus they say the word ‘heaps’ in almost every sentence lol.

So after a busy 3 and a half weeks at the school, I finally had a week off to do a few other things in Adelaide. I went to the museum of South Australia, which was huge! I think I was in there for about 2 hours! It was pretty good; I even got to play in the sandpit and pretend to discover a fossil with a paintbrush. (I did this when no one was looking).

I walked down to Witunga botanic gardens a few times to sit in the sunshine. This was my favourite part of Adelaide. It was so pretty and so relaxing and full of exotic looking birds.

Alex took Anne and I to Hahndorf, the german village in South Australia. It was really nice. We then went to see Alex’s friend Nick at the Hahndorf winery before meeting up with Auntie Mouse, Uncle Keith, Bardy (Keith’s mum) and Mary (Kieth’s sister). We had lunch by the sea and then went to Victor Harbour and walked around Granite Island, where we saw wild penguins!!

On another day, Auntie Mouse and Uncle Keith took Anne, Alex and I to Barossa Valley. We did some wine tasting and the only wine I liked was the Moscato. It tasted like lemonade lol. We saw some kangaroos and passed the Jacob’s Creek vineyard.

Last weekend was a bank holiday weekend, so Alex, Anne and I met up with Alex and Anne’s friend Lindsay, her boyfriend Jack and his friend Welly. Lindsay’s sister Lara and her finance met up with us for a bit too and we all went to the McLaren Vale. On this bank holiday weekend, it’s become a tradition to go to McLaren Vale to go wine tasting, so the roads were pretty busy and police were pulling everyone over to be breathalysed. It was a really good day out though, and then in the evening we had dinner at Jack’s house. Lindsay made us all carrot soup and Alex, Anne, Jack, Welly and I played a board game, which we called Trains. It was so much fun!

Anyway, it’s time for me to say goodbye to Adelaide and head off to Melbourne. I’ve had loads of fun in Adelaide, it’s been so different to Sydney. Everyone told me there was nothing to do in Adelaide, but there was ‘heaps’!

See you in Melbourne!

OzIntro week

So I’ve been in Sydney for almost 2 weeks now and I’ve been ridiculously busy! So expect this to be a long blog and Im sorry if its boring!

Just so you’ve got a general idea of who I’m talking about in my blog, my OzIntro group included: Rachel, Helen, Kate, Shweta, Lauren, Lynn, Mitika, Will, Tom, Jack, Aaron, Martin, and Nicola (our group leader).

Jo and Leanne are two girls who were in Base hostel, Jo was on my plane and Leanne was in the bunk-bed next to me.

The best way for me to do this is to do a quick diary style thing:

Saturday 30^th April - Lauren (OzIntro girl), Leanne (Hostel buddy) and I went wondering around the city today, looking around some of the shops, generally just exploring our surroundings. In the evening, Lauren and I met up with all the other OzIntro girls for dinner at a pub/bar called Scruffy Murpheys. It was pretty cheap for food, and we all got to know each other a bit. It was a really good night, everyone was really nice! Afterwards, Lauren, Leanne and I had a girly night in my hostel’s living room watching a film, eating popcorn and painting our nails. All very exciting!

Sunday 1^st May - Lauren, Leanne and I got up bright and early to go and visit Manly beach. We got a free shuttle bus to the harbour, where we saw the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House. It was amazing! It actually felt like I was in Australia, it was so weird seeing the Opera House in real life!

Anyway, we got a ferry from the harbour to Manly beach. It was so nice there, the sun was shining, the beach was full of surfers, it was exactly how I imagined an Aussie beach to look. We spent the day sunbathing on the beach and then got an ice lolly for the ferry home J

We met up with Jo (the girl from my plane) and cooked pasta at Lauren’s hostel ‘Wake Up!’ and watched a film in her common room. Today was a really good day!

Monday 2^nd May – Today I had to check-out of Base Hostel at 10am and meet Lauren at her hostel. I felt like a right nob walking through the city centre with my backpack on lol. The cutest little Aussie man (I think he had special needs) asked if I needed help with my bag (he was small enough to fit inside my backpack!) He was fascinated by my accent too, cute little old man!

Eventually I got to Lauren’s hostel, had some brekkie and we waited for the OzIntro bus to come and pick us up. Mitika and Lynn (two other girls from our group) waited with us. Then the bus took us on a mini tour around the city and stopped off at the botanical gardens. We saw flying foxes, parrots and a huntsman spider! The spider was HUGE!!!!! It was literally hanging off a tree, so I’ve learnt to look where I’m going now! 

After that, we went down to Sydney Harbour and went jet boating. This was ridiculously fun! We got absolutely soaked from doing 360-degree turns and driving into the waves, all to the sound of dubstep songs. I really want to do this again!

We got the bus to Coogee (where we were going to be staying for the week), had dinner at a pub/bar called Five O’s. Everyone had a few drinks here and then moved onto a bar called The Palace. After The Palace, a few people in our group went off to buy some ‘goon’ (basically cheap wine in a box) and carried on drinking in one of the bedrooms at the hostel. I tried some of this ‘goon’, it was disgusting. Apparently its all the crap bits of wine that is good enough for the nice bottles, and is rumoured to have traces of fish eggs and bones. Nice. Its fair to say that the majority of our group got pretty drunk!

Tuesday 3^rd May - Fortunately today was quite a chilled day after a late night last night. We just sorted out our Australian bank accounts, medicards and general stuff like that. We went to Sydney Aquarium in the afternoon, which was pretty amazing. I went around the aquarium with my friend Mitika, because to begin with, we were both quite bored but the further you go around the aquarium, the better it gets. We saw all sorts of amazing sea creatures; we were able to touch a shark egg, watch the mantarays and stuff being fed. It was really good.

In the evening we went out to a place called The Gaff for Nicola’s birthday. Nicola was our OzIntro group leader, she was so much fun (and from Essex too!) so we had a lot in common! The Gaff was like a bar I’d never seen before, they had things like wet t-shirt competitions to win money or travel prizes. Just so you all know, I didn’t take part!

I felt a bit sad all day today, really missed my friends and family, but Jo came and met us at the Gaff and cheered me up!

Wednesday 4^th May – Ok, today was without a doubt the best day. Surf lessons!!!

Our group got taken to Cronulla beach, the only private beach in Australia for our surf lessons. The surf instructors were called Rohan and Owen, so as you can imagine, I kept getting really confused when Owen would say ‘Rohan’s going to get you all a wetsuit’. Surfing was sooooo much fun, but really hard work! I kind of crashed into a few people, Helen now has a HUGE bruise on her arm thanks to me! (Sorry Helen!)

But when I eventually got the hang of standing up on a surf board, it was the best feeling in the world! I cant wait to go surfing again!!

After an exhausting day, we all went to the Coogee Beach Hotel for a few drinks and a game of pool. My friend Jo came and met us, and the new quy Aaron (he only arrived today) managed to persuade me, Jo and Rachel to head into the city centre to explore the clubs. We only went to Scruffy Murphey’s, but it was such a fun night. We didn’t end up leaving til about 5am, went to Maccy D’s  - which had just started their breakfast menu lol, and then headed back to Coogee to get some sleep!

Thursday 5^th May – We all had to meet at 9.30 this morning, which was a killer after only having about 4 hours sleep! We had a travel talk before getting the bus to Bondi beach. The beach was lovely but it was really windy, so we couldn’t go in the sea or really enjoy the beach. Sand kept going in our faces and whipping our legs. Not great fun! But we did the Bondi to Clovelly coastal walk, which was really good. When we got to Clovelly beach, we had a BBQ and played vollyball. We were supposed to go snorkelling but it was too cold and the sea was too rough L

Friday 6^th May – Today was a really good day. We had to get an OzExperience bus at 6.30am for our trip to the Blue Mountains. Our bus driver was called Smokey and he was an absolute legend. He told some really interesting stories about the Aboriginals, and told us all about the history of Australia. At our first stop at the Blue Mountains, he pulled over so we could see some wild kangaroos. It was so cute, we saw a little kangeroo family, a mum and dad and a baby kangeroo! They were a lot bigger than I imagined. Smokey also showed us a huntsman spider, which was scary because it kept jumping off the piece of bark that Smokey was holding!

After this we arrived at the mountains and it was an incredible view. We walked down the mountains, seeing how the Aboriginals lived, seeing all the waterfalls, and different plants. Smokey showed us what bushtucker was, showed us what a eucalyptus tree looks like, showed us where tea tree came from and which plants to avoid! We had to be really careful about where we walked so that we didn’t come across any deadly snakes or spiders. Pretty scary! We saw the 3 sisters, which is a weird rock formation, it was really cool. We climbed over 1400 steps on this walk, but had to get the worlds steepest train back up the mountain. You have to pretty much lie down inside the carriage so that you don’t fall out, and it travelled for 80 metres up a 52 degree slope!  

Saturday 7^th May – We had a day off today, so Mitika and I got the bus to Bondi junction to have a look around. We found this amazing pet shop that had puppies and kittens in, so we went in and played with the puppies lol. They had baby pugs and baby beagles, they were so cute!!!!! I didn’t want to leave!

In the evening we all had to get ready for our pub crawl on the party bus. We all dressed up in a rave/neon theme. It was so much fun! The party bus bans you from sitting down, it was like a mini club with the disco lights, loud music and amazing atmosphere. We started off at a bar along Darling Harbour, where there were fireworks, then went to Scary Canary, Side Bar and then ending up at The Gaff, where we stayed til about 5am. Best night out ever!!!

Sunday 8^th May – I got up surprisingly early today.., so I just lazed around on the computer til everyone else was up. Mitika, Kate, Lauren, Rachel and I all went down to Coogee beach because it was a really hot day. Didn’t really get much of a tan though! In the afternoon, I went with Helen to drop some things off at her friends house, then we all got ready in the evening for a meal at the Sydney Tower. We ate in a revolving restaurant at the top of the tower, overlooking the city. I tried kangeroo, which was like a tough, rank tasting piece of steak, but I wasn’t brave enough to try crocodile or emu. It was a really nice farewell dinner J

Monday 9^th May – Today we all packed up and left our hostel in Coogee. Helen, Kate, Rachel, Shweta and I booked in to stay at Base hostel for the rest of the week, so its nice that we’re all together. I booked the next part of my trip for after Adelaide, and I cant wait!!! Im not going to tell you what it is yet though!

Today was a fairly dull day, just a lot of organisation.

Tuesday 10^th May – Today Helen, Rachel, Jack, Will, Tom and I did our RSA course. This means that we’re able to work in bars while we’re here. The course is a piece of piss. The teacher basically tells you what pages all the answers are on, gives you a briefing in the laws on alcohol and then gives you a test and a textbook. The whole day took about 6 hours but the teacher was so chilled and laid back that the time flew by. In the evening, Kate, Helen, Rachel, Mitika and I went to Scary Canary for dinner. We got a huge portion of pasta each when we bought a drink. Pretty good deal! We also joined in the pub quiz, our team won a round (with a tiny bit of cheating) so we each got a bucket of drink! We came 2^nd in the quiz, so we did pretty well!

Wednesday 11^th May – Today Helen, Kate, Rachel, Mitika and I went to the Randwick Royal Races, just outside of the city. I put on a few bets and lost! Most of my horses came 2^{nd or 3rd}, one was extremely close but in the end Kate’s horse won it by the tip of its nose! It was nice to do something I wouldn’t normally do.

*

So far my trip is going well, I haven’t suffered from jet lag at all since being in Australia, which is lucky! Probably because I slept a lot on the plane! I can’t wait to leave Sydney and get exploring!

P.S. Sorry for the long blog and all the spelling mistakes, internet costs me a fortune so I don't have time to proof read!!! 

Goodbye Dubai, Hello Australia!

Hellooooo from Sydney :) Since my last blog, I had a busy last few days in Dubai. On Sunday Alex and I got up super early to find Jumeirah Mosque, the only mosque in Dubai that allows non-muslims inside. For this you have to be dressed appropriately - arms, legs and chest covered and your hair must be covered too. So Alex and I got up nice and early, making sure we had plenty of time to find the mosque. Bit of a disaster though! We knew which road the mosque was on, followed the satnav, however there were LOADS of mosques. Literally a mosque every 100yards. We drove around for about an hour up and down Jumeirah road trying to find this mosque. We pulled over and asked people and that was no good! In the end, we gave up and drove past the Burj Al Arab (that building shaped like a sail) and went to one of the shopping malls where we went to a French cafe called Paul's and then off to Ski Dubai. It was so bizarre, the temperature in Dubai reached up to 48 degrees at one point, but in Ski Dubai it was minus 4!! We had so much fun, we went tobogganing, sat inside an igloo and just generally had a laugh taking photos and stuff.

In the evening, Alex, Josh and I all went to the cinema. It was amazing!! We paid a bit extra to be in the platinum lounge, which meant we each had our own leather reclining arm chair, a blanket and a pillow. We were given a menu too, so I chose to have caramel popcorn and a pineapple slushy. We had a waiter who brought our food order to us in the cinema. It was so nice being waited on hand and foot! I watched the film 'Arthur' (sorry Edo! I know I promised not to watch it without you, but I promise we'll watch it when im back!) The film was really good, really funny!

Anyway the next few days in Dubai were fairly chilled out. Alex and Josh were back at work, so I spent the morning keeping Layla company (Alex and Josh's dog - the cutest dog ever!) before getting a taxi to the Wanderers, an ex-pat club. This gave me the opportunity to go swimming and sunbathe, wearing what I wanted without worrying about offending anyone or breaking the rules! I did get a bit sunburnt though...

On Monday night we went out to dinner at TGI Fridays, where we sat on the balcony and watched the World's biggest water display. It was so cool! In TGI Friday's they had a big choice of cocktails, all of which were non-alcoholic, obviously because its illegal to consume alcohol. It was just really odd seeing them advertise a mojito..without alcohol lol.

On my last day in Dubai, I spent the morning packing :( and then I got a taxi to the Wafi Mall where I met Alex for a cake and a smoothie at Paul's cafe. The taxi driver I had was so sweet, he was telling me about how he was from Pakistan, and when I asked if he missed home he said no and that he was glad to leave. It made me really sad, just makes you really appreciate how lucky you are. After the Wafi, Alex and I went to Jumeirah and went to the beach, taking photos of the Burj Al Arab before heading to the Palm. The Palm is a bit of land built to look like a palm tree when viewed from the sky. It was pretty cool! Google it!

Even though Dubai has some really strict laws, the one thing I noticed was how dangerous the roads were. A lot of the taxi's dont have seat belts, and barely anyone wears their seat belts because they believe that if they die its 'God's will'. I saw LOADS of accidents, most of them were on Emirates Road - the 7th most dangerous road in the world. One in particular was awful, a lorry had jack-knifed and landed on one of the mini busses that is used by all the poor workers. The mini bus was flattened by the lorry, I just really hope that the bus was empty because there is no way anyone would've survived that. There was also another accident, which didnt look that bad but there was a helicopter parked in the middle off the motorway!

Anyway, after a 16 hour flight, I finally arrived in Sydney - with a 1 hour stop in Bangkok, which came as a surprise! So I have officially been for a wee in Bangkok!

Luckily I slept quite a lot on the plane so I havent had any problems with jet lag. I went out in Sydney last night with a lovely girl called Jo (who I met in the toilets at my hostel) and a girl called Lauren who is doing the OzIntro package that starts on 2nd May. We went to China Town and had a chinese before going to the bar next to my hostel.We had so much fun last night. We then went to expolre the bars in King's Cross and met up with my cousin Alex and his girlfriend Anna. It was a really good night, we didnt get in til about 5am this morning!!

Today Lauren, Leanne (a girl in the bed next to me at the hostel) and I went to explore the shops. We then met up with all the other girls that are going to be on the OzIntro package on Monday, we had dinner in and Irish Pub. Everyone is so nice and easy to get on with!

Lauren, Leanne, Jo and I are planning to have a chilled night tonight at my hostel, watching tv and eating popcorn. Im having the best time ever!!

Arabian Adventures

It's day 2 in Dubai and already so much has happened! I arrived in Dubai yesterday morning, the plane was amazing, I've never seen anything like it. I had the choice of hundreds of films to watch, all the latest albums, games to play - plus a plane tracker so I could follow our plane on the map. I think the blokes sitting next to me thought I was a spack because I couldnt work out how to use the TV (it was touch screen) and I couldn't work out where to plug in my headphones (I plugged them into the electric razor socket until the man next to me told me they had to be in the arm rest...which explained why my sound wasnt workin!) It took me a good 10minutes trying to work out why my light wouldn't switch off when I twisted it, until the man next to me pointed to the light switch. Other than that, everything was lovely. 

Alex met me at the airport, we chilled out a bit then did a bit of siteseeing. Alex, Josh and I went for a drive through Dubai city centre and took a look at the Burj Kalifa- the tallest building in the world. We went to the worlds biggest shopping mall, which had the worlds biggest indoor fish tank. It was incredible, there were scuba divers in the fish tank and everything!

Today Josh drove Alex and I to the Mirdiff shopping mall in Dubai where we did this thing called 'IFly' which was an indoor sky diving simulator. It was so much fun, but really scary! Josh took loads of photo's so I'll upload them when I can.

This afternoon, Alex and I went to desert for a 'desert safari'. We went Dune Bashing, which is by far the best thing in the world! It was so much fun, I cant even describe how good it was, but if you ever get the chance to do it then you should! After the dune bashing, we rode a camel and then went sand boarding down the dunes. That was really good too!

As the sun was setting, we joined the party where there were belly dancers, and other entertainment. We tried on an Abaya, which is the traditional arabic dress for ladies. I'll be putting up the pictures soon! They are pretty funny! I got a traditional henna pattern on my foot, and we then had a BBQ buffet thing for dinner. I got bitten by an ant, which I was moaning about until Alex got crawled on by a HUGE creepy crawly. An arabic looking man on the table next to us shouted "Oh hell no..." when he saw the bug, which made us panic! He picked up a shoe and smooshed the insect lol. Then when we asked what it was, he had no idea, he just 'didn't like the look of it'. It was so funny. Today has been the best day ever! 

See You Later Alligators!

So today's the day! I've said all my goodbyes :( Im sorry if I didn't get to see some of you, I'll keep in touch though! Thanks to everyone who came to my leaving do, it was the best night out ever, especially seeing as it was with all my bestest friends! Im going to miss you all loads!!!

So far today, Dad made me go and get changed because my summery top showed 'too much boob' for Dubai. Bad times. I've just been given the 'keep away from boys' lecture too. Now that awkward moment has passed, Im trying to reduce my packing, which is impossible! And someone is definitely hiding all my knickers! Could be a bit of a problem...

With the help of Claire, I managed to sort out the majority of my packing yesterday. Tahlia kindly provided me with a mini library to take with me, so i'm sorted for the long flights! Tori, I'm sorry I havent managed to see you this week :( going to miss you LOADS wifey! 

Speak to you all soon! 

xxxxx