Cairns to Darwin to Mission Beach

So a lot has happened since I last updated here. From Tasmania (still undoubtedly one of the most beautiful places on God's earth) I flew to Cairns. Easy, you might think, but however I caught three planes to get there. THREE! Honestly, that was the cheapest way... bloody Australians. Gradually I got fed up and annoyed because I saw the same demonstration three times, and was sitting next to fat people three times. Though, there was one consolation that on the last flight (Sydney - Cairns) I was one of the winners of a game the air hostesses played. We had to guess collectively their ages, and subsequently I won some pringles.

Cairns is what can only be described as a tourist town, and for this reason I didn't really like it. It's all party party party, and it's practically man-made for backpackers. I did go bungy jumping though, which was incredible, despite the burst blood vessels around my eyes from the impact into the water. I'd definitley go again if I can. Two jumps from fifty metres and an open bar from nine in the morning. Now that was cool. I also visited Cape Tribulation, and the Daintree Rainforest. Saw lots of crocodiles and tree snakes, had billy tea and a tropical fruit session as well as a full on Aussie BBQ with massive steaks. Yum.

Next I went to Darwin, again. I met up with Lionel again and we spent our time watching all the new releases in the cinema (Terminator Salvation - Christian Bale. Yum) and visiting bars and steakhouses along the main drag. Lionel even ate a 1kg steak in 25 minutes along with veggies and chips as Outback Jack's 1kg challenge. My week was fun. :)

Straight from Darwin, I went to Mission Beach, which is south of Cairns by a two hour bus journey. I'm typing this here, on my last night. I've spent a good few days here. Relaxing, drinking goon and meeting some awesome new people. I relearned yactzee (spelling?). But the best bit of all is that I went SKYDIVING!

Truly, one of the BEST things I've ever done.

Tomorrow I'm off to Magnetic Island.

Catch you all soon.

Nic
xxx

Tasmania; one of God's best bits.

Oh my word - this place, state, little tiny island, is absolutely fabulous.

I landed in Hobart, the state capital, and wondered around for an afternoon taking in the sights of the tiny fishing city. Pretty little places, Georgian style sandstone buildings, fishing boats and unique cafes. I stayed in a nice, though a tad cold, hostel that night, before embarking upon my tour the next morning.

I was picked up at 7.30am on a cold and frosty morning and myself and 14 other people went to Freycinet National Park, which is famous for Wineglass Bay. I was told that it is called this because when whaling used to be occurring in this bay, the blood from the whales would seep down and into the sea and the bay would look like a giant glass of red wine. Of course, as sad as this is, I was more disappointed that we would be having no wine at Wineglass Bay. Anyway, also in this National Park we went to Sleepy Bay which is small and just granite boulders convered in orange lichen. You could get right up to the sea. Amazing. That night we stayed in the quiet town of Biceno in a nice hostel with a nice pub (as it's all about the pubs on tours) though, sadly, I left my glasses there... Ooops.

The next day was better then the one before. In the morning we visited Natureworld, where we fed kangaroos and wallabies, saw koalas and wombats being fed, many many birds and the feeding of the ever famous Tasmanian Devils. If this wasn't cool enough we then went on to the Bay of Fires, voted Lonely Planet's Tourist Destination of 2009. It's simply a strip along the East Coast with many B-E-A-Utiful beaches. One of which was called Cosy Cove, where you can camp for four weeks without any charges! And it's superb. We climbed all over the pink granite boulders and played like children, determined to get to the highest one and then best the others. Next, we visited Mt Columba's waterfall. One word: Stunning.

Our final day was Mount Cradle. We had the BEST weather, according to the Lonely Planet Guide, only one in ten days is sunny, and only 56 days in the year can you see Mount Cradle. Our day was one of this lucky days. Myself, the guide Ian (legend), and two others climbed to Marion's lookout, a fairly differcult climb (where chains are bolted into the rock to aid you) but a quick one, being half an hour. We didn't go to the summit (as much as I would have loved to) because that's a seven hour hike, and I have converse on, something that Ian kept teasing me about. It was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky. We then had Devonshire Tea (cream tea for us english folk) in a chateau, and drove back to Launcesten to go to the pub and get a chinese takeaway after finding four litres of 'wine' for ten bucks.

Oh, such good times. Met amazing people. Saw amazing sights. And would do it again in a heart beat.

Next stop - Cairns.

Nic

xxx

Tasmania - The Holiday Isle

Looks like England - rolling lush green hills.

Feels like England - ten degrees!

Tour starts tomorrow morning - will write a longer post then.

Nic

xxx

The City of Sydney

Well - what can I say? Sydney is superb! It's my last day today, for tomorrow morning I'm catching a plane to Hobart, and I've had some good times here.

Although I haven't done much 'culture' stuff or any proper sightseeing, I've learnt the city by just walking around and taking in the city air and grabbing cups of discounted coffee (thank you Starbucks) occassionally sitting down on a bench and reading a book. Yesterday, for example, I was sitting on a bench in front of the Sydney Opera House with my book and then talking to Lionel. There's something liberating about it. I've gone to cafes and sat for over an hour with my notebook and the bible (again, the nickname for my Lonely Planet guide to Australia) figuring out my plans for the next month.

I've noticed, also, the contrast between the state captials. Melbourne was all go-go-go, and had an industrial feel to it. Canberra was pretty, small and had a suit-wearing thing for the people in it. Sydney is a mix between the old and the new. You walk down one street, where the Queen Victoria Building and the Town Hall is and the next thing you see is some bloody great big sky scrapers. The harbours are beautiful - though Sydney Harbour Bridge is a lot smaller then you would imagine - and I could sit there for hours, again reading.

Oh, and if anyone comes here - go to the Botanic Gardens - they're the best ones yet.

So Nic is now travelling on her own and has (sort of) figured out an itinerary for the next five weeks, and thought you might be interested to know where I am and where I'm going...

MAY: -

27th - Flying from Sydney to Hobart at a ridiculus hour in the morning.
28th, 29th, 30th - 3-day tour around Tasmania, including walking up Mount Cradle.
31st - A day in Hobart.

JUNE: -

1st - Flying to Cairns via three planes. *groan*
2nd, 3rd, 4th - Good times in Cairns (maybe including Bungy Jumping and a Rainforest tour)
5th - Flying to Darwin and meeting Lionel.
6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th - Good times in Darwin :) (and happy birthday Mum!)
12th - Flying to Cairns and getting a bus to Mission Beach.

13th - 4th - Sort of a haze at the moment. I'm buying a hop on hop off bus ticket for me to go from Cairns to Brisbane - so these three weeks will be filled with good beach times.

5th - Arriving back in England, jet-lagged and in love with Australia.

Hopefully this helps those curious minds out there :)

I have less then five minutes remaining on the internet now - so got to go...

Nic
xxx

VIC and ACT

Two more states down - get in!

So, since my last post myself and Jenny have conquered the grand state of Victoria. We arrived in melbourne after a rather uncomfortable overnight bus from Adelaide in which two fellow backpackers in front of us reclined their seats all the way so my lanky legs got cramped and therefore I was not able to sleep very well. I was bitter about this for several days, as you are meant to look after your fellow backpacker...

Anyway, from the first few moments I was in Melbourne I loved it, it's a fantastic city. We checked into our hostel and wandered the city after booking two tours for the next few days. We pondered into a few museums and stood on gold ingots, rode trams, ate and longed for McCafe back in England...

Tours now - firstly we had a day on a coach down the Great Ocean Road, which is simply AMAZING. It was typically British weather; rainy, stormy and unpredictable but it only made it feel so much better. True nature, as it were. Myself and Jenny got extremely wet as we viewed the Twelve Apostles (though there are only seven now since many have fallen down) which are limestone stacks in the sea. We rekindled our love of OK! magazine and bought postcards and generally had just an brilliant day.

Another tour was Wilson's Promontory with a true bushman as our guide, named Andy. We made friends with a Canadian called Julie too and walked to the summit of Mount Oberon and then trailed the walk to Squeaky Beach. Simply beautiful.

On our other free day in Melbourne we went to the MCG and become true Melbourne Demons supporters, as Jenny lost her voice from calling the Western Bulldog players some rude names and I bought myself a Melbourne Demons beanie, which can be seen if you check out my pictures on facebook.

Next we hit Canberra, which compared to the busy and big city of Melbourne was actually really quiet. But it had some cool stuff. We hired bikes and I remembered how to ride one after so many months of driving. We cycled to the Australian War Memorial which was very interesting. I took the free tour whilst Jenny went to research her family history and then we met up and walked to the summit of Mount Ainslie. The view was the whole of Canberra, a sight definitley to be seen. Next we attempted to cylce round Lake Burley Griffin but got somewhat lost and ended up on two freeways and had to get out the bible (the nickanme of my lonley planet guide to Australia) to find our way back before the sun went down. In the end we worked out we cycled 16k, so there's the benefit.

Now, I'm currently aboding in Jenny's rellies place in Bulli (a suburb just outside Sydney) to which I feel very welcome. The Buchanans can only be described as a family like no other, and I'm having a chillaxing time here before starting the next leg of my trip, which consists of doing a tour around Tassie and then going up to Cairns and making my way down the coast from there, and maybe heading up to Darwin to have another sneaky peak at the city if I can fit it in.

So all is well with me - how about the rest of you?

Nic

xxx

Adelaide

I'm speaking to you all from a computer in Melbourne, however the subject of this marvellous piece is going to be Adelaide.

Yesterday, myself and a very very good friend of mine from home, Jenny, walked many kilometres to defeat the state capital of South Australia in 24 hours. We think we did this quite successfully as we shopped for necessities, saw the sights and gossiped about the past three months in which we haven't seen each other before the time where we caught our bus to Melbourne last night.

Adelaide, in conclusion, is a beautiful and quaint city. It many ways, it reminds me of Cambridge. Everywhere is a walkable distance, there are plenty of parks and the architecture is a mix between the old and the new. Furthermore, it was raining, and felt rather cold at nineteen degrees.

((Yes, nineteen degrees is COLD. I'm used to working in thirty degree heat, remember?))

We walked to the Haigh's chocolate museum, though didn't get to walk around since there was a tour in progress, but bought some chocolate frogs at a dollar each to console ourselves. Then moved onto the main shopping part of the city and window shopped and then did the walking tour in the Lonely Planet guide, walking along the river and getting attacked by black swans.

Our hostel was absolutely superb! Cheap and clean and a really nice guy called Malcolm runs it. If you ever go to Adelaide, stay at Hostel 109 on Carrington St.

Anyway, for those who want pictures go here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=9306&id=1612680176&l=ec1799f0ff

Now I have to shower and then hit Melbourne city! :)

Nic

xxx

Farewell Northern Territory

It's nearing the end of my time at Buchanan Downs Station, and even my time in the Northern Territory, as from tomorrow I am making my way south to Adelaide to meet up with my best friend Jenny. There are going to be things I am going to miss here, and somethings I am definitley not going to miss, and so, I have decided to make two lists.

THINGS I AM GOING TO MISS:

• the people, to put it frankly. During the weekdays here working was fun. We got into a routine and became a unit who knew what each other was doing and what we were capable of. Even though plenty of people have passed through the gates of the station, the unit adapted and changed with it. I've learned so much from the people here, including how to cook and drive a car, which I know I would have had to probably pay for back home. It's been fun, and I'm going to miss them.
• Beef for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Toasted steak sandwichs with HP Sauce. Yum.
• Being called a useless pom everyday of my working life.
• Getting money and not having anywhere to spend it.
• Eric, the yellow Nissan.
• Lionel.
  

THINGS I WON'T MISS:

• Being so far from a pub/shop/civilisation.
• The weekends when the boss flys in and gives me bollockings.
• Having to clean the single's men's shithouse.
• Being so far away from friends and family.
• Getting up at 5am every morning.

That basically sums it up. I feel like I've changed in a way, I've gained more experience but I no more confident then when I was back home. I've been getting that friday feeling, when you know the break is coming up but it's just not coming along quick enough.

My time here wasn't what I expected. It was harder, tougher and physically enduring. But on the other hand, I don't think I would have given it up for anything.

Despite the boss being an absolute cow.

See you soon, when I'm in Adelaide, South Australia.

Nic

xxx