Well I thought I'd better finish this off!!! I spent Friday in Sydney shopping (what else can I do for my final weekend!). Sinead by this point had returned to Sydney for the weekend too, so she helped me!! After that we decided to go out for a drink, and found the YHA's bar next door had a pretty good happy hour (I started this blog drinking, I may aswell finish it the same way!). We ended up having a few glasses of wine there (I say wine, it was probably goon!), before heading back to our hostel for my last hostel night. I'm pretty lucky the people in my room were nice, so didn't have any bad experiences for my last weekend.
I got up on Saturday, and checked out. I knew I couldn't check into my hotel until one, so I went and used the internet for a while before catching the train to Wollie Creek. The hotel was a 10 minute walk from the station. Apparently. It took me not far off an hour to find it. With my backpack on my back. And there were no taxis there that I could jump into. 2 people stopped me on route to ask me was my bag heavy. How very kind of them to ask me that! After walking for ages, I found a train station, and figured I'd walked in a circle and got back to the train station I'd walked out from. I guessed that would be ok, coz I could either phone for a taxi from there, or there are maps on the wall to find directions. As I got closer to the train station, though, I realised it wasn't the one I'd arrived at earlier, but a completely different one. I'd walked completely the wrong way. The other side of the train station, though, was a highway, which I knew I needed to cross to get to this hotel. So, after some more walking I arrived at the hotel shattered and hungry (had only eaten a cereal bar by that point - and it was now 2 o'clock). Of course nowhere was open for lunch in the hotel, so I walked to the 7-11 to grab some food.
Later that afternoon, Chris arrived at the hotel (he got a taxi after asking me how I got there!!). We then headed to the bar (well why not), and had food. The next morning after checking out, I waited for the shuttle bus to take me to the airport. I was going to b really early arriving there but refused to pay $15 an hour for a late check out, especially when I could sit in the airport for free. Obviously I got to the airport much too early, and check in didn't open for ages. All the seats were taken up so I got to sit on a bar!! Very comfortable - not!
Eventually check in opened, so after getting rid of my bag, I went to find something to eat. Then it was a lot of sitting around and waiting until the flight was leaving. My 2 flights back to London, and the stop at Hong Kong were pretty uneventful. Boring but uneventful. I was a bit late landing in London, and it took ages for my bag to come through, and then I went to find the bus station, and waited there for a couple of hours, until it was time to catch the bus to Swansea where I was being met by Mam and Geoff. And then home at last.............................
Wednesday 28 January 2009
Thursday 15 January 2009
Thursday 15th Jan 2009 - almost at the end.....
Well, all I can say is that I think Adelaide is boring!!! I didn't do much on Monday other than sleep (I was pretty tired!!). On Tuesday I had my wine tour of the Barossa valley. Now that was not boring!!! ;-) We started off by stopping for breakfast at the World's Largest Rocking Horse (the catch is that it doesn't rock - so in theory it's not the world's largest rocking horse, but anyway...). After stopping there we were supposed to go to the Whispering Wall, which is a dam. Apparently if you stand on one side of the dam, and someone else stands the other side, you can have a normal conversation with them. I say 'apparently' because I never got to test this out. It was so hot on Tuesday (over 40 degrees), that there was a complete fire ban in Adelaide, and the surrounding area. This meant that the national parks, and other similar areas were closed in case people decided to start a bbq there. It wouldn't take much at all for a fire to start, and then it would be a major disaster. All it meant for us though was that we could start drinking sooner!!!
The first vineyard we went to was the Jacob's Creek. They gave us a little history first (come on...we're waiting for the wine!!), and then came the tasting. We tasted loads there. We had sparkling (white not red mam!!), white, rose, and red. Not a bad start to the day. The rest of the day carried on pretty much the same! The second vineyard was Vine Creek. The wine here was really yummy. It's a pretty small vineyard, and they don't export their wine anywhere. You can't even buy it in Adelaide. I think it was nicer than Jacob's Creek, though. They even had a white port. I'd never had white port before, but I'll take a guess at the fact that I may have it again!!!
The next vineyard was Richmond Grove. We had a tour here, and they showed us how the wine was made. After this one we went for lunch. We were supposed to have a barbie for lunch, but again because of the fire ban we couldn't. We ended up going for a pub lunch, and I had kangaroo. It was yummy.
After lunch we went to one more vineyard (Bethany's), and there they had a list of tonnes of wine, and you could choose to taste any one you wanted off it. Hehehehe!!! I didn't try them all though, thought I'd look like an alchoholic!!! Most people only tried one or two, though, think they'd had enough by then because of the heat. It's strange though, out of the 17 people on the tour, 5 didn't really like wine. They came on the trip to view the countryside. Strange, strange people!!!
Anyway, that was Tuesday. Wednesday was supposed to be sightseeing day of Adelaide, but I walked round the city centre in less than an hour, and then got bored. I spent the rest of the day reading, and that was about it.
Thursday (today) I had to get up early to catch the shuttle bus to Adelaide airport to fly back to Sydney. After getting to Sydney I caught the train to the centre, and then checked into my hostel. I only have 2 more nights left in a hostel now!! That seems so strange. I went to the cinema today and saw Bride Wars. It was actually a pretty funny film!! After that I went to Darling Harbour shopping, and then headed back to the hostel. On the way back to the hostel it poured down, and within ten minutes the temperature had dropped by 10 degrees (that's what the news said anyway - I don't carry a thermometer around with me!!!). That pretty much takes me up until now............
The first vineyard we went to was the Jacob's Creek. They gave us a little history first (come on...we're waiting for the wine!!), and then came the tasting. We tasted loads there. We had sparkling (white not red mam!!), white, rose, and red. Not a bad start to the day. The rest of the day carried on pretty much the same! The second vineyard was Vine Creek. The wine here was really yummy. It's a pretty small vineyard, and they don't export their wine anywhere. You can't even buy it in Adelaide. I think it was nicer than Jacob's Creek, though. They even had a white port. I'd never had white port before, but I'll take a guess at the fact that I may have it again!!!
The next vineyard was Richmond Grove. We had a tour here, and they showed us how the wine was made. After this one we went for lunch. We were supposed to have a barbie for lunch, but again because of the fire ban we couldn't. We ended up going for a pub lunch, and I had kangaroo. It was yummy.
After lunch we went to one more vineyard (Bethany's), and there they had a list of tonnes of wine, and you could choose to taste any one you wanted off it. Hehehehe!!! I didn't try them all though, thought I'd look like an alchoholic!!! Most people only tried one or two, though, think they'd had enough by then because of the heat. It's strange though, out of the 17 people on the tour, 5 didn't really like wine. They came on the trip to view the countryside. Strange, strange people!!!
Anyway, that was Tuesday. Wednesday was supposed to be sightseeing day of Adelaide, but I walked round the city centre in less than an hour, and then got bored. I spent the rest of the day reading, and that was about it.
Thursday (today) I had to get up early to catch the shuttle bus to Adelaide airport to fly back to Sydney. After getting to Sydney I caught the train to the centre, and then checked into my hostel. I only have 2 more nights left in a hostel now!! That seems so strange. I went to the cinema today and saw Bride Wars. It was actually a pretty funny film!! After that I went to Darling Harbour shopping, and then headed back to the hostel. On the way back to the hostel it poured down, and within ten minutes the temperature had dropped by 10 degrees (that's what the news said anyway - I don't carry a thermometer around with me!!!). That pretty much takes me up until now............
Sunday 11 January 2009
Monday 12th Jan 2009 - What a week......
Well, on Sunday after the Blue Mountains trip, I got showered and packed ready to leave for the airport the following morning. I then went to meet Maggie and Sinead for food and a couple of drinks. I thought that this would be the last time I would be seeing them, but as it happens Sinead is staying in the same hostel as me in Sydney when I'm there for the last weekend. After meeting them I went back to my room, which was empty. I read for a while and then went to sleep. At 1:30, 2 of the girls came backand were really noisy. One of them went to bed and the other went back out. She came back in at 2:30 again, but this time with a guy. Talk about being unlucky - this has happened to me twice in 3 nights!! I tried to ignore them for a while, but got really annoyed so switched the lights on and told the guy to leave. He said that they were about to go to sleep, but I told him it was an all girls dorm and to get out. thankfully, he did. It took me ages to get back to sleep after that!!
When the alarm went off on Monday morning (5th) I wasn't amused to say the least!! Anyway, I checked out of the hostel and caught the train to the airport ready to fly to Alice Springs. The flight was almost 3 1/2 hours long. There was a time difference of an hour and a half here from Sydney too. At Alice Springs airport, I caught the shuttle bus to take me to the hostel and checked in. The hostel seems really nice. It's pretty small and close enough to town so that I can walk in. I wondered in after checking in, so that I could pay for the rest of my tour that I was supposed to be doing the next day. I then went for a walk around town. There were a lot of Aboriginies in town, but they all just seemed to be walking around doing nothing, while everybody working in the shops were white. I was quite disappointed by it, but found out later that the aboriginies here are ones that have been thrown out of their tribes for misbehaving, so theyr'e not all like the ones I saw. Also I found that a lot of people in Alice Springs smelt!! Seriously!! They can't wash that often!!
As I was walking around the town I got a phone call from the people I'm doing the tour around Uluru with asking if I could change the date forward a day. It suited me to do this as it meant I didn't have to get up too early the next day. Walking around Alice Springs, I found that there wasn't a lot to do there so I just walked back to the hostel where I read for the afternoon. I got chatting to a girl who'd been to the Desert Park, and she recommended that. I figured that there wasn't much else to do so I may as well do it. I booked to do it the following morning. The tour company then phoned me again to ask if I could actually go the next day after all. But by then I'd booked a trip for the next day, and changed my accomodation around, so said I couldn't. I then got chatting to an English girl in my room who happened to be doing the same tour as me, so that was good.
Tuesday 6th - I got up around 8 to get ready to catch the bus to take me to desert Park. Here you see different types of deserts and the animals that live there. We saw a bird show that showed how buzzards cracked open emu eggs using stones. It was pretty cool!! Not all the birds in the show were trained, some were wild, but had learnt what the different sounds meant so joined in!! After finishing there I went for food in a place called Fawlty's and then headed to the cinema to see Brad Pitt's film the curious curse of Benjamin Button. It was pretty good. I then spent the evening in the hostel with a couple of people I'd met and prepared for my tour starting the next day.
Wednesday 7th - I had to get up at 5:15 this morning ready to go on the rock tour. It was a long drive, we did around 800 kms that day. On the first stop we all bought fly nets. Such a sexy look!!! Definately needed them though!! Our first walk was at King's Canyon. It was a 3-4 hour walk that started with Heart attack hill. At over 40 degrees it was really tough. During the walk though ,we got to swim at the Garden Of Eden. That was really refreshing!! I was so proud of myself when I finished the walk!! We then drove to a camp site. There was nothing at all at the camp site. No toilets, lights or anything!!! We lit a camp fire, and then cooked chilli con carne for food made with kangaroo!! We slept in a swag under the stars. I woke up in the middle of the night, and the stars were amazing. I could see the milky way. Other than that I slept really well.
Thursday 8th - we all woke up around 5am and had breakfast. Our first walk was Kata Tjuta. It was tough, but nothing like Kings Canyon. We then headed to a different campsite (this one had toilets and showers!!). We had lunch there, and then I jumped in the shower. Afterward we went to Uluru cultural centre where we read lots of info about Aboriginies. we then did the Mala walk, which is about 1km long at the start of the Uluru base walk. We saw lots of caves there and paintings on the walls. After that we went to see sunset at the Rock (Uluru). It was really pretty and you could see the rock changing colour. After that we went to the campsite where we slept in a swag again.
Friday 9th - We were up at 4 this morning. We drove to watch the sunrise over the rock and had brekkie there. We then did an 8km base walk around Uluru, and finished that by 9am. After that we started making our way back to Alice Springs. We stopped at a camel farm on the way, where I rode a camel for the first time ever!! It was pretty bumpy but fun! We got back to Alice around 5 and planned to go out for food and a few drinks with the group that evening. we went for food at Toddy's bar and the went drinking at Bojangles. It was a mad outback bar, with boots niled to the ceiling, etc. I got to bed around 1.
Saturday 10th - I had to get up early again today, as I was startin a 2 day tour from Alice Springs down to Adelaide. Our driver was Steve. It was a long day, and I spent most of it asleep on the bus. We stopped at Coober Pedy for the night, which is the World's Opal mining capital. Most people there live undergroud, as it remains a constant temperature all year round. We had pizza for food and then went to an underground bar for drinks, and then went to sleep underground!! It was actually a really good night's sleep!!
Sunday 11th - we were up at 6 this morning, and had to do the rest of the trip down to Adelaide. Again I spent most of the day asleep!! We got to Adelaide around 6pm, and I checked into my hostel, The Guest House. It's a nice hostel. I was pretty hungry by then so went on a search for a food shop that was open. Not as easy as I thought on a Sunday evening, but eventually found a convenience store. Though it was really expensive!!! My ankles were really swollen and aching aswell after all the travelling. It's not happened to me before so was really strange. After eating I had to wash all my clothes - they were all pretty disgusting after all the tours.
Monday 12th - this was my first chance for a lie-in in a while. Of course that's not gonna happen though. I had people checking out of the hostel room, and they were so noisy!!! Tyical. I'm not sure what I'm gonna do in Adelaide today, probably just walk around. I've got a wine tour of the Barossa Valley booked for tomorrow though!!!
When the alarm went off on Monday morning (5th) I wasn't amused to say the least!! Anyway, I checked out of the hostel and caught the train to the airport ready to fly to Alice Springs. The flight was almost 3 1/2 hours long. There was a time difference of an hour and a half here from Sydney too. At Alice Springs airport, I caught the shuttle bus to take me to the hostel and checked in. The hostel seems really nice. It's pretty small and close enough to town so that I can walk in. I wondered in after checking in, so that I could pay for the rest of my tour that I was supposed to be doing the next day. I then went for a walk around town. There were a lot of Aboriginies in town, but they all just seemed to be walking around doing nothing, while everybody working in the shops were white. I was quite disappointed by it, but found out later that the aboriginies here are ones that have been thrown out of their tribes for misbehaving, so theyr'e not all like the ones I saw. Also I found that a lot of people in Alice Springs smelt!! Seriously!! They can't wash that often!!
As I was walking around the town I got a phone call from the people I'm doing the tour around Uluru with asking if I could change the date forward a day. It suited me to do this as it meant I didn't have to get up too early the next day. Walking around Alice Springs, I found that there wasn't a lot to do there so I just walked back to the hostel where I read for the afternoon. I got chatting to a girl who'd been to the Desert Park, and she recommended that. I figured that there wasn't much else to do so I may as well do it. I booked to do it the following morning. The tour company then phoned me again to ask if I could actually go the next day after all. But by then I'd booked a trip for the next day, and changed my accomodation around, so said I couldn't. I then got chatting to an English girl in my room who happened to be doing the same tour as me, so that was good.
Tuesday 6th - I got up around 8 to get ready to catch the bus to take me to desert Park. Here you see different types of deserts and the animals that live there. We saw a bird show that showed how buzzards cracked open emu eggs using stones. It was pretty cool!! Not all the birds in the show were trained, some were wild, but had learnt what the different sounds meant so joined in!! After finishing there I went for food in a place called Fawlty's and then headed to the cinema to see Brad Pitt's film the curious curse of Benjamin Button. It was pretty good. I then spent the evening in the hostel with a couple of people I'd met and prepared for my tour starting the next day.
Wednesday 7th - I had to get up at 5:15 this morning ready to go on the rock tour. It was a long drive, we did around 800 kms that day. On the first stop we all bought fly nets. Such a sexy look!!! Definately needed them though!! Our first walk was at King's Canyon. It was a 3-4 hour walk that started with Heart attack hill. At over 40 degrees it was really tough. During the walk though ,we got to swim at the Garden Of Eden. That was really refreshing!! I was so proud of myself when I finished the walk!! We then drove to a camp site. There was nothing at all at the camp site. No toilets, lights or anything!!! We lit a camp fire, and then cooked chilli con carne for food made with kangaroo!! We slept in a swag under the stars. I woke up in the middle of the night, and the stars were amazing. I could see the milky way. Other than that I slept really well.
Thursday 8th - we all woke up around 5am and had breakfast. Our first walk was Kata Tjuta. It was tough, but nothing like Kings Canyon. We then headed to a different campsite (this one had toilets and showers!!). We had lunch there, and then I jumped in the shower. Afterward we went to Uluru cultural centre where we read lots of info about Aboriginies. we then did the Mala walk, which is about 1km long at the start of the Uluru base walk. We saw lots of caves there and paintings on the walls. After that we went to see sunset at the Rock (Uluru). It was really pretty and you could see the rock changing colour. After that we went to the campsite where we slept in a swag again.
Friday 9th - We were up at 4 this morning. We drove to watch the sunrise over the rock and had brekkie there. We then did an 8km base walk around Uluru, and finished that by 9am. After that we started making our way back to Alice Springs. We stopped at a camel farm on the way, where I rode a camel for the first time ever!! It was pretty bumpy but fun! We got back to Alice around 5 and planned to go out for food and a few drinks with the group that evening. we went for food at Toddy's bar and the went drinking at Bojangles. It was a mad outback bar, with boots niled to the ceiling, etc. I got to bed around 1.
Saturday 10th - I had to get up early again today, as I was startin a 2 day tour from Alice Springs down to Adelaide. Our driver was Steve. It was a long day, and I spent most of it asleep on the bus. We stopped at Coober Pedy for the night, which is the World's Opal mining capital. Most people there live undergroud, as it remains a constant temperature all year round. We had pizza for food and then went to an underground bar for drinks, and then went to sleep underground!! It was actually a really good night's sleep!!
Sunday 11th - we were up at 6 this morning, and had to do the rest of the trip down to Adelaide. Again I spent most of the day asleep!! We got to Adelaide around 6pm, and I checked into my hostel, The Guest House. It's a nice hostel. I was pretty hungry by then so went on a search for a food shop that was open. Not as easy as I thought on a Sunday evening, but eventually found a convenience store. Though it was really expensive!!! My ankles were really swollen and aching aswell after all the travelling. It's not happened to me before so was really strange. After eating I had to wash all my clothes - they were all pretty disgusting after all the tours.
Monday 12th - this was my first chance for a lie-in in a while. Of course that's not gonna happen though. I had people checking out of the hostel room, and they were so noisy!!! Tyical. I'm not sure what I'm gonna do in Adelaide today, probably just walk around. I've got a wine tour of the Barossa Valley booked for tomorrow though!!!
Sunday 4 January 2009
Sunday 4th January 2009 - Sydney (still!)
I woke up on New Years Day with no hangover (not drinking much really helps you know!!!). I had quite a lazy day though. Me, Sinead and Maggie went to Manly beach to meet one of Sinead's friends. We basically didn't move very far, though I did make it into the sea. It was flippin cold to start with, but you soon got used to it. It was probably my last time in the sea in Oz. That feels so strange. After getting back to the hostel, we went (with Simon) for a curry. Yum!!! After that I had to pack coz I was moving hostels the next day.
I got up and checked out the next morning, but after that I didn't move too far. It was too early to move to the next hostel, and the rest of the gang were staying in the Glebe one, so I just stayed in the room for a while chilling. I eventually caught the bus to take me into the centre. I was pretty excited about this next hostel coz I'd stayed there before in a 4 bed. It was really spacious, and the people in my room were lovely. Unfortunately though (what a surprise!!) the room was tiny. You couldn't open the door fully coz there were lockers behind it and you would bang them (which I did, and still do. I don't think I'm gonna learn this one!!). The other 3 people in my room seemed lovely, though, despite the fact they were out for most of the day so I didn't see much of them. I went out in the evening, and when I got back they were getting ready to go out.
Only one of the girls came back that night. Unfortunately though she wasn't alone. She'd pulled and thought it was a good idea to bring the guy back to the room. I hate it when this happens. Why should I have to try and sleep through that????? One of the other girls got back around 8 the next morning, and announced to the girl that was in bed (and the guy that was still with her) that she just had to do the walk of shame. I never actually saw the 3rd girl again, they were checking out that day. What a pity!!!!!
I met up with Sinead and Maggie on the 3rd to go for breakfast with a few other people, and then we caught a train with Simon and Chris to go ice skating. I'd only ever been once before, so it was fun!! Me and Sinead were kinda at the same level (rubbish!!), whilst the others kept lapping us, stopping from time to time for a chat. It was fun though, and that's whats important. After finishing there we caught the train back to the centre, and then I went back to the hostel for a bit. In the evening I met Maggie and Sinead for a game of pool (again another sport I'm rubbish at. I'll find one I'm good at soon!!!). Then it was time for bed. Thankfully the 3 new people in the room seemed nice, didn't go out and bring random men back to the dorm!!!
I had to get up early today (Sunday 4th) because I was doing a Blue Mountains trip. This was the trip I was supposed to do in September during my first week but couldn't because I was ill. We were being collected at 7:20, so a nice and early start. It was a good day. We saw some kangaroos, and did 2 walks. The first was for 2 hours, and the second was for an hour. It was a hot day, but in the shade the ground was very wet and muddy. Me, being me, managed to find a nice deep puddle and attempted a Vicar of Dibley scene. I only managed to get one foot in though. I couldn't see that food then, and my trainer was filthy. I looked really silly though walking around with one muddy shoe and one clean one. It could be a new trend!!! After the mud dried, it kinda just fell off though, so by the end of the day I was looking more equal again!!! At the end of the second walk we caught the world's steepest train. It was 51 degrees. This train took us up the mountain, backwards. And part of it was completely covered by rocks so it was pitch black and water was dripping down on us.
Tonight will be my last night seeing the people I met in ozintro in September, before we all go our separate ways. It's gonna be so strange saying goodbye to them, and it's almost like my first step home. We're off to the pub, what better way to end!!! And then tomorrow I'm flying to Alice Springs. Another early start.......
I got up and checked out the next morning, but after that I didn't move too far. It was too early to move to the next hostel, and the rest of the gang were staying in the Glebe one, so I just stayed in the room for a while chilling. I eventually caught the bus to take me into the centre. I was pretty excited about this next hostel coz I'd stayed there before in a 4 bed. It was really spacious, and the people in my room were lovely. Unfortunately though (what a surprise!!) the room was tiny. You couldn't open the door fully coz there were lockers behind it and you would bang them (which I did, and still do. I don't think I'm gonna learn this one!!). The other 3 people in my room seemed lovely, though, despite the fact they were out for most of the day so I didn't see much of them. I went out in the evening, and when I got back they were getting ready to go out.
Only one of the girls came back that night. Unfortunately though she wasn't alone. She'd pulled and thought it was a good idea to bring the guy back to the room. I hate it when this happens. Why should I have to try and sleep through that????? One of the other girls got back around 8 the next morning, and announced to the girl that was in bed (and the guy that was still with her) that she just had to do the walk of shame. I never actually saw the 3rd girl again, they were checking out that day. What a pity!!!!!
I met up with Sinead and Maggie on the 3rd to go for breakfast with a few other people, and then we caught a train with Simon and Chris to go ice skating. I'd only ever been once before, so it was fun!! Me and Sinead were kinda at the same level (rubbish!!), whilst the others kept lapping us, stopping from time to time for a chat. It was fun though, and that's whats important. After finishing there we caught the train back to the centre, and then I went back to the hostel for a bit. In the evening I met Maggie and Sinead for a game of pool (again another sport I'm rubbish at. I'll find one I'm good at soon!!!). Then it was time for bed. Thankfully the 3 new people in the room seemed nice, didn't go out and bring random men back to the dorm!!!
I had to get up early today (Sunday 4th) because I was doing a Blue Mountains trip. This was the trip I was supposed to do in September during my first week but couldn't because I was ill. We were being collected at 7:20, so a nice and early start. It was a good day. We saw some kangaroos, and did 2 walks. The first was for 2 hours, and the second was for an hour. It was a hot day, but in the shade the ground was very wet and muddy. Me, being me, managed to find a nice deep puddle and attempted a Vicar of Dibley scene. I only managed to get one foot in though. I couldn't see that food then, and my trainer was filthy. I looked really silly though walking around with one muddy shoe and one clean one. It could be a new trend!!! After the mud dried, it kinda just fell off though, so by the end of the day I was looking more equal again!!! At the end of the second walk we caught the world's steepest train. It was 51 degrees. This train took us up the mountain, backwards. And part of it was completely covered by rocks so it was pitch black and water was dripping down on us.
Tonight will be my last night seeing the people I met in ozintro in September, before we all go our separate ways. It's gonna be so strange saying goodbye to them, and it's almost like my first step home. We're off to the pub, what better way to end!!! And then tomorrow I'm flying to Alice Springs. Another early start.......
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