Hey!

Have realised I have been really bad at updating the blog so am going to do a quick run down of what I've been up to since I left and will in future update more often.

So here we go...

19th Jan

Flew from Heathrow, spent over an hour on the tarmac waiting to take off because of the plane hitting the runway a few days before. Flight was very long, food was horrible and landed in Singapore with no problems.

20th Jan

Arrived at Singapore airport to change planes and some Aussie child felt the need to run into the back of my legs with a luggage trolley which put me in a great mood as you can imagine. Fairly short flight which I slept for most of. Arrived in Perth in the afternoon - great weather, although the Aussies were in a bit of a mood about losing the cricket. Hostel was in a place called Cottesloe Beach about 20 minutes from the city centre and was just across the road from the beach. Quite jetlagged so went for a walk along the beach to explore and headed to bed.

21st Jan

Still quite jetlagged so didn't do much apart from go into Perth and explore a bit, but was so out of it didn't really see much before coming back to lie on the beach!

22nd Jan

Went on a day trip down to the Margaret River south of Perth with various stops along the way. There were only five of us on the trip - me, an American girl called Ariel and three girls from Melbourne - but we had a really good time. Went to Bunbury and a dolphin rescue centre but there weren't any dolphins there when we were there. Then we headed to a town called Busselton which apparently has the longest jetty on the world. Then we went to an ice cream factory called Simmo's which did really yummy ice cream - I had White Choc Malteser - and had an emu which would eat your ice cream if you got too close!! After that we headed to the most gorgeous beach called Meelup for lunch and mucked about on the beach and in the sea. Then we headed for the most important part of the day - the vineyards. Margaret River is a very well known wine producing district - and we visited a few different vineyards and of course had to sample the produce some of which was better than others - notably the organic wine!!! To soak up the wine we then went just up the road to an organice chocolate factory where they were giving away free samples and you could watch them making the chocolate - and they were making huge easter eggs. After that we went to look at the Canal Rocks were you can watch the sea crashing over them and are apparently quite dangerous. We then went on to the town of Margaret River which was really chilled out and pretty - would have liked to spend a bit longer there - and a big surfing town despite being 8km from the beach! So we headed out to the beach which has some major surf competition held there and watched the surfers and kite surfers with our free champagne, before heading back to Perth with the beers we had bought in Margaret River. The guide was really great, dropped us off at the hostel and his mother was from Barry and he had grown up there - how random!

23rd Jan

So today headed in the opposite direction from Perth to Fremantle, which is the port for Perth so is on the beach whereas Perth is on the river. It is the most chilled out place in the world and seems very European. I went exploring and ended up at the beach which was really nice, but not as good as Cottelsoe. I followed this by going to have Fish and Chips at Cicerillos - a Fremantle institution and apparently the best in WA. To be fair, they were pretty good!

24th Jan

Another early morning to head off on a day trip to the Pinnacles. Managed to get off at the wrong bus stop because I wasn't paying attention but managed to make the bus. Went with about 20 other people and heading north out of Perth this time. Stopped at Yanchep National Park to look at the koala bears and they also had kangaroos before heading up for lunch in a town called Cervantes which is a big centre for wild flowers when it is a bit cooler. Then we headed into Namburg National Park to see the Pinnacles and the Pinnacles Desert. It is really hard to describe the Pinnacles as anything other than big columns of rock sticking out of the ground which doesn't sound particularly impressive but it was quite cool, quite lunar if you could imagine it without the sand!! Anyway headed off to Lancelin to visit the sand dunes and take the 4x4 over the dunes and try our hand at sandboarding. Was really fun although didn't quite work up the guts to try it standing up!

25th Jan

Today decided to explore Perth much more properly now that I was not jetlagged. Really cool city, explored the CBD and headed down to the river where the Swan Bells were which is the biggest musical instrument in the world! Then I headed up to Kings Park which is the most amazing place. It is up on top of a mountain overlooking the city and the river (I always thought Australia was flat for some reason) and has the most amazing views and is just a really relaxing place.

Jan 26th

The biggest day in the Australian calendar - Australia Day - had arrived. Since I didn't feel up to a whole day dedicated to it spend the morning in Freo looking around the Fremantle Markets and bought a sarong which I have since taken everywhere with me! Then caught the train into Perth and headed up to Kings Park which was going to give u the best view of the festivities. Was shocked by the mammoth expedition some people had undertaken to get there with tents, umbrellas, more food than they could ever eat and of course very large amounts of alcohol - you would have thought they were going away for three months not an afternoon in a park which had a food place!!! Anyway, the local radio station was broadcasting from the park and everyone was feeling very patriotic - even I succumbed and bought a flag which I now have realised I have to carry around with me!! Anyway the main point of going to Kings Park was to watch the fireworks they let off over the river and they were absolutely amazing although some of the music choices were a bit odd - Scotland the Brave?

Jan 28th

Today headed over to Rottnest Island, which is a 30 minute ferry ride from Fremantle. It is an island where only people with essential jobs are able to live in order to protect the environment and has some of the most amazing beaches. It is also the home of the quokkas, a rat like marsupial which live on the island and its one of the only places where they still survive and they are so cute!!!!

Jan 29th

Flying to Alice Springs today and was at the airport stupidly early as was worried about missing the flight and spent hours hanging around the airport watching bad aussie tv particularly some soap which seemed to revolve around stables and horses! Got to Alice in the afternoon and it is so hot. Heading to Uluru tomorrow!

Jan 30th

Another early morning as I headed on my trip down to the Rock. Went with a company called Connections and there were about 11 of us on the trip. Its about a five hour drive down to Uluru so stopped a few times, at a Camel farm, the Mount Ebenezzer roadhouse and Curtin Springs, before reaching the Ayers Rock Reesort where we were camping for the night for lunch. Headed off to Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) in the afternoon and went for a walk around there although since the temperature was forty degrees in the shade it was hardly a nice sedate walk. They had actually closed the Valley of the Winds walk because it was so hot! However, it was also cloudly so when we went to the viewing point at Uluru the sunset was a bit rubbish although to be fair the pictures I could have taken wouldn't have been as good as the ones on the postcards!! Headed back to camp for bbq and sleep!

Jan 31st

Up very early (4am) to head to Uluru in hope of seeing sunrise but it was still very cloudly so went on the walk around the base instead which is about 10k. The climb to the top was shut because of the weather but since I had no real desire to climb it anyway wasn;t that bothered but it looked really dangerous! I know people say that its just a rock but theres more to it than that which I really can't explain! Anyway went to the visitor centre which explained the significance of the Rock to the Aborigines before heading off to Kings Creek Station where we were spending tonight. Best bit about Kings Creek was it had all these optional things you could do like camel riding and quad biking but I chose to go up in a helicopter. It was only for five minutes but it was my first time and the doors were off because of the heat and it was a lot less scary than I thought it would be. After we had food cooked on the campfire which was really yummy!

Feb 1st

Headed to Kings Canyon to do the rim walk really early again, started by climbing a massive mountain thing to reach the rim. I swear this place will either put my fear of heights throught the roof or cure it completely!! The walk took about three and a half hours and we went down into the canyon to a place called the Garden of Eden which was really cool. Then headed back to Alice Springs and slept because I was absolutely exhausted.

Feb 2nd and 3rd

So two days to kill in Alice Springs, which does not have that much to do. Wandered around town and climbed Anzac Hill for the views. It is quite a weird town, don't know why exactly but it has a very odd vibe. So have spent quite a bit of time hanging out by the pool at the hostel. The worst thing about Alice Springs was that I could not find anywhere that was showing England v Wales so I had to miss the match which obviously meant that they were guaranteed to win - and I was proved right as they did!!! At least I know I;ll see the Scotland match next weekend!

Feb 4th

Not much happening today, flying to Cairns late this afternoon so am killing time at the hostel before the flight. Cairns should be good - going to Cape Tribulation and the Great Barrier Reef before heading off down the East Coast on the Greyhound buses to Melbourne stopping in various places along the way.

That's all I think, will talk to u soon

Beth xxx