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G'day!
The past two and a half weeks have been spent in Australia. I landed in Darwin in the Northern Territories after a long flight from Phuket, Thailand. It was the most western country I had been to so far. In a sense it was almost like being at home again. Everyone spoke English (well, Aussie!), there's a McDonald's on every corner and everything costs about the same as back home. To be honest, I felt a little disappointed after experiencing such different places in Asia.
However, there are differences with the UK. Although people in Darwin were complaining about the cold, this was because it dipped below 20C, and not because they had to scrape ice from their cars in the morning. Another thing that struck me were the sheer number of things that can kill you over here. There are a lot of beautiful beaches but you shouldn't swim because of sharks and killer jellyfish. Rivers and ponds are no safer either - they tend to be infested with huge killer crocodiles. All in all, its a little different.
I wanted to see the wildlife and nature of Australia so headed into the outback for 3 days at Kakadu National Park. It was a stunning experience. We slept outside under the stars, ate kangaroo and buffalo and I held my first python. We also swam in secluded waterfalls, looked at thousand-year-old aboriginal rock art and watched jumping crocodiles. It was fantastic.
After this I travelled to the centre of Austrlia - Alice Springs. From here I took another camping trip to see Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Kings Canyon. Both were more interesting than I thought they'd be. We learnt a lot about aboriginal culture and some of the views in the outback were fantastic. It was a bit like being on mars - there was no human civilization in sight.
Im now in Cairns. Yesterday I went to the barrier reef. It was spectacular. I managed to find Nemo (well exciting!), as well as a turtle, some stingrays and a bunch of other crazy looking fish. It was just as I imagined it to be. I also went quad biking in Cairns which was a good laugh. We just went crazy on them - taking them through rivers and up big hills etc. Was good fun.
Tomorrow I fly to Sydney. Im not really sure what to do there other than have a look at Sydney Harbour. On Sunday I go to New Zealand which Im excited about.
Anyway, hope alls good in blighty!
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