Hey guys i've been pretty busy since i last spoke to you. On the thursday we went and picked up our rental cars, mine being another Corolla, and left Melbourne in our wake. We then headed out onto the Great Ocean Road. The bits where the road was actually right next to the ocean were pretty awesome and it was loads of fun driving the bends coz its quite windy for most of it. However Sal did keep complaining of travel sickness but that didn't make me go any slower! It took us 3 days to drive from Melbourne to Adelaide. The first day we drove to a town called Torquay and stopped for some lunch at a cafe on the coast called Growlers which was quite nice. I had a fry-up which is always good. We then drove to Lorne where we stopped for an ice cream. We also stopped at Aireys Inlet to see a lighthouse. Then we drove to Apollo Bay where we stayed the night in a motel. We went for dinner in a greek cafe and i had Lamb souvlaki which was quite nice.

The next day we drove to Cape Otway to see another lighthouse but you had to pay so we decided not to go see it. We did see some wild koalas though. We then drove to Warrnambool where we stopped for lunch then drove to see the twelve apostles which are these pillars of rock that stick out of the sea which used to be attached to the coast but have formed due to erosion. They were quite impressive but you can only see 7 of them from the coast and there might not even be 12 of them so the names a bit redundant. We then stopped in Portland so that Jammo and Leah in the other car could catch us up. They had got held up by some slow cars after i pulled out of a junction and then when the other cars had gone Jammo decided to put his foot down to try and catch us up. Unfortunately he didn't notice the police car and got pulled over for speeding doing 134kmh in a 100 zone. Naughty boy! Apparently thats fast enough to lose your license over here but the policeman was nice about it and was chatting to Jammo about cars for ages so he decided to write down that Jammo was only doing 124kmh so he just got a fine and 3 points. This was pretty much the end of the great ocean road but we carried on driving into South Australia and stayed at a motel in a town called Mt Gambier. We tried to go to the cinema that evening but made the mistake of eating at the restaurant next door. It was quite nice but the food took an hour and a half to come by which point we'd missed all the films.

The next day we drove the last 400km to Adelaide stopping only briefly to get lunch in a town called Tailem Bend. We ate at MJ's cafe which the boys christened Martin Jol's cafe. When we got to Adelaide we met up with Ricky and checked into Cannon St backpackers. We then went and booked ourselves on a train to Alice Springs which left the next day and on a 3 day Uluru (Ayers Rock) tour for the day after. We then decided to go get drunk coz its tradition to get drunk everywhere we stay.

Woke up a bit hungover the next day but had to check out at 10 and then take the rental cars back. Our train to Alice didn't leave till 5.15pm so we decided to kill time by going to the cinema. We went to see Rocky Balboa which was ok and it made Jammo happy. We then went and got our train which was called the Ghan after the afghans who used to run the camel trains that were the only way of getting from Adelaide up the middle of the country to Darwin before they built the railway. Apparently Australia now has the worlds largest population of wild camels which is weird. After the railway was built they released all the camels into the wild and they thrived. The train itself was actually reallly nice but the journey took 20 hours which wasn't that much fun.

The next day we arrived in Alice Springs and finally got off the train to be greeted by 42 degree heat and billions of flies. We then got a bus to Annies Place which was the hostel we were staying it. We then wandered into town which turns out to just be one street. The hostel itself is nice though and it had a pool which we went in and a bar which we also went in. The bar did $5 meals as well which is always good and $10 jugs of beer. We met up with Dave teh scot in Alice Springs. He used to live in the flat in Sydney which is how we knew him. We went for dinner and a couple of drinks in the bar but we were all knackered and knew we had an early start so got an early night except Dave who stayed up drinking.

The next day we got up at the crack of dawn and went on the Uluru tour which left at 6am. I'm pretty sure Dave was still drunk which was quite funny. The first day of the tour we drove on a minibus for about 6 hours stopping at a few rest stops which were basically shacks in the middle of nowhere with toilets, a couple of petrol pumps and small shops. Our tour guide was a guy called Panky who was quite cool and seemed to know lots about the area. At about midday we got to a place called Kings Canyon where we went for a 7km hike in 42 degree heat which was absolutely exhausting but it was pretty cool. I was quite proud of myself for actually doing it as a few people did give up including Sal. This was mostly because the first bit was the worst bit coz you had to climb a steep hill to get to the top of the 100m canyon. The views were impressive once you got there though. We stopped halfway round and went swimming in a billabong (waterhole) called 'The Garden of Eden' which was cool. After the hike we drove out to the campsite where we all helped cook dinner (there was 24 people on the tour) and sat around a campfire drinking beer and introducing ourselves. We then slept under the stars which was quite cool but a bit weird coz we were literally in the middle of nowhere.

The next day we got up at 5am and drove to the Olgas which are these weird rock formations where we did another hike called the Valley of the Winds. You could chose to do a 5.5km walk or a 7.4km walk. I chose the 5.5km one coz i was still knackered from the day before. This walk was much easier than that though. We then drove to the Uluru resort where we had lunch then went for a swim in a pool there. Then we left at about 3pm and went to see Ayers Rock and went into the cultural centre. We then went to see sunset at the rock and had dinner at the viewpoint. We didn't think the sunset was going to be very good because it was cloudy and the rock only goes red at sunset if its clear. However as the sun went down it just broke through the clouds so the rock did go a bit red. We then drove out to another campsite and set up another fire. This time we played drinking games one of which was a cross between musical chairs and i have never which was quite funny. We then slept under the stars again.

The next day we got up at 4.45am to drive to the rock again. I was thinking about climbing it because you have the choice of climbing it or walking around it. However as we got up it started to rain and you're not allowed to climb it if it has rained coz it'll be dangerous. This meant i had to walk 9.5km around it which was knackering and kinda pointless coz we had already driven around it. We then drove the 5 hours back to Alice Springs. Overall the tour was good but it was hard work and i could have done without the last day. When we got back to the hostel we showered which was nice coz i hadn't washed in 3 days. We then met up with the people we had been on tour with and we all had dinner together in the bar. I was shattered so thought i'd get an early night however this didn't happen because after a few drinks we decided to keep going and in the end i didn't get to bed till 4.30am having been up for 24 hours.

Woke up hungover which is horrible when its 40 degrees. Wandered into town for the fry up that my hangover was craving then went back for a lie down. Eventually got up and made it as far as the pool where i stayed for a couple of hours. We then all went out for a meal and a few beers as it was our last night together coz Dave was going to Darwin, Leah, Sal and Rick were going to Perth, and me, Gary and Jammo to Brisbane. We didn't stay up too late though coz we were knackered again.

Got up the next day and got the bus to the airport where we said our goodbyes to the others and got the plane to Brisbane. When we got to Brisbane we checked into Tinbillies hostel which is ok but our room doesn't have any windows and the air con is well loud. We then went to the bar next to the hostel for a $5.90 steak which was actually really nice. We then realised that they were showing the Liverpool v Man Utd game at 10.30 so decided to stay there. Wish i hadn't bothered to be honest. We were robbed, they never deserved to win that game. That bar shut at 1am so we changed into jeans and walked to another pub. That one shut at 3am so we found out that the only place that was still serving alcohol was the casino and went there. This was a bad idea coz we were all pretty drunk by this point and it just resulted in Gary losing money on electronic roulette. It was quite funny though. The rest of the night is a bit of a blur but apparently i fell asleep on a table in hungry jacks (what they call burger king over here). We got in about 6am and needless to say i was quite hungover when i got up this morning.

Anyway that brings us up to date. Tomorrow we leave Brisbane to go do the Fraser Island 4wd safari and sailing in the Whitsundays which should be awesome. Its all go at the moment but i'm having a great time and i'm seeing loads of Australia. Sorry this journal entry was so long but like i said i've been busy. Speak to you all soon.