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Hi Guys
Wow!!! Its been ages since we updated you on our world wind adventure! and we ve done so much...so i'll try and keep it as short as poss but you know what we re like....its gonna be another long one.
So, last time bryn wrote we had just done the whitsundays sailing trip which was amazing and were heading down to harvey bay on the overnighter to hit fraser island!! Fraser Island was fantastic. Apparantly the biggest sand island in the world, we headed over there with a suitabley big 4 x 4 truck and 8 other people who formed 'the crazy group' for the 3 days. After cramming all the kit, which included camping stuff and the all important food and plenty of drink...including our firsy Goon which is wine in a box that costs about 4 quid for a 4 litre box...wow!!, we headed across to Fraser on the ferry boat with a load of other 4 x4 s. The island was amazing...plenty of sand and some awesome off road driving..including some hairy moments from a crazy dutch woman who nearly toppled us over at one point (sure we were fine, but you should have seen everybodies faces, and there white knucles afterwards) We spent most of the day at lake mackenzie where the sand was as white as snow and it was actually fresh water...wooo!! why oh why cant the sea be fresh...somebody needs to sort that out :-) The first night, we pitched up camp in the dark after getting completely lost and rocking up to the beach pretty late. We soon made up for it though with an awesome BBQ and plenty of that goon i mentioned earlier. After a pretty 'cosy' sleep with 4 of us in a small tent...the next day (after recovering from a goon hangover) we headed out and explored the rest of the island. The island had ship wrecks, amazing cliff faces and plenty of whale watching to offer which was awesome! Another nights camping followed and then atrip back to the the amaxing lake mackenzie before heading back to 'real' land! Oh forgot to mention, also saw wild dingoes which was pretty cool...apparently the purest breed in Oz! Met some great p[eople on the triip which added to the amazingness of the 3 days.
After a night at hervey bay, we headed down to Brisbane where we were looking forward to a real house at last...as we were staying with our friend andrew. The house was amazing and just outtside Brisbane so was great for getting into the centre on the city cat (catamaran type bus thing). The first night Andrew showed us the town, which was pretty cool..arriving back in as his parents got up (was a late one, but in our fareness, his parents were early risers too). The following day we headed up to a beach at Noosa Heads where we had a BBQ true aussie style. The next day was an early ris e for a trip to Australia Zoo, yep the Steve Irwins zoo, the crocodile hunter himself (RIP). The Zoo was great with plenty of Kangaroos hopping around that we could chill out with and feed and some good tiger and croc shows. Andrew had been there 17 times so knew it inside out...in fact last time he went he saw steve irwin wrestle a croc...amazing!! The last day in Brissy was spent at the XXXX brewery which involved a tour around the brewery and 4 free drinks in the bar afterwards, including sampling their original recepie which you can only get there.
It was from one house to another next (we were practically not backpackers at this point) and another aussie BBQ and beers. The following day we decided to go to Wet N Wild waterpark. Unfortunately we picked the busiest day of the year which was a shame, but still had a laugh!!
The next stop was surfers paradise, which to our surprise was a huge city! We spent a couple of days there checking the beaches out and the rest of the city. Even managed to go up to the top of the worlds tallest residential tower and in true me and Bryn style (very unbackpackery) had a bottle of red wine at the top.
Well eveyone, the guy in the Internet cafe is chucking us out at 1100 so im gonna have to tease you and say that were in Sydney now but am going to hold back our adventures here until next time! lol sorry
TEASE OVER.... Sorry about that the china man obviously wanted to go home early..tut tut! So anyway, as i was saying, surfers paradise was great and it was straight down to a more ozzy beach town called Byron Bay. Byron Bay is classed as analternative town, whatever that means, so evrybody was pretty chilled out and quirky looking. A night out with two german girls the first night after a hostel BBQ turned into a good night and involved some dancing on tables etc. The following day it was up to the light house...and wait for it...we ran up to the light house on our first jog since travelling...how super fit we felt...or until about 5 mins in anyway and before the huge hill at the end. The top was well worth the jog though with amazing views of the bay and out to sea where we saw plenty of whales and even a pod of dolphins riding the waves. At the top we headed to Australias most eastery point, which as the name suggests is the most easterly point in Oz...enough said. :-)
The following day was a weird and wonderful day trip into Nimbin, which is the pace where all the hippies who still think its 1964 hang out. The bus ride out there was awesome....a very witty hippy style bus driver come amazing DJ...the whole journey was to relevant songs and some real classics too! Nimbin was very strange, plenty of hippy places and everything that goes along with hippyness. On the way back we stopped off at a mad mans house and chilled out with him for a while before returning back to the now very normal Byron Bay, or at least until the evening when we headed to a hippy type bar.
It was time to say goodbye to Byron the next day and hello to Sydney and Aunty and Uncle Pete in Manly. After a overnight bus and early arrival in Sydney, we caught the ferry accross to Manly where we got our first look at the world famous Opera house and Harbour Bridge...spectacular views and our cameras were certainly feeling the abuse of our forefinger...plenty of photos!! It was off to the pubs for some lunchtime drinks with Uncle Pete which was great and even a stop off at the bottle shop on the walk home for a quick stubby outside.
After catching up with Pete and dinner in manly the night before, we headed to explore Sydney properly. The place is amazing!! the views are spectacular and everywhere just oooozes style. We got the chance to finally do our bridge climb on the harbour bridge which was fantastic. A 3 hour trip which involved getting dressed up into ridicolous jump suits and scaling the structure of the bridge over sheer drops and up over the arch to the top. The wind was incredible at the the top, but that did nt take anything away from the spectacular 360 views over Sydney. A few photos later and lots of ooohhhhs and ahhhhs, it was the long hike down to the base.
As had to be done whilst in Oz, let alone sydney, we ventured out to BONDI Beach which was great. As far as beaches go, we ve both seen better, but the surf was incredible. The waves were pretty big so decided against trying to surf them as beginners, thanks to advice from a local, and rented a body board each instead. The body boarding was fantastic. The waves were really powerful and catching a wave ensured you got propelled into shore pretty fast if you managed to hang on without being wiped out by the crashing wave. So next its surfing on a bit of a calmer day!
Which brings us to toaday...woo!! We headed for a tour around the opera house today and found out everything there is to know about the place...so test us when we get back!! Following that we boarded a jet powered boat for a mad, very fast and wet trip around the harbour. Donning very sexy bright yellow 'ponchos' which we assumed would keep us dry, we headed out a hell of a speed around the bay, pulling 360 turnd, power brakes and anything else the driver could think of that would get us wet. After the 45 min ride we were soaking and lay out under the opera house to dry out for an hour.
Well guys that brings us to now...phew! Next stop, prob Tues is eden for some whale watching on a boat and then its Melbourne for our final stop in Oz...booo hooo
ANyway, hope all is good at home
Speak soon, Ryan and Bryn
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