Thurs 3rd,After a lovely day yesterday today was full of rain so plan B was put into operation,all we could do was go window shopping in the mall and in the undercover market,Ian bought a couple of jackets and Jamie bought a hoodie all in preperation for New Zealand,I bought some earings and a necklace so I will freeze but look cool,when the rain stopped later myself Jamie and Harriet walked to the Opera House to see the lights on the roof change colour,very nice,we stayed for a while and saw a few changes but then the rain came again so we got back to the hostel,for a couple of drinks in the dry.

Fri 4th,I checked out of my hostel and headed to the train station to catch the 11.28 to Woolongong and stay with my auntie and uncle for a few day's,my cousin Ian picked me up at the station and took me to my aunties in Warilla,had a good catch up with them as I had'nt seen them for 22 years,had a good family meal at Ian's and watched a film called Passengers,Ian and Jamie stayed at the Wake up hostel.

Sat 5th,Had a great day out with my auntie and uncle,they took me to Kiama to see the blow hole,it's where there is a hole in a rock formation and when the waves crash against the rocks it shoots up through the hole hence the name,we then drove to an old town called Berry then onto Cambewarra lockout where you can see for miles over 5 towns and the Shalhven River,had a good meal at the master builders club and walked along the harbour,back home to watch Avtar,Ian and Jamie had a day in the hostel as it rained all day.

Sun 6th,Ian picked me up in his V8 Ford,we went to Stanwell tops to look out over the Illawarra coastline then we walked over the coast bridge,a bit of a tourist attraction as it was only built a few years ago because the old road was getting too dangerous to drive on,the rocks above keeped falling onto the road,then we went to Nan Tien Temple(another chineese one,not my 1st )then onto Minnamurra Falls and walk on the bridges over the rain forest,got back at 4pm for a lovely Sunday roast.

Mon 7th,Another nice day so went to a small town called Shellharbour,had a walk down the beach and went to a nice club for a curry and trifle,it was time to say goodbye to everyone and catch the 16.08 train back to Sydney,met up with the boy's, Harriet Vannesa and Rob,we all went out to an Italian restaurant in Darling Harbour to celebrate Harriet's birthday,earlier in the day they went out in a boat in the rain and cold to go whale watching,had a few drinks after in the Side Bar.

Tues 8th,Vanessa joined us for a trip to Manly,we were lucky with the weather when we caught the 1.30 ferry from Sydney Harbour,had a walk round the town and the nice beach,we had to get back to Sydney before 5pm to book our car for our next road trip,booked the car through backpackers then myself and Jamie celebrated with a Thai curry.

Wed 9th,We checked out of Wake up hostel and got a taxi to Travellers Autobarn car hire,the car was due to be ready for 10am but when we got there on time the car was'nt ready due to an accident before,so they said,after a phone call the car was due back at 3pm,myself and Jamie had a walk around Hyde Park then into a park to watch some local football while Ian went into town,we all met up again at 3pm and low and behold the car was there,a Ford Falcon station wagon,because of the delay they knocked a day's rental and waved an extra $46 we were due to pay for extra equipment,Sydney in rush hour is'nt good and we eventually got out of the city at 5pm,drove a couple of hours untill we arrived in really cold Katoomba,booked into YHA hostel $31 well spent as it was lovely and warm.

Thurs 10th,The weather quite nice this morning so we travelled the short distance to the Blue Mountains,we parked the car up and walked to Gordon Falls and Leura Cascades,both have nice scenic views and a bit of a walk to get to the top but well worth the effort,we then walked to the famous 3 sisters rocks,got back to the car and drove to Scenic World,a big complex that covers a large area of the mountains,we bought a combination ticket $28 that included a sky cablecar which went past Katoomba Falls then we travelled on the steepest train in the world(an old mine train)and had a walk around the old mine village after that we boarded another cable car back to the top of the mountain,we got back in the car and heading to Cowra for the night,unfortunatly for me another kangaroo decided to see how hard the front of the car was and smashed the headlight and cracked the bumper,again we did'nt look behind but I think he was ok,arrived in Cowra and booked into a family room in the Motel Inn $140.

Fri 11th,Checked out of hostel and had a lovely McDonalds breakfast,back on the road along the Mid Western Highway heading through Hay then onto Mildura where we will stop for the night,booked into the International Hostel,this place was a proper hostel mainly for travellers who were working,basic rooms but ok,Jamie and Ian had a room on there own I was in with 3 other lad's who had smelly feet(lucky me),not a lot to do in this place so walked into the town centre and had a $10 chineese meal walked back to the hostel and watched the openning game of the world cup with the locals,South Africa 1 Mexico 1.

Sat12th,Another treat for us a McDonalds brekie then on our way to Adelaide,arrived at 14.30 and booked into Backpacker Oz,a place in 2 parts the hostel with dorms and the other side of the road was the guesthouse where we stayed only because we sorted out a deal with the lady,we watched footie for a while then went to bed about 11pm and set our alarms for 3am so we could go into town to the Sports bar to watch England V USA the things we do for our country.

Sun 13th,We all woke up about 3.20am hardly rarring to go but duty calls,myself and Jamie left to go to the bar Ian was too comfortable in the room so he stayed here to watch the game,the pub was packed with expectant fans even the Oz's were wearing England colours but we were all let down as we all know but hey ho be better next game,walked back to the hostel and back to bed for 7am then back up again at 9.30 to check out,onto our next location Mt Gambier,we decided we had the camping gear why not use it(a bad idea as it turns out)we booked into Central Caravan park only a small place but enough for the car and tent,walked into the town and had a nice curry,after dinner we walked up the high road and found this pub with live music,on a Sunday they had a jamming session,it seemed like everyone in the pub could play an instrument or sing apart from us 3,they kept on changing the band but all of them were really good,they played all sorts of music,we were hoping to stay here all night but they had been on the session(music and beer)all afternoon so they stopped about 8ish then went to the bar next door where we watched a bit more footie,we got back to the camp site,Ian slept in the car and myself and Jamie got into the 2 man tent,it was;nt too bad at first but as the night wore on it was bloody freezing,I endded up wearing a hat and gloves as well as a jacket and long johns,needless to say we wont be doing that again unless we have to,good laugh though,happy birthday to Stuart(Ian's brother)and his nan.

Mon 14th,Another MaC's brekie then on our way again,this time we will be driving along the Great Ocean Road,the weather was good at first and kept on thinking it would be nice to be doing this on our bikes,we stopped off at loads of lookout points to take photo's of the great scenery and the rock formations,the weather cahnaged about a 1/3 of the way along the road and started spitting but was still a good journey,got to Geelong where we would stay for the night in the Geelong National Hotel,a pub with rooms upstairs,had a nice curry in there and then watched the Dutch beat Denmark 2 0.

Tues 15th,Checked out of our luxury room and back in the car heading for Melbourne,we would have driven into Melbourne and had a look round but the time was getting on to get the repairs done in the car,I rang my cousin who lives in Wolongong to help us out.he has the contacts so said leave it to him and he will sort it,we would be passing thier place anyway so we would'nt need to detour,we stopped off at the Travelers Rest Motel in Bainstale,a nice place $105 though for a family room but we had a good sleep.

Wed 16th,Back on the road again for 9.30,my turn to drive and we would try and get as near to Woolongong as we could to give them plenty of time to order the new light and fix the bumper,we got to Nowra about an hours drive from Wolongong,we stopped at the Nowra Motor Inn for the night,another family room this time a bit cheaper at $100 for the room but bloody cold in there,had a nice spag bowl and watched Chile beat Honduras 1 0

Thurs 17th,Up and away again nice and early,if this was England at this time of the morning the traffic would be a nightmare but here hardly any traffic so we got to Warrilla in plenty of time,my uncle met us and took us round to the garage where the mechanic was pleasantly suprised that thee damage was'nt too bad,if you hit a Red kangaroo full on it can right your car off so we were still quite lucky,he said he would give us a call later when it was ready,we went out to lunch and got a phone call at 5pm to say the car was ready,only charged us $120 so a bit of a result,we had already made plans to stay the night at my cousin Ian's house so a nice big chicken dinner and we were sorted.

Fri 18th,Drove into Sydney and dropped our bags off at the Mountbatten Hotel,then nervously back to the hire company hoping they would'nt notice the cracks in the bumper as the mechanic could only super glue it,he must have done a good job on it because he did'nt notice it and once we got the agreement back we were off and running(not literally)but walking quite quickly,checked in the hotel then walked up to Sydney Harbour Bridge to have pancakes on the rocks a famous place where believe it or not you eat some lovely pancakes.We went back to the hotel and got ready to go to see a band called Gyroscope at a venue close to the hotel,saw three bands altogether 2 of them were pretty good,had something to eat then went back to bed for a few hours as we were gettin up again at 3am to watch England v Algeria on big screens at Darling Harbour.

Sat 19th,As everyone one knows the game was crap so back to bed for us at 6.30am,got up about midday and got the train to the Olympic stadium (ANZ)to watch England V Australia in a rugby test match,we won the game 21- 20 thanks to thier kicker missing an easy penalty near the end but we deserved the win anyway,the day was made all the better as it was Jamie's birthday,we went back to the city centre and into Scruffy Murphy's to watch Australia draw 1 1 with Ghana.

Sun 20th,Just hanging around today waiting for our 8pm Greyhound to Melbourne,walked to Darling Harbour again and had lunch in the Mountbatten before heading to the coach parking bay,got settled on the bus as this was our last trip on the Greyhound and the longest one 10 hours.

Mon 21st,Arrived in Melbourne ok and checked into Base hostel,got the tram into town and had a walk round,I lost Ian and Jamie and ended up doing a tour of Victoria Parliment building which was really interesting,met back up with the boy's later and had dinner in La Roche restaurant and watched Portugal stuff Korea 6 0.

Tues 22nd,Met up with Vanessa and went to La Roche again for some brunch,back in the hostel we played a poker tournament which I held my nerve to win the main prize,yep a jug of beer,after the poker we put a team in the quiz and finished a creditable 4th,Vanessa off to bed early as she had an early flight to Sydney,we booked our transport round NZ with the Kiwi Experience,we got a great deal $355 65% off an offer we could'nt refuse,we also booked a sports tour that we would be doing in the morning.

Wed 23rd,Up at 7.30 for a tram journey to town to catch our minibus tour,first on the list was the Flemington racecourse,home of the Melbourne cup,we stayed here for a while and took some photo's and had a walk round,next up was the impressive MCG stadium(Melbourne cricket club)a massive place seating 90,000 fans,they use it not only for the cricket but Aussie rules and rugby as well as some gigs,we had a good guide who knew everything about the place,we then went to the Etihad stadium for lunch,another impressive place that holds 40,000 seated fans mainly for events,after lunch we drove round the Melbourne Grand Prix circuit(Albert Park),last on the tour was the Rod Laver stadium,had a great tour round all parts of the stadium,this is where the Australian Open is held,the guide told us that Prince William wanted to meet up with Andy Murray to wish him luck before his semi final match but being the Scottish git he is he said why would I want to meet him he's english and im Scottish,knew he was anti English but now want him to lose all the time,after a great day it was back to town to watch England beat Slovenia 1 0, in the Elephant and Wheelbarrow ,were on our way! Thurs 24th,nice day again so walked down to St Kilda beach,then walked into town and boarded the free sightseeing tram,stayed on here for a couple of hours and got off to have a look round the casino,a big building with a load of slot machines oh and some card tables,enough said.We are now on our way to NZ,have loved Oz,great scenery on the West coast with friendly people and drank too much on the East coast but did some amazing things.