Blog 3: hello and welcome to the 3rd chapter of Thomas and Johannas world adventures. We've decided to write blogs in epic segments. We're now in Australia, flaming dingo we made it, was a long journey using four planes, one taxi, one train and one friend collection got us to Adelaide. Purchased a extra flight to fly to Adelaide to meet up with nick and dan, who where staying at Kieran's and shobians. We arrived Thursday mid day while Nick and Dan were catching some rays on the beach. When Dan and nick arrived home we surprised with crazy arms and loud shouting. Although we had spoken and semi organised we hadn't 100% arranged the meet so it was a nice surprise (hopefully :-)). We chilled out the first day and had a well needed sleep. Friday was spent chilling and bit of shopping in the afternoon. In the evening the boys hit the town, nick didn't bring his id so we could set a light to the dance floor of the club but we definitely throu some shapes at the stag bar. Nick pulled out a amazing salt and pepper dance move which I smile everytime I think about it. Saturday was amazing..... Jacobs creek winery with free wine tasting. People that know me know I don't drink wine so it was just a opportunity to expand the taste buds and have a few free drinks. We went to a less popular winery called "Two hands" where we asked a staff member to explain wine / how to smell / how to drink and taste. Ryan was good fun. He took us through everything the wine experience has to offer. Johanna nick Danielle and myself are all now wine conusures (we must of been as we had tried over the day easily over 15 tasters each). In the evening we had a text from Justine and will about meeting up and going to their beach house. This was a opportunity we couldn't say no to, we were picked up and a two hour drive later we were at wallaroo (which is the most Australian name for a town in the whole country) after a tour of the amazing place we sat down to play uno and by complete accident finish a brand new litre bottle of absolute vodka. It was 6am before we knew it had spent the last hours drinking laughting and crazy dancing. We took a fresh air walk out on the beach to the sea. It sky was so amazing, no light pollution enabled us to see such a great sky, I was gob smacked. Will showed us the milk way galaxy which was mind blowing. There were talks of a bit of late night skinny dipping, but due to a 10 minute walk to get only ankle deep seemed pointless lol. Woke up for eggs on toast, quick walk on the beach in day light, it was beautiful. Two hour drive back to Adelaide and a goodbye to our Asia tour buddies again. We truly made two good friends who hopefully will come and visit in sunny london. Jo and I met back up with the Stapleton clang, to head off to a wild life park. We saw many Aussie animals. We held and had photos taken while having a hug with koala bears which was great fun, bit sharp on the old finger nails but was worth it. We then emptied our food bag to loads of baby kangaroo which was a great experience. We spent twenty minutes feeding the baby kangaroo not knowing that we had only got around 30% of the wild life park!!!! There were crocodiles, a black panther, dingos, monkeys, bats, birds, and ostrages. Didn't have the balls to feed the ostrages though lol. It was time to collect our camper van relocation that we had organised. A massive motor home which was extremely luxurious, Check out the photos. It was amazing as we only had to pay $5 a day between the four of us. We said our goodbyes to the Stapleton Aussies and headed out for the great ocean road. Took a full days drive to get to the beginning of the ocean road where we set up camp for the night in a lay by. Following day we drove the great ocean road, and it doesn't have the name 'great' for no reason. Absolutely picturess scenery Beach views, mountians, valleys and wooded sections. A lot nicer than the a406 trust me. Nick picked up a speeding fine due to not clear signs and had to pay a large fine but hey Ho. Police man let him off a few kph which meant it was only a fine. Hopefully his points don't come across to his uk licence. Completed the great ocean really in one day, which was quite rushed only had a few stops, the twelve apostles were very impressive though. Dropped the camper van back to the retail store and jumped on a train to the centre of Melbourne. The school kids on the train looked like they've come from edingbrough high (neighbours secondary school) Jo and I were smiling. We expected to be able to find a hostel with out any issues, this was not the case. After been turned away by three hostels due to being full, nick and I left the girls and bags at hungry jacks, (oz's version of burger king) and spilt up to find if certain hostels had any rooms. I was unsuccessful but nick had been successful, ten minute walk got us to nomads where we checked in to a 6 bed room with ensuite. the other beds were occupied by two lads from korea one spoke ok English one just laughed at everything. As it was valentines we went out for a meal but we were all so tired from the epic drive. Had a lovely meal and walk then hit the sack. In the morning nick paid off his speeding ticket and we jumped on a train to go to see the real Ramsey street. Journey was a bit of a mission, 30 mins on a train then a 10 minute bus ride got us to pin oak aka Ramsey street. First impressions was really small. Walked up to the houses which made me smile. Was wicked to be standing in the middle of the street looking at everyone's houses that I grew up watching on tv, (shame holly valiance isn't still in neighbours lol). There is 24 hour security on the street and they film on a random day once a week. We got there on wednesday and they had recorded on the tuesday which was a shame. Took loads of photos, was nice to see the street but a mission in the heat to get there. We didnt want to pay $50 each to go on the offical tour but ive heard thats a lot better than doing it yourself. Back on the train we went to Williamstown to go to a beach. As we got off the train there were a few paramedics and a old lady, by her feet was a body with a body bag covering over it. Everybody had to walk right past. It was a really weird feeling.... Jo and I have never seen a dead body. Although we didn't see under the cover it was still extremely powerful to walk past. We chilled out on the beach and got in to the water for the 1st Time on the holiday. Jo and dan caught some sun while nick and I went for a walk and a swim off the rocks. We cooked beans toast and jacket potato costing us nothing as we had been given a goodie bag from danielles sister in law. But we were still starving.... After dinner we went to the night market which was like Camden at night. The food smells were amazing. The market shut around 10. Cheeky old me devised a plan to ask did they need a hand getting through the unwanted food, we had, steak, lentils, chicken, prawn pizza, pancakes all for free it was such a result for us saving money that evening, although we had a few Sangrias while playing cards. The next day there were No relocation campervans available and the hostel was full that night, so have had to choose between a coach ticket or rent a camper for the remainder of time in oz. juicy rentals (small green and purple campervan) it was. We've been doing two hours driving each between the four of us and two people have to be awake at night. We drove all day and late into the night. We stopped at a service station to have a four hour sleep. When we woke up in the morning the car wouldn't start. Bit of a mission but after a phone call, 20 min wait the road side recovery man started the car with a battery pack and we were back on the road again. We parked up slapped on some sun lotion and walked on the bondi beach. Amazing white sand, beach busy at 11.30am. All went for a swim, then nick and myself decided to rent a body board for a hour. Was epic catching the waves. Jo joined in too. Next minute we saw something small swim past us . It was a fairy penguin chasing small fish into shallow water. It was amazing... We saw another one 10 minutes later. So we now claim We were body boarding with wild penguins on Bondi beach, yeah buddy....EPIC. We had a shower and drove to the city centre, parked up walked through the botanical gardens which nick spotted the biggest bats sleeping upside down from nearly every tree. We walked on to see the famous sydney harbour opera house and Sydney harbour bridge. Both fantastic. I never new that the opera was three separate buildings. Got some good photos and soaked up the views. Really romantic. We then headed to kings cross for a subway and to get Alex's address (nicks friend we were going to stay with in Newcastle). We parked the car in a one hour stop, went for dinner, shopped in a pound shop, nick and dan went on wireless in mc ds but was to slow, so we went on a Internet cafe pc, had a quick look around a adult shop and skipped back to the car. As we walked back to the car we remembered that we only had a hour free parking and we had been around 2 hours! Nick saw a ticket on the window and we all swore a bit... As nick read out the message we all breathed out. It was a note from a friendly neighbour stating that we should move our van as the area is high for clamp and removals. We were so relieved. Two hour drive north up the coast brought us to Newcastle. No answer from Alex's house we gave them a call and rocked up outside a bar they were in. We were all in chill out driving clothes, from the back of our van 10 mins later on the road side we looked respectable enough to join alex and his mates. Felt like a real pikey but enjoyed it lol. We met Alex who is a quality guy, rather tall at 6.7. We also caught up with tim, a Aussie who had worked in the uk and we took him to Brighton for the day last year. Tim was wasted and jumping all over us like a dog waiting for its owner to come home from work, it was so nice as he's such a legend. One of us had to drive as we couldn't leave the van anywhere so i decided to not drink. As the evening was late and I knew that we wouldn't be getting that drunk, one beer and one coke was enough to get me dancing with Jo dan and nick on the dance floor. The next day we went to a beach, the waves over here are crazy. Nothing like We've swam in before. You can't have a relaxing swim here, you swim as far out as you feel comfortable and bob and dive through massive waves crashing on top of you. It's so fun. Nick and Alex taught us how to surf the waves with your own body, quality and pretty epic to surf a wave on your belly. That afternoon we were due to go to the sand dunes but decided not to as we wanted to relax before a big night. We went and brought some ingredients and mine jos and dans first box of what the locals call goon bag. A box of cheap cheap wine (4 litres) we had a lovely spag bowl and went back out to another beach where us boys went for a swim as the sunset. There was a max of 8people out in the sea that night including the 4 of us me, chris, alex and nick. When we got in the water is was still just light, after 15 minutes of messing around and swimming out quite far to play in the surf nick and I saw a fin bob out of the water around 30 meters to NW of us. We looked at each other, looked back at the dark water to see the fin come to the surface and disappear again. It's hard to explain the situation in words, adrenaline kicked in to say the least. Nick and I shouted, we saw a fin. We all started to swim as fast as we could..... (it was so exciting, scary, funny, nervous and mind blowing)The tide had dragged us out quite far. As we stopped to catch a breathe, Alex's mate Chris was shouting "stick together, stick together". I was on the outside closet to the fin so I wasn't to excited about sticking together (as I would be getting eaten 1st lol), as I had looked back at the section of sea where we saw the fin, Alex was ducking his head under the water to see if he could hear dolphin sounds. He couldn't, as he announced he couldn't we began another frantic swim back to the beach. We all made it back to the beach out of breath but adrenaline running so high. I walked over to the girls half shaking half laughing and said have you realised why us boys have swam back in so quite, Jo replies with a no. So I tell them we saw a fin and swam for our life's lol. We where all looking at the section of the sea where we saw the fin but couldnt see anything. Alex was explaining if it was a dolphin we would of been able to hear it making sounds under the water. About ten minutes later we saw a small family of dolphins swimming across the ocean, locals Alex and Chris were adamant that it must of been a dolphin, I'm quietly adamant that it was a shark!!!!! Lol. I will never forget that late swim experience, the emotions where crazy. We went back to the house after our adrenaline had got back to normal and then the drinking got started. We started with some epic beer pong, which Alex and myself beat nick and another housemate. After a few hours we had all destroyed a goon bag, two bottles of wine and a few beers. Slightly swaying and all in good spirits we hopped in a cab and went to see Tim perform in a hotel bar. Tim sings and plays the guitar, x factor watch out, Tim is amazing. Few drinks there then on to the club.
(this is johanna finishing blog part three hope you enjoy). I forgot my Id and the bounces are very strict on letting you in to clubs. In newcastle they don't even let you buy shots, and you have to buy your alcohol in a liquor store next door to the supermarket. Anyways so we didn't get in, so Tim decided that we all have a night cap at his (goon and pineapple) which we were all glad we went because we had our own private performance from Tim who's just amazing told him I wanted him 2 play at my wedding, if only Tom could serenade me like that lol. we ended up staying at tim's till 4 in the morning with him, his mates and sausage dog. Great evening though and quality time catching up with him.
Following day all very hungover and a messy room of empty beer pong cups, Tom and I got up and cleaned up before heading out to the beach again with alex, nat, dan, nick and tim came met us. Best hangover cure ever we shared a steak burger b4 a game of volley ball on the roasting sand. After my poor attempt to play volley ball we all went for a swim and tried to body surf the waves, Dan and i where always 20 feet away from the rest of the group because the waves kept pulling us back to shore good laugh. After the beach we headed back to the house for some down time before Nat left to go home as she lives 3 hours away and is Alex's Gf. After a chill out we headed to the sand dunes which were about 30 mins away. We saw a snake on the road avoiding it so it didn't jump up under car. We parked up and followed Alex through a forest walk way, like dan always does she needed a pee Lol so I waited with her while the boys walked ahead not knowing that this whole 10 minute walk was full of giant Mosquitos, Dan and i became swamped with them. I ran around in circles trying to keep the Mosquitos off my body, while dan peed and fell really bad on my ankle and knee which I think is very badly sprained (always me on holiday if your reading it mum lol) but i struggled through avoiding a massive spider web, the pain and itchyness of all 20 bites on my body was all worth it 'sort of' says me itching now writing this. The sand dunes were spectacular and breath taking with the sunset. limping through the layers upon layers of sand we were the only ones there except later on a few quad bikers who took the giant hills like crazy nutters. We were all in amazement of the stunts they were all performing. After taking millions of photos enjoying the silence and 50 handstands later we decided to make a move before it got too dark and the dingos came out. On the way back we had to run back yhrought the wooded area, we all stuck together and ran like a bunch of weirdos waving our arms and flapping their feet. We all felt a bit of adrenaline as even once we got through the wooded area we had a few Mosquitos and a massive hornet following us down the hill back to the van. On the way home Alex taught us a game the Aussies play called hey cow. What you do is take it in turns as you drive past a farm full of cows (or sheep or horses) yo shout as loud as you can, HEY COW and it works on a point basic for how ever many cows look up, Alex got 3, I got 22 but I did stop and shout extremely loud. We had our dinner in the camper van right next to the beach before a night stroll or for me limp lol.
Time to head back to Alex's for our last night of luxury with cooked food, washing clothes and showering we all packed our stuff ready to head out the next morning it had been an amazing weekend with great company. Anyways back to today while I'm writing this 20th February we said farewell to Alex and his room mates b4 they went to work, loaded the van and we set out on our way. I wanted to go get my leg checked out but was 1.5hrs wait to been seen in medic centre so I left it and got a knee support and strong antihistamines for bites in pharmacy, so we could be straight back on the road to our next destination Byron bay 9 hr drive ahead of us we stocked up on goods. 5 hours into our drive and had our lunch over looking the beach with amazing views and a lovely ham and coleslaw sandwich yum. And now at 19.12 all of us still itching away were about an hour and half away from our next destination. Over and out untill our next update.... Living the dream, p.s we've nick named our juicy van Roger, he's a true legend. :-)