Nov 2008

Just before Mount Gambier on our journey to Adelaide we crossed a line of longitude that took us into South Australia, and bizarrely took our clocks back by just 30 minutes (it took us a while to realise we needed to do that). And so I soon found myself in my fourth state capital city, Adelaide.

To quote Bill Bryson, Adelaide is the driest city in the driest state in the driest country in the driest inhabited continent on the planet. It's quite dry. And yet they still find enough water to maintain over 1,500 acres of parks in the city. If you look at the facts, Adelaide should be a great place. The city centre is nicely laid out, two identical halves opposite each other surrounded by parks that separate it from the suburbs. It has a good tram service, nice beaches such as at Glenelg, it's easy to find things (unlike Melbourne) and has two or three streets that are positively banging at night time. And yet no-one seems to have a good word to say about it, and backpackers often avoid it completely without even seeing it.

I actually liked Adelaide, for all the reasons listed above. Okay, I was only there for a few days but I saw enough to draw that simple conclusion. The weather is nice and hot, about 30 degrees most days, and there's something for everyone. It doesn't have a booming economy and there isn't much work for someone like me there, but I'm sure it's a nice enough place to live.

That's about all I have to say on Adelaide. Oh, one more thing - how's this for a novel idea? There's a bar in Adelaide that let's you play paper-scissor-stone with the bar staff for every drink you buy. If you win, you get it for free, otherwise you pay a slightly over-the-top price for it. How cool is that?

One more thing to report - I've given up on my tank of a camera and have purchased a more modern Nikon Coolpix camera, 7.1 megapixels and a chargeable battery so I won't have to carry round a suitcase of AAs everywhere I go. I got it with a 2Gb SD card for just under 120 quid. Bargain. Hopefully my pictures will be a bit better from now on.

Next update from Perth, home of the great climate. I'm already in Perth of course as I'm backdating but I'll save the gossip for later.

An uneventful morning in Hobart led to our arrival in Melbourne at 4pm and within an hour we were back on the road in a rather sporty Toyota Aurion - a free upgrade as Hertz had run out of crappy cars to give us. Not a typical backpacker's car but we weren't complaining. Our destination for the night was Torquay, the surf capital of Australia and pretty much the start of the Great Ocean Road, but along the way we went through Geelong and took in a series of small towns that form what is known as the Bellarine. I have nothing to report from those places, and I don't have much to report from Torquay either apart from that it's full of bleached surf dudes and is the original home of surf shops such as RipCurl and Billabong. The weather was pretty rubbish which admittedly didn't help our impression of these places.

Onto the next day. The weather was still crappy but improved as the day went on. We started our journey towards our next stop, Warrnambool, by taking in a few coastal points such as Point Danger, Surf Beach, Jun Juc, Winkipop Beach and Point Addis. Next up was Aireys Inlet, home to Split Point lighthouse (the lighthouse from 'Round The Twist!'), and then we reached Coalmine Creek, the entrance to the Great Ocean Road.

The road was built as a memorial to WWI by 3,000 returned servicemen and took approximately 13 years to finish. The idea is that you drive along it, taking in the ocean views as you go, and just pick amongst the umpteen million places and things to do along the way. Some do it in a day, others take weeks. We took about 3 days to do the journey which, given the crummy weather, was plenty of time.

It wouldn't have been a roadtrip for us if we hadn't seen some waterfalls, so we took a butchers at Erskine Falls before stopping for a quick sunbathe at Apollo Bay. Eventually we mustered up the energy to complete the final part of the journey to Warrnambool - via the Twelve Apostles.

The Twelve Apostles are a very famous landmark in Australia, a set of limestone stacks that have been formed by erosion over time. There are actually only 8 left - the 9th fell in 2005 - but noone seems to care about that little fact. The main attraction is the view at sunset or sunrise which is, apparently, spectacular. So spectacular in fact that after checking them out and driving to Warrnambool to check in we drove back to take in the sunset - only to be denied by clouds. We weren't the only ones, mind, there were probably a few hundred people there at sunset. Warrnambool was pretty much dead when we got back so we grabbed some fast food and went back to the hostel for a few drinks before bed.

The next and final overnight stop on the journey was Robe, a small town 3 hours south of Adelaide. The map didn't offer many suggestions along the way so we tried to do our best with the scant offerings we could find.

First of all we went to see the lake at the centre of Tower Hill, which was in fact bone dry from drought. We did however get to see some enormous emus there, very close to the path we were walking along. Having navigated our way past them we drove to Portland and Cape Bridgewater where we tried desperately to find a beach to suit the improved weather but failed miserably apart from a small grey looking beach in Portland that overlooked a massive oil rig. Then, when all hope was lost, we meandered through Mount Gambier, the second biggest city in South Australia, and decided to take a look at the Blue Lake from the lookout point. Finally, something to gasp at after a 3 day journey!! I can't describe the shade of blue of the lake and I doubt my camera does in justice either - it really is something to behold.

The remainder of the road to Robe was a mixture of barren wasteland and - well, nothing at all. Totally uninteresting. We had mixed emotions when we arrive din Robe; on one hand we were glad to be off that boring road, but on the other hand we knew that there was nothing to do in Robe either. Catch 22.

The hostel - the Robe YHA - was certainly impressive. It's like a mansion, only one floor but huge and we had a room to ourselves with 10 beds to choose from (only four of us). There was also a fantastic library with beautiful leather sofas, bathrooms the size of houses, nice gardens and an awesome hostel dog to mess about with, a particularly lively chocolate labrador. And all this for just 10 pounds a night each! For that money you'd be lucky to get a sofa to sleep on in Sydney. As for Robe itself - nothing to report, unless being joint winner of 'Best Medium Sized Town' in 2007 is really the claim to fame that they make out.

And so we reached the final chapter on our journey to Adelaide. We left Robe at 10:30am and arrived at the Hertz depot at 2pm, minutes before they shut the doors. And so now I'm in Adelaide, it's hot - just over 30 degrees - and we're off to explore and see if Adelaide is really as dull as people say it is. After 10 consecutive nights in different places it'll be nice to spend 3 nights in the same hostel; after that it'll be off to Perth.

Day 1

I've met several people on my travels who have told me that going to Tasmania is a waste of time as you can just visit New Zealand for the same price and see similar sights but on a grander scale. Complete nonsense - I had a fabulous time in Tasmania and there's quite a few things that New Zealand can't possibly offer, as you'll see.

We got up in Melbourne at silly o'clock in the morning and after a short one hour flight arrived at Hobart at 8:30am. By the time the others arrived at 9:30am we had our 7 seater car from the rental company and were ready to rock and roll.

Tasmania is a fascinating little place (well, a similar size to England actually) that many people seem unable to comprehend. Two people in our group didn't know Tasmania was part of Australia. It is of course one of the six states of Australia, along with the two previously covered in my blog - New South Wales and Victoria. Its capital is Hobart, a proper city with an economy, a big port and even an international test match cricket ground. Tasmania has a total population of about 500,000 people. There's no international airport so you can only fly into Hobart or Launceston from the mainland.

We checked into our hostel, the Pickled Frog in Hobart, strolled into the city centre for a bite to eat and left for our first destination, the Tasmanian Devil Park, at 1pm.

I learnt two main things from seeing the Devils at the park. The first is that they're nothing like the cartoon character Taz, not just in looks of course but in character. They go a little bit wild at feeding time but for most of the day they just lounge about on top of each other, sleeping in the shade and just generally being peaceful. The second thing is that the Devils are facing a serious extinction threat due to a mysterious facial cancer that scientists are still trying to work out - it's believed that the Devil population has halved in the last decade. It's a big issue for the people of Tasmania having lost their other icon, the Tasmanian Tiger, and having to work out how to deal with the highly intelligent European red fox that somehow appeared in 2001 and is threatening to wipe out the Devils due to their decreasing number - previously the Devils were taking care of the foxes but now the foxes are getting more and more food and increasing in number.

The highlight of the park was the kangaroo feeding. They bring out a huge bucket of green grain and you just fill your hands with it and wander over to some roos and let them munch out of your hands. At one point a massive one came bounding towards me while I was feeding a smaller one, grabbed my hands with its front paws and selfishly gobbled up the rest in no time at all, leaving the smaller one to go and find some food elsewhere. Cool. There was some other stuff going on including a bird of prey exhibition similar to the one I saw in Devon last year, and then we moved on to Port Arthur at the very bottom right of the island, a former penal colony with a rough history and also the home to a gun suicide massacre in 1996.

Port Arthur was advertised as an inescapable prison - like Alcatraz - this reputation was helped by the shark infested waters that surround it. One person managed to escape by covering himself in a kangaroo hide and hopping across the plains but gave himself up when the guards started to shoot at him so they could have something for dinner. Prisoners were hooded and forced into complete silence, and also had to build most of the buildings that make up the colony. Boys as young as nine were sent there for stealing toys. Prisoners were subjected to psychological rather than physical torture and many inmates tried to kill themselves or others in an attempt to escape it. 1,646 people died in the penal colony during the 40 years it was open.

Looking around the old buildings was interesting without being exciting. We were a bit late and so we only got a twilight pass and a few of the buildings were closed when we got there. Still, we saw it and ticked it off the list of things to do in Tasmania, then drove back to Hobart with some beautiful sunset views on the way.

In the evening we had a few drinks and a fantastic curry that gave me truly horrendous wind, then it was off to bed ready for a busy day - as they'd all turn out to be in Tasmania.

Day 2

Today we checked out the east coast of Tasmania. We started off by taking a 2 hour drive to Coles Bay/Freycinet Park and marched confidently up the walking path to check out Wineglass Bay, one of Tasmania's most famous attractions. Pretty soon we were reduced to piles of sweat crawling up the steep and seemingly never-ending trail, battling against the humidity and the slippery path. We reached the lookout point after about 45 minutes and discovered, to our absolute horror, that it was full of Chinese tourists who had no intention of getting out of the way. Marvellous. Just in case they were about to head down towards the bay we grabbed a quick kodak moment over their heads and quickly rushed down the path ahead of them.

The weather wasn't the greatest, overcast and humid, so we didn't spend very long on the beach. A quick bit of snorkelling, spoilt by some pretty meaty waves, and then it was time to walk back up the path to the car. Ouch. I had to change t-shirts when we got back as mine was drenched with sweat. Pretty gross but unavoidable.

From there we drove all the way up the coastal road to St Helens, our stop-off for the night, where we checked into the YHA and went to the RSL for some food and, to our great surprise, some live entertainment from a local band. I really can't describe how bad they were - we were literally in tears, the (old) singer couldn't sing at all and the guitars were hopelessly out of tune. I immediately didn't want to stay in St Helens for more than that one night.

One more journey before we tucked into some drinks - to Binalong Bay to see a bit of the Bay of Fires, a stunning stretch of coast formed by huge rocks turned red by iron ore. We spent about 15 minutes there until it went dark, and then went back to St Helens to see what was going on in terms of evening activities - it was, after all, Australia Day, so surely there'd be something to do?

If you're ever in Tasmania do not, under any circumstance, stay in St Helens. It's the hickiest of hick towns, everyone is related to each other and there's an ongoing competition for best mullet that even the women take part in. As you can probably tell, I wasn't impressed and couldn't wait to get out of there. Fortunately we only had a few hours to suffer before we all flaked out at the hostel and got up even earlier in the morning for a huge journey to the west side of the island.

Day 3

It took just over 4 hours to reach Cradle Mountain National Park from St Helens. Our accomodation was in the park itself - Cosy Cabins YHA Lodge - so we checked straight in and headed down to the various walking routes, which we did in the following order:

- Pencil Pine Falls
- Knyvet Falls
- Enchanted Stroll
- King Billy Track

The walks were quiet which gave us poetic license to explore off the pathways in a few places, in particular the two waterfalls where we got as close as we could by jumping across the rocks in the streams, sometimes a bit precariously, but that all stopped for me when I spotted a big black snake disappearing into a crevice on a bank near one of the falls.

Fairly exhausted and hungry, we strolled into the main Cradle Mountain Lodge for some expensive food and drinks in front of a steaming hot fire in leather armchairs overlooking the lake. Lovely. Then back to the cabin for drink, a few games of cards and a well-earned sleep. Trekking around Tasmania is certainly hard work.

Day 4

Monday was pencilled in as a day of boozing in Tasmania's second city, Launceston. First of all though we had to get there, and on the way we stopped off near Mole Creek to check out King Solomon's Caves.

I'd never been to a cave before and it was pretty much as I expected, although I hadn't anticipated having to hand over quite so much money for the pleasure. The caves were cold, about 9 degrees, and quite narrow and tight in places. One thing's for sure - I was soon wishing I'd worn a bit more than a t-shirt, shorts and flip flops down there. By the way, in Aussie lingo I was wearing a tee, boardies and thongs. Mate.

As good as the caves were I was glad to get out of there to warm my feet up in the sun, and to get away from the tour guide who spooked me completely. Within 2 hours of driving we had arrived in Launceston and checked into our hostel, the Backpackers Hub. And within half an hour of that we'd started drinking in the bar.

We broke off the drinks at 5pm to get some food from the city centre. It was Bank Holiday Monday, after Australia Day, and so a lot of places were shut but we found somewhere reasonable and stuffed our faces before heading back to get changed for a night out in Launceston.

Everything was shut when we went back out. Everything. Not a boozer in sight had an open door. When they have a bank holiday in Launceston they do it properly, no exceptions. Deflated, we went back to the hostel to drink at the bar (thank god they had one, most don't) and the night petered out into one of tiredness. A bit disappointing, especially as we'd been assured that there'd be stuff to do, even on a Bank Holiday. Never mind, the next day would prove to be much more fruitful.

Day 5

Launceston is a great place. A bit too quiet for my liking but from what I saw it was much nicer than Hobart and there's plenty to do. We strolled up the road from the hostel in the morning and checked out the Chinese monkeys in the city park. They were great value for money (free), fascinating creatures to watch in a strange sort of Big Brother way. And then we drove to Cataract Gorge, the highlight of the day and one of the best bits of the Tasmania trip.

The Gorge is a beautiful piece of scenery and they've enhanced it by introducing and maintaining lush grass, a big swimming pool, walkways and wildlife such as peacocks and wallabies.They actually make the money to pay for all this by charging just over 5 pounds for a return ride on the cable chairs across the gorge. It's great value for money, well worth it for the views, and the locals get to enjoy the water or the pool for free. There are even spots to jump off the rocks into the water. Unfortunately we had to leave at 1pm and make the 3 hour drive to Hobart so that the girls could get their flights back to Sydney.

Before going to the airport we checked out Salamanca Square in Hobart, which was very posh although affordable to eat. Then, when we'd said goodbye to the girls at the airport, we drove west in the vain hope that we wouldn't be too late to see Russell Falls, one of the main features in any illustrated Tasmania book.

Not only were we there in time to see it but we were also late enough to sneak in without paying. Brucie Bonus. More leaping about where we shouldn't have been, and yet more steep paths, and then back to the Pickled Frog in Hobart for our last night in Tasmania.

Next step - fly out of Hobart to Melbourne, grab a hire car from Hertz and head to Adelaide along the Great Ocean Road. Bring it on.

Time for a 'fact hunt'.

Melbourne is the capital of Victoria and has traditionally been Sydney's rival for biggest/best city in Australia. It is currently the second most populous city in Australia with just under 5 million people, and by coincidence Victoria is the second most populous state, behind New South Wales. 70% of Victorians live in Melbourne.

When Australia decided it needed a capital city & state, Melbourne and Sydney went at loggerheads to get the vote. The compromise was to build an entirely new city and state, namely Canberra/Australian Capital Territory, which was to be developed half way between the two rival cities. Melbourne was chosen as the interim capital whilst the development took place.

Although some people prefer life in Melbourne to Sydney, it's generally an accepted fact that Sydney has become Australia's main city in the last 50 years or so, particularly with the iconic Harbour Bridge and Opera House. Recent projections suggest that Melbourne might once again overtake Sydney in terms of population in the next 20 years or so.

Melbourne is famous for its changeable weather conditions, as in the song '4 Seasons In One Day'. This is brought about by a combination of the Dandenong Ranges to the east, it's position on the Port Phillip Bay and the flatness of the land, resulting in weather that sometimes circles the city. The result is a tendency for very hot and humid conditions and quite a bit of rain, which isn't really my cup of tea climate-wise. In the summer of 1939 the temperature in Melbourne reached almost 46 degrees. Ouch.

My first impressions of Melbourne are that this would be a great place to live. A nice, compact city centre with parks and attractions around, trams and trains for easy transportation, and a nice cultural atmosphere with cool little bars and restaurants scattered about down the side streets. Unfortunately I'm quite fussy about my weather and I couldn't see myself living in Melbourne long term. There also aren't many beaches about, and the ones that are here are quite small and congested. Just my opinion of course, I can imagine a lot of people would love it here. And it is a very nice place.

As the weather in Melbourne has been miserable the last few days we've spent our time trying to find things to do. This has proved to be more difficult than first anticipated, and has led to a lot of frustration and a few arguments, mostly about which pub we're going to waste the day away in. Apparently Melbourne has more to do than Sydney, however that's really not of much use to someone who hasn't got a clue where anything is. Most things are classified as 'hidden secrets' - great, fantastic, we'll just spend our time walking up and down the streets not finding anything and getting very hungry and thirsty.

Anyway, rant over, the weather has been okay for the last couple of days and we've seen a bit more of the city. On Friday we went to the Australian Open tennis, cheap seats only at $29 - the main Rod Laver tickets were $80 and there weren't any really good matches on - so we settled down and watched some lesser known players in the second/third rounds. I really enjoyed it, decent tennis up close is good viewing, especially the mixed doubles afterwards which was light-hearted and entertaining. We tried to get in to see the Williams sisters in the womens doubles but unfortunately everyone else had the same idea and it was full when we reached the court. Never mind, I thought it was good value for money and the sun even shone for us, which is seemingly a miracle for Melbourne.

Yesterday we went to the Royal Botanical Gardens - very similiar to Sydney's version but without the Opera House and Harbour Bridge in the background - and then went up the Eureka Tower for some dizzy panoramic views of the city. All good stuff. The Edge was fairly harrowing, you step out on the 88th floor and then the glass floor clears below, allowing you to see the ground below.

Today we did the Neighbours tour, our hostel lied to us and said we'd be able to go on Ramsay Street but when we got there they were filming and we had to stay out. We met Karl Kennedy and some kid, which wasn't particularly exciting, and got to watch the Ramsay Street Olympics episode from 1986 on the bus. Does that sound worthy of almost 20 pounds to you? I'll leave you to decide.

In between all of this we've been plotting our trip to Tasmania which starts on the 25th. Five action packed days of adventure, beautiful views and feeding kangaroos and Tasmanian Devils. I can't wait. The weather looks good too, I hope it holds up!! Bye for now, thanks for reading...once again I hope everyone's okay back home, I hear there's been a lot of rain? That sucks, but brings a smile to my face too. Sorry...

Okay, my old entries from etraveldiary are too long to fit in here so I've had to truncate this a bit - I've removed the beginning where I did a day by day update to fit it all in!!

Good News

On Wednesday I had it confirmed by the hostel that they'd let me stay there over Christmas and New Year, even if it meant me sleeping on the couch. Problem was, they wanted $115 dollars a night over the period - like I said before, they're all jacking their prices up.

But things are looking up, for several reasons.

Firstly, I had a splendid night out on Friday with Dan Fish who, may I say, is my favourite person in the world right now. By a distance. Aside from being a thoroughly decent chap as always, he's managed to swing some accommodation my way in the form of an empty flat on Bondi Beach that his friends own - they're away during the period. And it's free. Wow, what a result. I've got work to do to repay that favour. I worked out that it's saving me over $1,000 as well as being a nicer place and in Bondi, where I wanted to be at Christmas anyway.

Secondly, I've been given a taster for the weather to come once the current low disappears. Two days of glorious weather with clear blue skies, 30 degrees on Saturday with a gentle breeze. Nice. Back to cloudy again today but that nice weather is forecast for the whole of January and February. I can't wait.

I'm going to Dan and Holly's wedding in January. Should be a cracker, hopefully the weather will be up to scratch. I need to find myself a 60s/70s Latin outfit - if anyone has any ideas what that should be and where to get it, let me know!!

Some random pictures uploaded here of the Kings Cross and Woolloomooloo area, I've not been taking my camera out much the last few days. At the bottom of those steps above lies the infamous Harry's Cafe De Wheels, which has been running since 1940. Every person and guidebook recommends you try their food - it was nice enough but I have a feeling that they get a lot of their business from tourists who've been told to go there, rather than for simply serving great food. Apparently on a busy evening they sell 2,000 pies which is impressive, particularly for what is basically a small shack on the pavement. They certainly have slick service, the food arrives pretty much as soon as you've finished your order - grab a pie and slap a piece of mash on top.

An update on my travel plans - I intend to go to Melbourne in January and then onto Perth in February. Those two flights I already have booked, I just need to confirm dates and move them both. I then need to come back to Sydney for mid-March and stay until late April to meet people (you know who you are), and then I'll go up the East coast to Cairns as it'll be dry season. After that, time to look for some work.

Also, a quick booze update - as recommended by Dan and his mate, Coopers Pale Ale is my favourite tipple so far. Not the strongest beer in the world (4.5%) but you can drink it all night and not get a headache or a bad taste in your mouth. It's brewed in South Australia and the company is Australia's only family owned brewery. Far, far nicer than those crappy VB and Tooheys offerings.

Until next time...

Seasons Greetings!

Happy Christmas everyone, enjoy all your presents and have a good one in the Bells, you know who you are.

I've now left the Blue Parrot Backpackers and have moved into Dan Fish's friends flat as they've gone to Bali for 2 weeks. It's a nice little flat in North Bondi, 5 minutes walk from the beach, and is already a welcome break from the hostel life. No doubt in 2 weeks I'll be looking forward to going back into a hostel though.

The weather is still crap in Sydney, yesterday was a gorgeous sunny day but the storms have immediately returned with a vengeance. Some things on the horizon:

- Christmas Day at Bondi Beach
- Horse Racing on Boxing Day (if I go and get a suit today)
- New Years Eve at Sydney Harbour
- First day of the Australia v India test match on the 2nd
- Dan and Holly's wedding on the 5th (still need to get my outfit, it'll be in the style of Al Pacino in Scarface)

Having done Kings Cross already I might look to go somewhere else in Sydney after I leave Bondi, possibly Manly for a week or two and then it'll be onto Melbourne. Of course I'm back in Sydney in March so I don't have to see the whole of the city yet.

Went to the Chinese Gardens the other day, which was okay, but on the way back we stopped in to watch a free 'Sounds of the Outback' show where a guy played the Didgeridoo and told a few facts about it:

- The name was apparently coined by Charles Darwin after he noticed that the sound an Aborigine was creating from it sounded like Didg-errr-eeee-dooo, although this is disputed.
- Didgeridoos are actually just Eucalyptus branches that have been hollowed out by termites.
- They were only found in the northern territories of Australia.
- It's believed that Aborigines have been playing the Didgeridoo for 1,500 years.
- Circular breathing is required to play one sustained, i.e. breath through your nose while expelling air. It's not easy.
- The instruments were used to tell stories about animals to the younger members of the tribes, describing crocodiles, snakes, spiders, dingos and kangaroos amongst others. The players would use their spare hand to make the movement of the animals.

Okay that'll do, once again Happy Christmas everyone, get stuffed and all that, and I'll be back before New Year!

Christmas Update

Good Christmas everyone? I hope so. I tried to get through to quite a lot of people on Christmas Eve without any joy, problems with my Vodafone signal unfortunately, and then I ran out of credit on Boxing Day.

It's getting quite hard to remember what's gone on since the last update so I'll just talk about Christmas and Boxing Day. Christmas Eve was a big piss up in Bondi Junction at the Cock & Bull followed by the Tea Gardens. Two fairly scummy Irish pubs, both absolutely heaving and full of lairy people. Just not the same as the Bells eh. Got hammered on cheap vodka, decided to go out for a cigarette in the Tea Gardens and then the bouncer wouldn't let me back in for being too drunk.

The bouncers in Australia, or at least Sydney, are rude and jobsworthy beyond belief. If you lean against a wall outside in the blistering heat you're deemed too drunk to come in, and they'll quite happily tell people to walk down the road and back again as a 'test', whereas of course they're just having a laugh. It really is very annoying indeed.

Anyway, we were back on it on Christmas Day very early and it was down to the Swiss Grand on Bondi Beach for our Christmas Day meal which we'd paid $150 each for (that's about 60 quid). All you can eat food and free drinks for three and a half hours. Unfortunately the girls and consequently all of us were late, the staff were rude and the food was either shit or just not there at all. I ended up with a plate of fishy stuff which I picked at and then got a plate of turkey, eventually followed by a plate of potatoes when they were finally brought out.

The weather was really bad on Christmas Day, very windy especially by the beach, so we went back to the flat and had a little gathering there which was actually fairly Christmassy, lots of booze, games and silly hats. People dispanded at about 1am ready for a big Boxing Day at the races.

And so it was onwards to International Day at Royal Randwick race course, free entry for anyone with a foreign passport. I stuck on the suit that I bought for Dan and Holly's wedding and we got cracking again, Champagne and vodka all day in what can only be described as glorious weather - too hot for a suit of course but I wasn't complaining. I went for out and out winners in all the races and one of them came in big to leave me about even for the day, although well down on booze money which wasn't exactly cheap. Onto Coogie afterwards for more drinks and then back to Bondi again for some well-earned sleep.

Apart from New Years Eve I expect the next few days to be slow, everyone's shattered and the weather's nice so a few days at the beach might be in order while we work out what we're going to do. Would be good to hear what people are up to themselves, don't be strangers!! Have a good one and speak soon.

A New Year Down Under

Happy New Year everyone! Hopefully everyone had a good time and made the most of it with work looming...

The celebrations in Sydney were awesome, they know how to put on a show over here. I've no idea how to take pictures of fireworks on my camera, as you can see, so I stole a picture of Google to show what they were like. We definitely made the right choice in getting to a park, so much better than forking out for some busy pub or club and sweating it up all night. Just to rub it in, the weather was unbelievably good too...clear blue skies, about 30 degrees with a refreshing wind. Nice. After the fireworks at 12 we went down to Bondi Beach and hung around outside the Groove Armada show for a while, then passed out just before 4am.

Playing golf today in Bondi, then tomorrow it's off to the SCG for the third day of the Australia v India test match. And immediately after that I'll be bidding a fond farewell to Dan & George's flat and moving into a hostel in Coogee for 3 nights. On Saturday I'll be donning the suit again for Dan & Holly's wedding, which I'm really looking forward to, and then on Monday it's...ROAD TRIP!!

Four of us are off to the Blue Mountains in a campervan for 5 days. It's about a 3 hour drive from Sydney, and because it's a 5 day minimum hire we'll probably head down to Jervis Bay for a few days. Awesome times...I just hope the weather holds up, apparently the clouds are on their way back next week. Boooooo.

Take it easy everyone...and good luck in 2008!!

Big Update

Lots to report!

First up was the cricket on the 4th at the SCG, Australia v India. A really hot day and there's very little breeze to be found in a cricket ground - we ended up peeling ourselves off our chairs to leave. India batted for most of the day and although they eventually lost the test match it was certainly their day. Sachin Tendulkar racked up yet another 150, coming into the match with an average of over 250 at the SCG. A good day but I'm looking forward to the 20-20 match in Melbourne even more.

Then it was out of the flat and off to Coogee to stay at the Surfside hostel, which I'm pleased to report is a dump full of cockroaches and unruly louts, with little or no security in the rooms. Thank god it was only for 3 nights.

On Saturday I went to Dan & Holly's wedding at Hyde Park, on Macquarie Street to be precise, in front of lots of people with a very long red carpet leading up to the stage - the longest in the Southern Hemisphere apparently!! It was a fabulous do, three couples got married, presumably each one representing different aspects of Australian life. Dan & Holly are of course from overseas, the second couple were fairly typical outgoing young Australians from Queensland renewing their vows, and the third couple represented Australia's gay community. Each one had a different theme and a spectacular entrance, Dan's was to ride down the red carpet on a motorbike. I can't remember a wedding going so quickly, especially considering I didn't even know who the two other couples were. Then it was off for free drinks in the massive VIP German tent on Hyde Park along with the speeches. Highlight of the night - Dan's face when the organisers announced that each couple had been given a free cruise worth $11,000 each!! Quality.

Last but not least - Roadtrip! Me, Dave, Ashley and Jamie hired a 4 berth campervan from Britz and set off the Blue Mountains on Monday, quickly followed by a drive down to Jervis Bay on Tuesday afternoon where we stayed until Friday morning. Every day was awesome in its own way - the Blue Mountains are something to behold, especially on a clear day like Monday; the drive to Jervis Bay down the Grand Pacific road was breathtaking at times; the whitest beach in the world at Hyams Beach, the waves at Cave Beach, the emptiness of Bherwerre Beach, and the sheer scale of Seven Mile Beach. And all of these spots are nearly empty, you can just do whatever you like on them. Compared with the likes of Waikiki and Bondi, there's no contest at all. Entirely different worlds.

A quick word on something amazing on Tuesday night in Sanctuary Point near Jervis Bay, which is where our campsite was. We left the van at about 8pm to hunt down the local social club (the only place in walking distance) and encountered something quite unexpected. A large black dog was chasing something up the road towards us, and cornered it in someone's front garden. But then it backed off and stood its ground, just growling rather than barking. In front of it, standing on its rear legs and puffing its chest out at the dog was a rather large and menacing looking kangaroo, which had clearly had enough of being chased by the dog. Wow!! Unfortunately I didn't have a camera to take a picture of it, but it was really amazing. My first kangaroo sighting, and what a spectacle!! Eventually the dogs owner came to get it, no doubt to save the dog rather than the kangaroo!! At that point we decided to make a retreat as the 'roo was probably a little bit annoyed.

So, the first Oz Roadtrip is now over and I'm pleased to report that it was great fun, if not a little bit uncomfortable to sleep in the van. For now I've got a few days left in Sydney and then it's off to Melbourne on Thursday to visit the land of Neighbours and such like. Excellent. Bye everyone, speak soon.

So Long Sydney...

So long Sydney...it's been a ball but time to move on. Melbourne is the next port of call, in fact I've just arrived, but I'll be back in Sydney later.

Since the Road Trip the weather in Sydney has been a bit up and down, quite frustrating at times, and so activities have been a bit varied. On Friday night we picked up some kangaroo steaks from the butchers opposite and they were DELICIOUS. The best steaks I've ever eaten, as good as a fillet steak but WAY cheaper.

On Saturday I went to Newtown to meet Lynn B's friend Lucy for her birthday drinks, and then on Sunday we went to the Bourbon Bar in Kings Cross and randomly met some of the Beach Cricket crew who had been spread out around the city to meet the public. I met Gladstone Small, John Emburey, Darren Lehmann, Michael Bevan, Chris Cairns and Sir Richard Hadlee. It was certainly interesting being asked if we wanted a beer by a knight of the realm, and then practically ordering him to bring us another jug.

On Monday most of the crew left for Melbourne and I was left to explore whatever else I could in the 3 days I had left. Monday was a stinker of a day so I didn't achieve much but on Tuesday I went to the Australian Museum to see the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition, which was awesome, and then went to Taronga Zoo in the afternoon, which was even better (you'd hope so as it was 4 times as expensive). And then on Monday I visited the last remaining suburb of Sydney on my to-do list, namely Manly, which was certainly very nice. Unfortunately having been to Jervis Bay all beaches seem to be a bit of a letdown, but I can safely say it's nicer than Bondi.

So, that's Sydney Part One done and dusted, now I have a week in Melbourne before flying off to Tasmania for 5 days which I'm looking forward to. I'm off down the pub in a moment as that's all there seems to be to do around here. Tennis tomorrow, and then a Ramsay Street trip next week before heading off to Hobart. Nice.

I trust everyone's well and enjoying life, I certainly am, I'm going to check out Melbourne and then I'll be back with an update.