World Australia New South Wales Bathurst

Katie and Craig's World Tour 2006

Australia - the cities Oct 29, 2006

Hiya!

So we have landed in the beautiful land of Oz! This entry will tell all about the first wee part of our time here. We have been to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane so it made sense to write about them all in one go. Either that or we are too busy lying on beaches to get on a computer, you can decide for yourselves!

First things first, Melbourne:

Lovely hostel, we enjoyed free pasta, rice, tea, coffee, milk etc. All the luxuries! We were really expecting some hot, hot days. I had re-packed my bag for coming here from NZ. Jeans, hoodies, water-proof jacket and trainers all to the bottom of the pack and vest-tops and shorts promoted to an easy-access position. What a mistake! It was cloudy and yes, it rained heavily the whole of our second day, boo hiss!

The first day we took the free tram AND the free bus around the city to see the sights. We both were really impressed with what we saw. I hadn't really been expecting much from Melbourne but it was lovely. We arrived in the middle of their arts festival so there were street photography exhibitions and other things to look around. Due to the free transport, it was a really easy place to be a visitor to. They have made a real effort to brighten up the Docklands area with lots of big public art and sculptures so its really nice to walk around. We liked how there was a good blend of really modern developments with older buildings right next to them.

We also took a tram to St. Kilda which is a suburb with a beach and an old-fashioned fairground. Looked nice but this was when the rain really kicked in so we basically saw it, then came straight back on the tram again! It seemed to have a lot of nice wee shops so perhaps it was for the best, considering our dwindling money supplies!

Melbourne is a big sporting city so we had a walk aroung the stadium area of town, by the river. A big truck went past and Craig got sprayed by slurry! It magically missed me but his shorts were in a bit of a mess, probably looked a bit suspicious. (C: can I just say at this point that I did not shit myself!). I couldn't get my darn camera out of my bag fast enough or else you could all have seen it, sorry!

Next we headed for Sydney. We had been told that you are either a Sydney person or a Melbourne person. So far we thought we were Melbourne people so were looking forward to seeing the competition!

We found out that flights around Oz were pretty cheap and they were no more expensive than the dreaded Greyhound bus so we are jet-setting around until we get to Brisbane.

When we checked into our hostel, there was a TV area in reception and who should be there but Matt (from the Stray bus in NZ). He was due to be in the Sydney area for a couple of days longer than us before starting a conservation work placement. We vote that it will be picking up litter somewhere, possible part of a chain-gang!

The first day, the three of us set out for the harbour area. We saw the Harbour bridge and the Opera House. Took lots of photos although in real life it's more of a cream colour than the white I was expecting. I'm sure they will have it done up for my next visit!

The next day we took a ferry out of the harbour across to Manly beach. Yeah, I know, funny name! It was a really nice area with the harbour and beach on one side of town and then the ocean and another beach on the other side. The sun had finally started to shine too! Lots of surf shops and juice bars. That night we decided to try and have a big gay Sydney night out. We made Matt (29 years of age) bring his passport in case we got ID'ed. Had a few cocktails in the hostel bar before we set out. Of course, then I get to a bar and realised that I had left MY passport behind. Such a silly girl. So I left them to it and got a taxi back to the hostel to get it. We had one drink at that bar and then tried to get into a club. They wouldn't let me or Matt in with flip-flops on so that was pretty much that! Not such a big night out then, sorry Craig!

The next day we were due to meet for breakfast at 10.30am. Craig came down and said that he had a really bad hangover and needed to go back to bed. Mixing spirits and beer caused it as I felt totally fine, and we all know what I can get like!

We had planned to go to Bondi beach for the day, so Craig went back to his bed and agreed to meet us at half three just off the beach.

Bondi was lovely, really fine sand and a gorgeous sunny day. It was, however, a bit windy. After carefully applying my factor 30+ sunscreen, I lay down and every gust of wind totally covered me in sand. It was pretty annoying!

Craig turned up and we had a look around before heading back to the hostel.

It was a tough decision as to whether we were Melbourne or Sydney people but here is the verdict. Melbourne is a prettier city centre but Sydney has gorgeous surrounding beaches and a great buzz so it wins!

Off we flew to Brisbane for a couple of days. To be fair, before we diss Brisbane, it should be mentioned that there is a LOT of construction going on. I'm sure that when it is finished it will look lovely but it made it not a great time to visit. Loads of traffic right through the city centre and it was really noisy too. We decided to spend a day out of the city and took a wee day-trip to Lonepine Koala sanctuary.

This was a great idea! They had loads of animals, more like a mini-Oz zoo. We watched a sheep-dog show and a bird of prey show. Tried to get photos taken with some of the kangaroos hopping about, they kept looking away but we got a couple of shots. Skippy obviously couldn't be bothered having his photo taken as had other things on his mind. Bear in mind it is spring here! We cuddled a Koala and had our photo taken but had to split up for part of the day. This was due to conflicting schedules. Craig wanted to hold a crocodile and I wanted to hold a baby chick. The baby chicks were sooo cute and I'm sure the crocs were nice too!

We had now had to down-grade ourselves from flying everywhere. Yep, back on the Greyhounds! Have bought a travel pass that we can use from Brisbane up to Cairns, have changed our flights too. We will now fly to Singapore on the 18th and then up to Bangkok on the 21st. Sophie arrives in Bangkok on the 22nd so it all works out well.

Plans for the next couple of weeks include beaches, beaches.... you get the idea!

Photos to follow as soon as we get a computer that allows it.

Thanks for all the messages, we really love reading them.

Love Katie and Craig x