Hi guys,

First of all, please accept our apologies for the delay in writing our first Australian blog. Im sure you have all been pining for it (well maybe thats just Fidders :P) so here it is!

So we realised that our South American blog entries were rather lengthy. So for the benefit of those who have better things to do with their time but still would like to know the basics of what we are doing here is what we have done in Oz so far in brief (for those who have time to read the details skip down the page a bit :): 

Flew to Sydney; Admired the Harbour Bridge and opera house; got a ferry to Manly (north of Sydney). Saw lots of lizards; went shopping at Bondi Junction; caught a bus to Newcastle. Saw some Koalas and Kangaroos for the first time; went to the England V New Zealand Rugby League world cup game; caught a bus to Bellingen (tiny tiny little town); went to the rainforest; hired bikes and got attacked by leeches; caught a bus to Byron Bay; checked out the surf and decided to not attempt surfing. Attempted to swim and almost got pulled out by the very strong rips; walked to the most easterly point in Australia; caught a bus to Murwillumbah to a hostel owned by a guy we met in Peru; enjoyed toasting marshmallows on a campfire; caught a bus to Brisbane; went to the glitzy gold coast. Went to the not so sunny during tropical storm season Sunshine Coast; visited the home of the, man, the legend, Steve Irwin at Australia Zoo. Hand fed Kangaroos and elephants. Saw a man wrestling with tigers. Headed into the countryside to stay with Joan...lovely relative who looked after us for a week! Hired a car and cruised around the Sunshine Coast hinterland. Flew to Melbourne; went to a night market and ate foods from around the world.  

For those of you who made it down this far of the page well done and thank you, here is a bit more detail on what we have been up to.

We arrived in Sydney almost 4 weeks ago, and fell in love with Australia straight away. We stayed in a district of Sydney called Kings Cross, which is pretty much full of backpackers, pubs and adult shops so was quite a bizarre place to be. We only spent a couple of days in Sydney as we will be returning for Christmas. We managed to see quite a lot during those couple of days including Bondi Junction, Circular Quay (the home to two of the most infamous Ozzy icons Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, The Rocks, The Botanic Gardens and Sydney Museum. We also hopped on a ferry to Manly which is just north of Sydney. From here we followed the Manly Scenic Walk for 10kms. It was really nice as it followed the coast, passing tiny little beaches and coves with absolutely no-one on them. It also went into the Sydney Harbour National Park which is native bush land and got to see some amazing views across Manly and out to the harbour. Along this walk we also saw lots of Blue Tongue Lizards....we didnt get to see their tongues unfortunately so cannot clarify if they live up to their name or not.  The museum we went to was all about the history of Sydney and how the First Fleet came to settle here. The museum was actually situated on the same spot as the first ever building in Australia built by the settlers, the Government House.

So after a couple of days exploring Sydney and recovering from jet lag we set off again. We were going to be making our way up the eastern coast from Sydney to Brisbane stopping off at a few places along the way.

Our first stop was Newcastle, was slightly funny asking for a bus ticket to Newcastle. Newcastle is a really nice town about 2 hours north of Sydney. Whilst in Newcastle we stayed at a YHA hostel and on our first night there they had arranged a free BBQ and quiz night. We went along and made a team with 2 American girls and an Ozzy guy. We ended up coming second but more importantly we won a special prize for the most creative team name. Our team name was This Rounds On Us, the guy running the quiz said we deserved to win the prize because there were English people in our team and apparently the round is never on an Englishman! So just for being English we won a Rugby shirt.

Whilst in Newcastle we visited a wildlife reserve called Blackbutt Reserve. Here we saw kangaroos, koalas, wombats and many types of birds, there were also lots of walking trails around the reserve. We had planned to spend only two days in Newcastle but the day before we were due to leave we found out that the Rugby League World Cup game between England and New Zealand was taking place just minutes down the road. We had been planning to watch it at a pub but as the tickets were only $40 we went and got ourselves some. England ended up losing the game, as expected, but it was still a really good game to watch.

From Newcastle we continued our quest north and went to a little town called Bellingen. This hostel was also owned by YHA and had been advertised a lot in the Newcastle one. It looked like a little piece of paradise, surrounded by rainforest...and it was. The town looked like it was stuck in a different era, with petrol stations from the 1930s and many of the shops still had their original frontages. The hostel was really small and chilled out and had lots of things to do. On our first night there we went out to the pub, the one and only pub in the town, with a couple of English guys from our dorm. The local pub does a cheap menu for backpackers staying at the YHA so we stocked up on some nice home cooked fish and chips...made a nice change from pasta or noodlesJ. Bellingen is located right next to about 6 national parks and along Waterfall Way aptly named as there are lots of waterfalls along it! So the next day we bundled into the little YHA minivan and went into one of the national parks, Dorrigo and into the rainforest. Along the way we had a bit of a fright when a huge Huntsman spider crawled right into the middle of the windscreen. Greg, who was driving, tried to shake it off the van by hurtling down country lanes at very fast speeds, but the huntsman clung on and eventually got bored of Gregs efforts and crawled around to the side of the van, where there also happened to be a window missing. When we stopped Greg tried to get the spider off the van but it just crawled underneath the van and out of sight. It wasnt dangerous anyway...just very big! So after that excitement Greg took us on a 3 hour walk around part of the forest and past lots of waterfalls! During the walk we got attacked by lots of leechs!! Lovely.

On our second day in Bellingen we hired some bikes from the hostel and went on a little adventure into rural Australia. Along the way we were treated to some amazing scenery and views of the rainforest. We stopped off at a little swimming hole on the Never Never creek and had our lunch. Whilst we were here a particularly large leech decided to have its lunch on Jems leg....we then moved away from the edge of the creek and realised it wasnt such an idyllic swimming area after all!

So after a few days relaxing in a small town we hopped back on the Greyhound bus to Byron Bay. Byron couldnt have been more different from Bellingen if it tried! It was really nice but very busy. A few people from our hostel in Bellingen had also come to Byron Bay so we all met up for a drink that night and then also spent the next day at the beach together. Our group was very multi cultural with Jordi from Spain, Dan from California, Annette from Germany and Jeurgen from Austria. Byron has some lovely beaches, especially if you are into surfing. We havent tried surfing yet but did attempt to swim in the sea...this was difficult enough as the rips and currents are so strong you get pulled out so easily. Anyway we relaxed on the beach (getting suitably sun burnt!) for a bit and then went for a stroll up to cape Byron, the most easterly point in Australia. There is a big rocky bit you can walk along, which is officially the most easterly point in Australia and then on top of the hill there is a lighthouse.

So after a couple of days we said goodbye to our friends in Byron Bay and we continued north but ventured away from the coast slightly and went to a little town called Murwillumbah. When we were staying at a YHA in Cusco, Peru, we had met a guy called Tassie who owns the smallest YHA in Australia. So we said we would pop in and say hi to him on our way up to Brisbane...so we did! The hostel he owns is so sweet and is sat right on the river bank with its own private jetty and canoes to hire. We only stayed one night as we needed to head to Brisbane but it was really nice. Tassie even got a campfire going and a group of us sat round toasting marshmallows and drinking beer....we didnt go as far as singing cumbayah though.

So the next day we got on another bus (we seem to spent our lives on those bloomin things!) and headed to Brisbane. We were meeting up with Robs friend Neil, who was in the area working for a couple of weeks and had come to Brisbane for a few days holiday before he headed back to England. We were welcomed into Brisbane by a big tropical storm. It is the start of storm season in Queensland and the ones we experienced whilst in the area were apparently some of the worst they have had in years. Some areas were devastated and the army were called in to clear up a lot of the destruction.

Anyway we spent a few days with Neil and his hire car and our first stop was the Gold Coast and the very glitzy Surfers Paradise. This is the place to be seen in Queensland. Lots of high rises, casinos and swanky nightclubs fill the little town of Surfers Paradise. Apparently the locals say that if Surfers was a person it would be Paris Hilton! It also lives up to its name and apparently is a paradise for surfers....we are still yet to give surfing a go though! After a couple of hours strolling along the beach and eating ice cream another storm set in so we headed back to Brisbane and into the hostel pub to hide from it.

The next day it was still raining but we didnt let this stop us having fun and we headed north to the sunshine coast to a little place called Australia Zoo....home to the man, the legend, Steve Crocodile Hunter Irwin (well just his wife and kids now). The zoo was amazing, most of the animals are kept in huge open paddocks and visitors can walk through them and meet animals such as the koalas, kangaroos and an assortment of rainforest birds. We also got to hand feed Kangaroos and Elephants. There were also 6 tiger cubs (who were massive!) who we got to see playing with one of their keepers. The playing involved the man running away from the tigers chasing him and almost being drowned when they tried to hug him in the pool! We also got to see the infamous croc show were they get the crocs jumping and lunging for their lunch.

The next day Neil had to fly back to England and we headed into the countryside to stay with Joan (Jems dadss cousin). She lives on a little farm, so we got to hang out with the alpacas, geese, chooks and two gorgeous border collies, Rosie and Harry (that Jem desperately wanted to fit into her backpack and take with her!). We also hired a car for a week, as it would have been difficult to get around otherwise, so we got to drive and explore the area and more importantly not sit on a bus. There are a lot of mountains and national parks in the Sunshine Coast hinterland area and we managed to visit a couple of them. We had such a nice week with Joan and it was nice to relax and not sleep in a hostel for a change.

We headed back to Brisbane city after our relaxing week with Joan and had no real plan of what to do next. So we randomly decided to just fly to Melbourne. Booked the flight one day and flew the next! So here we are in Melbourne and its gorgeous (even though it seems to be storm season here too). Last night we went to a night market that sells food from every tiny corner of the world and lots of weird and wonderful wares. They also had bars and live music to jig away to. It was a really nice way to spend an evening...listening to groovy music, trying to avoid eating too many tempting foods! Today we visited a huge national art gallery and explored the riverside a little bit.

So thats it....thats what we have been doing for the past month. The next few weeks should hopefully be pretty exciting. On Saturday we are heading to Philip Island, home to hundreds of penguins which waddle up the beach each night.....called the Penguin Parade. Philip Island also has lots of Koalas and a huge seal colony. We are then going to cruise along the Great Ocean Road in style in a campervan! We are hiring the campervan for $5 a day and they give us $60 for petrol. We are basically relocating the campervan from Melbourne to Adelaide for a rental company; it is a really cheap way of hiring cars and campervans (www.stanybycars.com.au if anyone is interested!)

So check back in a couple of weeks to see how we get on with that!

Lots of love to everyone

Jem and Rob

X x x x