Oct 2005

I headed into Melbourne City today to get some new clothes and a bag to put them in! Another hot one so I stuck to air conditioned shops and malls.

I went to Myer's Dept Store first and got the lift - weird thing - they have a woman who sits in the lift all day and she controls it!

I then went to the outdoors type shops and got some new shorts and a plug for the sink - I didn't realise the hostel bathrooms didn't have them!

I was told about a really good store called Target which is like a cross between Primark and BHS. On my way there were loads of people just watching the middle of the road. I asked what was happening and there was going to be a Parade with all the jockeys and trainers of the horses racing in the Melbourne Cup tommorrow! I stayed and watched - it was really good, they had some local school bands, comedy horses, previous winners, and the sports cars carrying the jockeys and trainers! Really good atmosphere!

I then found Target and wow - it's brilliant! Loads of styles of clothes from casual to dressy! There were a few people getting hats and dresses for the cup tommorrow, I got some vest tops and board trunks!

There were loads of women walking around with huge hat boxes - Watch your legs!

I came back to the hostel and got ready for Neighbours night. I met some Irish people in the bar and shared a taxi with them to the pub, we stood for a while and when I came back from the bar it had gotten so busy I couldn't get through so I started to talk to a girl from Edinburgh - it was her 21st!

When the stars came out - Karl, Sindi and Boyd they asked if it was anyones birthday so we shoved Sarah forward and Dr Karl sung happy birthday to her! We then sat at a table and some welsh lads joined us - very nice! We tried answering questions in the quiz but it was too much fun and the stars came around for photos etc! Yestin - one of the welsh lads bought me a signed Toady postcard!!!

Dr Karl and his band then performed, we all danced for a bit drunk a bit more and I headed back on the tram. A brilliant night though!

Well I flew into Melbourne today. I flew with Vigin Blue who were very nice! I arrived at Sydney airport and checked in, in the departure lounge was Krispy Kreme - yeah! Obviously I wasted some money there!

The flight took like 5 minutes - it was so quick! I was speaking to a girl who was going to the Melbourne Cup. The whole of Melbourne shuts down on Tuesday!

Arriving in Melbourne I got the shuttle to my hostel which is well posh! Base Backpackers - St Kilda. It has a fish tank under the floor, all sanctuary guests get a free glas of bubbly between 6-7, everyone gets a free drinks voucher when they arrive. The bedroom is a bit cramped but we have en suite. The kitchen area is nice and really social. The bar is very modern and there are always drinks promotions on!

I went for a walk along Acland street and then along the beach. I was feeling really homesick at this point so I came back to Base and had a shower and met one of my dorm mates - she lives in NZ but she's Irish (on a working hol visa), we went to the bar for a quick drink and that eased the homesickness quite a bit! I then went to Safeways and got some essentials - bread and butter and pot noodles! Back at the hostel I sat in the lounge and had my dinner watching Australian Idol - really good! I got talking to a few people and then went to bed! Boring I know but I'm knackered - it's neighbours night tommorrow night as well!

Well up and at em' this morning! I walked to the BridgeClimb office and got kitted up in those lovely jumpsuits! Eugh! We had a little safety briefing and we all introduced ourselves - it turned out that 4 of us had birthday's today!

We started the bridgeclimb and had to climb up these nasty ladder/step things, there were four sets of them so it was pretty scary! When we got on to the Bridge itself it was easy. We walked up fairly slowly with our guide telling us all about the bridge and Sydney harbour. We had photos taken at various points including that all important group one - cheese! The group sang happy birthday at the top which was sweet!

When we got back I chose to buy a single photo as the group one was a bit cheesy - the single photo was only 7 quid!

I then went down to the waterfront and to Doyles Restaurant for my birthday lunch - apparently the best fish and chips with the best view in Sydney. Well the view was amazing, right between the harbour bridge and the opera house. The food was okay but I've had better fish and chips - it was a bit pricy as well!

I then walked around the Rocks area which was lovely! It's one of the oldest parts of Sydney and at weekends it has a street market.

Included in my BridgeClimb was a ticket to the Pylon LookOut on the Bridge - This was brilliant too! The stairs up the pylon were worse than the BridgeClimb! Oh well I worked off that lunch!

When I got back to the hostel I updated the journal and Allison an Irish girl I met yesterday came up and invited me for a drink. We went over to Darling Harbour which was all lit up and all the day cruise boats were coming in.

Very stiffly I walked back to the hostel and packed! I broke my bag as it is getting a bit full! I wish I had bought a bigger bag!

Off to Melbourne tomorrow!

Well as I was completely knackered from my Blue Mountains Trip I decided to do the Hop On/Off bus tour of Sydney and Bondi.

First stop was the Sky Tower - the second highest in the southern hemisphere - Auckland's is bigger (yes I shall be doing that!). The views were fantastic and as it was a really nice day they were stunning! Also included in the Sky Tower is the OZ Trek which is a Virtual Australian Experience with a simulator ride at the end! i was at the SkyTower for ages!

Next was Bondi - I stayed on the bus for this as I would have had to waited 2 hours for a bus back. As it was getting late I decided that it was too much! The tours were really interesting and both took about 90 mins to 2 hours each!

Quite a lazy day today but I've booked my BridgeClimb for tommorrow morning!

Today I went on a Blue Mountains tour with OZ Experience, I had to be at the OZ Experience office my 7.30am. Everyone in my dorm was still asleep so I was trying to make as much noise as possible whilst getting ready!! Hehe! No really it was a bit difficult and I forgot a few things!

We headed off to Eureka National Park and saw some wild kangaroos - there was one with a wee joey! It was sooo cute! We saw some cockatoos which were so beautiful! I went to the loo and it was just a big hole! Agh!

We then went to the Blue Mountains National Park and went on a 6 km walk to Wentworth Falls, this was amazing the views were spectacular! It was hard work though! We stopped for lunch and had a go on the didgeridoo! I managed to make some noise!

We headed off to Katoomba and walked down Furber Stairs to see the three sisters and we got the scenic railway back up - this is the world's steepedt railway - they're not kidding, it's almost vertical! It's an old mining railway and they used to walk up the steps! Madness! There's still loads of coal and gold left in the mountains but it's too dangerous with the water to mine!

We finished the day here and I got back to the hostel at 7pm, I was knackered and treated myself to a pot noodle - the life of a backpacker!

Bonza Mate it's Sydney and it's hot!!!

I arrived on Tuesday morning after an absolute killer of a flight! I flew from LA to Auckland (12.5 hours) then transfered to Sydney. I had to declare my Hershey Bars through customs but I had no hassle there!

I got my shuttle to my hostel (Base Backpackers) on Kent Street and checked in. I got a really nice room and practically ran into the shower! Although I hadn't slept for about 16 hours I went for a walk to get myself acquainted with Sydney.

I walked down to Circular Quay and wow there they were - the opera house and the harbour bridge! I started to walk to Macqaurries point and it started pissing it down! But it was still really hot and sunny! Weird! I jumped under a tree for some shade and decided to walk back to the hostel when the rain died off!

The opera house and harbour bridge were massive - way bigger than I expected. The opera house is actually kinda pink!

The only bad thing about Sydney is the flies, there are hundreds of them and they fly into your face, ears and nose - eugh! Apparently the weather was crap last week and only changed the day that I arrived so all the flies cam out with the weather change!

WEDNESDAY

Today I checked out of my single room and checked into a dorm room - I'm really slumming it now! The room is really nice though, I met Catherine (well I woke her up) who is just leaving Oz and has just come down with Hayfever!

I went to Manly today, the ferry is excellent it takes you past the opera house, I was one of the first on so I got to the back of the boat and a prime spot for photos! We crossed the harbour entrance and it got a bit choppy but we arrived in one piece! Manly was great, the beach was not safe for swimming but there were loads of surfers and body boarders! Yum! I went for a paddle and it was a bit rough so I came back in a bit and this wave came up to my thighs - I have a salt line on my shorts now! I then walked back down and got some fish and chips, well nice! I know that Quiksilver etc is cheaper here but I set myself a task that I was not to shop as I can't fit anything extra in my case! Well the Quiksilver shop in Manly was too much to resist! I was good though - I got some wristbands for 5 pounds and a camera strap for 6 pounds! I didn't buy a handbag I saw for a fiver though! Apparently Melbourne is even cheaper for Quiksilver!

I got the ferry back to Circular Quay and went for a stroll through the Rocks and found the BridgeClimb office for My climb on Saturday!

When I got back I met my other dorm mate Peggy from Hanover and we decided to go for a drink, we went down to Darling Harbour which is 5 minutes from the hostel. It was lovely going down to the harbour at night with all the lights!

LA was really good fun, I arrived really late on the Friday night and the hostel was great (Orbit Hostel, Melrose). I had a private room booked so I just flaked out! I didn't actually sleep on the flight and I couldn't sleep on my first night at the hostel either!

Feeling the worst for wear I did the LA City Tour on Saturday - I met a few others travelling alone so we stuck together (hi Eleri!) The City Tour took us pretty much everywhere: Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Rodeo Drive, Hollywood Blvd (kodak theatre, chinese theatre, handprints). We went to Chinatown, Venice Beach, Santa Monica, Compton and Mulholland Drive.

The Weather was pretty crap - we only saw the Hollywood sign in the afternoon!

As tbe tour was a whistlestop tour of LA myself and Eleri headed back up to Hollywood Blvd again and took more photos of the stars and handprints. They have film characters there like Darth Vadar and Chewbacca, Spiderman, Shrek etc so we had our photos taken with them! We then went into the shopping centre and got the obligatory Frappacino - so much cheaper there! We headed back to the hostel and I went straight to bed!!

SUNDAY

Whilst at Venice Beach a couple of lads got some tickets to be in the audience for Family Feud (Family Fortunes), so we went along! It was sooo cheesy! We were taught how to clap, how to go aww when they got the answer wrong! It turned out that the show was a Soap Stars Special with stars from the Bold and the Beautiful, Days of out LIves, The young and the Restless and General Hospital. Of course not knowing any of these soaps we didn't recognise any of them! Apparently they are quite major stars though! The bloke that presented it was in Home Improvement - he played Tim Allen's co-host on the DIY show (bearded dude)!

After the show we headed back to the hostel where I got my shuttle to LAX!