Merry Christmas from Australia!

 Coogee Beach

 Coogee Beach

 It all got a little too much for me on Christmas Eve haha

 Christmas Eve drinks

Christmas morning at Cronulla

Miss you all at home!

Enjoy! hahahaha

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjDwifAiC8U&feature=youtu.be

(just click on the link above Ma&pa or copy and paste in to search panel)

4 sleeps to Christmas

I had my birthday night out Saturday. I bought heels that were too high and my feet were killing but I had a great night. We had cocktails at Darling Harbour in the afternoon then a little party at a friends house before heading out to the city centre. The weather was absolutely lovely that day, no rain in sight. Sunday started off nice until we got caught in a thunder and lightening storm. I went out with straight hair that day and came home looking like a poodle (Ma&Pa caught sight of me on Skype!).

It's the 10th December here in Australia so...

Happy Birthday Dan!!!!!

If you were here, I'd share a coke with you haha (maybe with a dash of something stronger in it!)

I had a bit of a dozy day yesterday. I got in the lift at work, everyone got out at their floors and 

I was the last one in the lift. I was daydreaming so much I missed my floor and ended up going back to ground floor. Doh!

Including this weekend, I only have 5 weekends left in Australia!

Happy Birthday to me! 

I was looking forward to my first hot birthday but it didn't really go to plan. It has been the coldest start to summer in 50 years! I had a pretty quiet birthday - went to work and came home to a roast lamb dinner, yum. The Manning's were so lovely to me, I even got a cake and candles! This weekend however is when the fun begins. The Glebe crew are all going out to party Sydney style. I just need to find new shoes and get my hair done, arghhh.

Thanks for all the messages, cards and presents.

Work is going okay, it feels like I never left.

I want to feel Christmassy but I don't, please send me some vibes to get me in the Christmas mood.

Not long until I'm home everyone!!!!

 The Manning crew minus Michelle 

(this picture was taken listening to this song - 

http://1happybirthday.com/HappyBirthday/Sophie

hahaha I especially love the dog wishing me happy birthday, awwwwwooooooooooo)

xxx

I'm finally back in Sydney!

The weather was gorgeous yesterday but decided to thunder and rain today. Here's hoping it will be sunny on Tuesday.

I start back at David Jones tomorrow for 5 weeks, no rest for the wicked.

I'm staying in the 'burbs for a few days to recharge my batteries, wash clothes and have a decent nights sleep. 

This lil fella greets me when I walk out of the house;

  I keep thinking a man is sat on the bench and it scares the hell out of me.

Pictures!

 Franz Josef

Lake Wanaka

 Fergburger!

 Yum

 Queenstown

 Milford Sound

 Milford Sound

 Te Anau

 Mount Cook - view from balcony

 Mt Cook

 Triple bunk in Rangitata

 Kaikoura

It's my last day in New Zealand and also now offically the 2nd December here so.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROSS!

I had my first Starbucks Gingerbread Latte today. 25 days to Christmas! 5 days until my birthday!

I loved the full day glacier hike at Franz Josef. I was kitted out in a very sexy blue rain jacket with an even sexier red bum bag. I think we did 5 hours of hiking = a very tired me! I really did have a fun day though and the sun was shining for us (until an hour before the end of the hike and it chucked it down!). I could hardly walk in the beastly hiking boots they gave me that also gave me blisters on my heels. Ouch. My treat at the end of the hike? A lovely mug of hot chocolate to warm me up. I fell asleep so early that night.

The day after the hike we made our way to Queenstown. What’s the first thing you do when you get to Queenstown? Go to Fergburger of course. It’s a really popular burger café in Queenstown, I got the Sweet Bambi burger. Best burger I’ve ever had. 

I really like Queenstown. On my day off from the bus I got the gondola up the mountain and saw some amazing views of the town. Just amazing. There were lots of hand gliders hovering around in the sky. A few of us from the bus decided to have a go on the Luge. It was so much fun and boy can those things go fast. I nearly tipped myself over at one point. 

The next day the people I had become friendly with on the bus all went our separate ways. I headed further south to a place called Invercargill. Don’t ever go here; there is nothing at all to do. I ended up going to the cinema to entertain myself. 

The next day however we made our way to Milford Sounds. What a stunning part of New Zealand. We took a 2 hour boat cruise up and down the sound and I was blown away by how beautiful it was. The pictures really don’t do it justice.

I haven’t been feeling too great the last few days, one of the negatives of travelling on a bus of 30 people every day. Never mind. I feel a little better today and I’m back in Queenstown for one night ready for another Fergburger, mmm. 

I wrote the above a few days ago, so here are some more awesome things I’ve done;

Stayed at the base of Mt Cook with our room overlooking the glacier.

Stayed in a hostel that had triple bunkbeds! 

Stayed in a little sea side town called Kaikoura. The sun was shining and it was beautiful, even the seals were sunning themselves on the beach. 

I’m now in Wellington, windy Wellington. Back to Rotorua tomorrow and then Auckland the day after that. 

It’s less than a month to Christmas! I’m so excited!  

(Can't put pictures on yet)

I'm really enjoying Queenstown.

Only have a few minutes on the internet but will try get to Mcdonalds or something.

2 weeks left of being a 24 year old.

Ekk!

Sweet as bro! 

I have fallen in love with New Zealand already. It is so beautiful here. It reminds me more of home than Australia does. True fact: There are LOTS of sheep in New Zealand.

I spent the first week in the North Island doing the following; 

I flew in to Auckland at 2am Saturday morning and only spent one day in the city so didn’t get to see much. The weather wasn’t great but I made myself go out and met up with a friend from Newcastle so saw at least a little of the city. I got a NZ sim so just let me know if you want the number until I get back to Australia.

The next day I started the Stray bus. I have never met so many Germans on one bus in my life! Stray is a little different from the bus I got up the East coast of Australia. Most of the bus has stayed together (and will stay together until Queenstown). 

On the first day we travelled to a place called Hahei where they have hot water pools in the sand at low tide. Unfortunately low tide was at 11pm and was 8km away so no hot sand pools for us. We did a nice walk instead to somewhere called Cathedral Cove, I found out the beach here is where they filmed scenes from The Chronicles of Narnia. 

I have also been black water rafting in Waitomo. You dress up in sexy wetsuits and gumboots then crawl, swim, float on a rubber tubes around underground caves. Some of the guys almost got stuck in in the tiny holes we had to crawl through. At certain points we had to turn our flashlights out and walk around in total darkness with only glow worms guiding us. It was really cool!

We stopped at a surf spot called Raglan. It was really chilled and relaxed and the surfing instructor had a Bobbie dog, I fell in love with the dog. We found out the next day that the surf instructor was going to be our bus driver for the next few days. He was an awesome Maori guy who is quite possibly the dizziest man I have ever met. We then travelled Rotorua and spent a few hours looking around the natural hot springs there. My god it smelt so bad of eggs because of the Sulphur. No way could I live in this town. We stop here on the way back up to Auckland so I might do zorbing depending on time. We also stopped at the National Park to do the Tongariro Alpine Crossing but the weather was bad so the hike was called off. The views here are amazing, snow topped mountains in the background of lush greenery. Just wow. Next we stopped a night a Blue Duck Farm. The weather was beautiful and they had baby lambs, piglets and horses running around the place.

But the best thing I have done in the 10 months I have been away is………..

A freaking sky dive baby!

I jumped out of a plane at 15,000ft over Lake Taupo. I can’t begin to describe how amazing it feels to free fall before the parachute opens. We got picked up by a limousine that then took us to the air field. I hadn’t actually planned on doing it in Taupo but the weather was good and within half an hour I was in a plane looking down at the ground below. I didn’t give myself time to get nervous! I got the dvd but can’t put it up on here yet because my netbook doesn’t have a cd drive. I’ll do it as soon as possible though. You get some amazing views of up my nostrils haha. 

In the south island we have only been to Able Tasman and now in a town called Greymouth on the west coast of New Zealand. I find the town a little bit off. Think of the tv show ‘ A League of Gentleman’. We all had a good time last night and made various fancy dress costumes out of bin bags. I had three other people in my room so we decided to dress up as a deck of cards – I was Queen of hearts. Today we make our way to Franz Josef and tomorrow do a full day glacier hike.

But for now, Kia Ora!

 Cathedral Cove

 Cathedral Cove

 Able Tasman National Park

 Blue Duck Farm

 Tongariro National Park - Mount Doom!

 Inspiration Point - Raglan

 Black swans at Rotorua

 Wine tasting in Marlborough

I went to Freemantle yesterday. It's a tiny place but pretty to walk around.

I'm going to New Zealand in the morning! Excited doesn't even describe how I feel right now. I'm spending my last day in Perth and guess what, it's raining. Boo to you weather. It has been beautiful the last few days though. They have started putting up Christmas decorations in the street and it's the oddest thing to see when it's 30 degrees outside.

I booked the Stray bus to take me around New Zealand. It's a hop on hop off bus and takes me all around both islands. I looked at my bank balance after and cried. That's what you get when you go off travelling for months on end! 

I'm going to buy a NZ sim when I get there so will let you all know the number on Saturday. NZ is 11 hours ahead of you guys. Hopefully I can get on to skype. If not, I'll just keep updating this for you.

Don't go worrying about me! I'll be back in Sydney on 2nd December. 

XXX 

First of all, sorry that you were all worried about me! Wifi and phone reception is limited in Western Australia. I’m fine and safely back in Perth after the 14 day trip from Perth to Broome. 

Now time for a little update…

The flight from Bangkok to Perth was interesting. The teenager behind me decided to throw up everywhere… I got to Kuala Lumpur airport and the man at the desk told me my luggage was not on the flight. He kept this up for 5 minutes then said ‘I’m only joking…why so serious?’

I arrived to Perth at 5.30am and made my way to the hostel. I couldn’t check in until 12noon so ended up sleeping in the tv room because I was so tired. The room I was staying in was messy with a capital M. I know I’m a messy person but this was 10x worse than any mess I’ve created. It didn’t go down too well when people in the room told me laptops, passports etc had been stolen recently. I went for a walk around Perth, it was such a lovely day with a nice breeze. 

I can’t say I had the most amazing sleep that night and then had to get up at 5am to start the 14 day Perth to Broome trip with Western Exposure.

Day one

There were 11 of us on the trip – me, another English girl, two Dutch, one German, two Swiss, two Australians and two Irish all ranging from 24 to 34. I found out I’m the only one doing the 14 day trip, everyone else is doing the 10 day trip and staying in Broome. That’s going to be a fun ride back to Perth for me.

It was a long day of driving today. I slept pretty much as soon as the engine started – it’s a gift, what can I say? Our first stop was the Pinnacles. The flies are annoying. One flew in my mouth and I swallowed it. Gross. Next we went sand boarding. Three little kids were watching us do it so before we left we let the little boy have a go, it made his day. I got sand everywhere, mouth, eyes, hair. We arrived at the hostel just before sunset; it’s located on the beachfront. We all went and watched the sunset, drank beers and played guitar.

Day two – Horrocks to Shark Bay

We had to leave the hostel by 6am and got on the road again. We went to a little spot where we saw a group of whales splashing around in the water. The weather wasn’t great so wore my jeans for the first time in a few months. We went to a spot called Nature’s Window and the Murchison Gorge surrounding it. We made it to a place called Shell Beach just in time for sunset. I would love to go back there.

Day three – Shark Bay to Coral Bay

The day of the long drive to Coral Bay (8 hours?). First stop – Money Mia to see the dolphins. The dolphins were nice to see but there were way too many people there that it didn’t feel special. After Money Mia we travelled to a place called Hamelin Pool to look at the Stromatolites. They just looked like rocks in the water… We then drove towards Coral Bay, our accommodation for the night. A few of us played giant Jenga( it got a bit hairy at times) then went to the beach to look at the stars.

Day four – Coral Bay to Exmouth

I decided to go on a snorkeling trip to see manta rays. Big mistake. I paid a lot of money to see a shadow in the water that none of us could tell if it was a manta ray or not. It could have been an amazing day but it really disappointed me. On the upside, we did see sharks and a sting ray.

Day five - Exmouth

Today we hired snorkels and went snorkeling in Turquoise bay. The Ningaloo Reef is really close to the beach here so we saw lots of cool fish.

Day six – Karijini National Park

Early in the morning we started the mammoth drive to Karijini National Park. Once we got there we went straight for a swim in Joffre Gorge. I bought a sexy fly net in Exmouth and my god am I glad I did, flies are literally everywhere here! I set my swag up outside for the night, sleeping under the stars awww. Reception told us they had spotted a brown snake in the bathroom a few nights before; I really wish they hadn’t told me that piece of information. Let the outdoors adventure begin!

Day seven – Karijini National Park

I didn’t sleep well at all last night. It was way too hot I ended up unzipping the swag, sleeping in only my t shirt and sleeping bag. I didn’t even care that the mozzies would get me! Today we went to Dales Gorge, Fortesque Falls, Fern Pool and Circular Pool. It was amazing. I can’t describe in words what the gorges look like and the pictures won’t do it justice. My trusty converse are holding out yet again! I love you converse! It was extremely hot today, one of the girls fainted after one of the hikes. My clothes got covered in red earth. How do you get red earth out of a white hoodie? Replies on a postcard please. One of the Swiss guys decided I should be his ‘back up’ wife. Well that’s what I’ve always wanted to be, someone’s back up wife!

My swag

Day eight – Karijini National Park

Today we went to Weano Gorge and Hancock Gorge. At Weano Gorge I got to crawl like a spider up the walls to get to the other side. The reward was a beautiful little pool at the end of the track. We found a huge dead cockroach which wasn’t very pleasant but a photo opportunity none the less. At Hancock Gorge we couldn’t get down to the water unless we used a handrail to maneuver ourselves down the rock edge. It was so much fun and the swim at the end was worth it! A few of us swam through narrow tunnels and climbed rocks to get to a waterfall at the other side of the pool. You don’t get to do things like this every day. Always fills you with hope when your tour guide tells you a man died in this spot a few weeks ago.

It was our last night in Karijini and we watched the sunset, had a mammoth guitar session and even found someone to play the ukulele. I was greeted by a frog in the bathroom whilst brushing my teeth (at least it wasn’t a snake!).

Day nine – Pardoo Cattle Station

We drove to Pardoo cattle station via Port Headland. In the evening, I got bitten on the bum by a centipede. It stung a little but I didn’t think anything of it until one of the Aussie guys on the trip saw the video I took of it and said ‘I don’t mean to alarm you but you should show Sean this (our tour guide), it’s not bad but it’s not good’. I thought crap, crap, crap. So Sean got his insect book and rang the venom hotline number. It turns out the bites hurt like hell but aren’t venomous. Phew! It’s quite rare to be bitten by one so just my luck for it to happen to me.

Day ten - Broome 

Location for breakfast this morning – 80 mile beach. Broome is Hot!!! Just sitting I was sweating. We got to Broome around 2pm but couldn’t check in until 4pm. I had to run to made it to my sunset camel ride! The camel ride was really relaxing but the camel thought it would be fun to put me on a slant to the right for the entire hour trip. After the camel ride the whole group met up for food and drinks as everyone would be going their separate ways tomorrow.

Day eleven – Broome

I just chilled out today, went to the beach and into town for a look around. It was too hot to stay in the sun today. 

Day twelve – Broome to Karijini National Park

I had a 13 hours’ drive to Karijini with the tour guide today = torture. I couldn’t sleep at all and had to constantly talk to him to keep him awake. It wasn’t much fun. The best bit of the drive happened when we were 30km away from the campsite and the van decided to get a mechanical fault and wouldn’t let us drive over 40km an hour on corrugated style dirt roads! It took us an hour and a half to drive 30kms! Sean rang the mechanic but there wasn’t much they could do as it was Saturday evening. I met another group of 5 people who would be making their way back to Perth with me. I slept in a swag outside again, it was much cooler this time than when I was here a few days ago.

Day thirteen – Karijini National Park

We all got up early to see what was happening with the van. At 12 noon someone finally came to look at the van and told us we wouldn’t be going anywhere today. A few options were floating around, one being that someone would drive from Perth to Karijini then we would drive straight back to Perth. We didn’t hear back from head office the time frame to this ( a 16 hour drive) was slipping away. In the end we were told we were to be flown from Newman back to Perth on Sunday. It was a great way to waste a day in the reception of a camp site.

Day fourteen – Perth

Today we joined another group and did some of the gorges again. It was nice but it wasn’t the same without the group I went up to Broome with. It took 3 hours to get to Newman airport from Karijini. Newman airport is basically a shack in the middle of know where! A lightning storm was happening during takeoff, it was awesome to see the sky lighting up. We were supposed to have transport arranged when we got to Perth but because of the Qantas strikes they weren’t letting certain vehicles in to the arrivals/departures. I ended up making my own way to the hostel and flopped in to bed. I’m on the top bunk with no bars on the side of the bed. Oh dear.

So now I’m in Perth until Friday then I fly over to New Zealand! Exciting times. Oh and happy Halloween everyone. It’s pretty quiet where I’m staying so I’m not sure if I’ll be doing much tonight.