Airlie Beach to Cairns and back to Sydney

Airlie beach was wonderful! The day after writing my last blog post, we boarded our Whitsundays boat called 'Wings 3'. The boat was lovely, but I was pretty shocked by how many passengers fit on it. Thankfully, Lucy, Hayley and myself were in the same room, also sharing with a lovely couple called Jen and Dan. The weather for the trip went downhill pretty quickly, and we had rain for the majority of the trip. This did not ruin my first time scuba diving or snorkelling, both of which were incredible. I found the concept of breathing solely through my mouth unnerving at first and panicked a few times, but we had a brilliant dive instructor called Kate who always managed to calm me down. I saw (amongst other creatures) clownfish, held a sea cucumber, and had a starfish on my goggles. On our 2nd dive we also got to do a swim through, basically swimming through a small underwater cave. I had a few bad episodes of sea sickness, but managed to sleep through most of them. We took an afternoon trip to Whitehaven beach, where the sand is almost 100% silica, making it beautifully white. We spent a few hours there, taking funny pictures and enjoying the incredible view.  At the end of our trip, I was pretty disappointed to be leaving. Our crew, Kate, Ollie and Steve, were wonderful, the other passengers were all lovely, and the food was superb. We even had a hot tub on board! Despite the sea sickness, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. On our first night back on land, we all met up for food and drinks and then went out to the clubs. It turned out to be a brilliant night during which I met even more amazing people.

The next day, we went for brunch and some shopping with our new friend from Wings 3, Tess. That evening, we caught a 10 hour overnight journey to Cairns- easily the worst bus journey of my life, sat beside a woman so large that I was pressed up against the side of the bus for the entire journey.

We then proceeded to spend a week in Cairns. The city has a pretty big problem with drinking and disorderly behaviour amongst the indigenous Australian community, and I found myself too scared to walk about in the evenings as they were constantly shouting at each other on the street or lining the pavements in large groups, which was pretty intimidating. We did a few activities in Cairns, all of which were fantastic, but the higlights (without doubt) were the Tablelands Rainforest Tour and the quad biking. On the rainforest tour, we saw some incredible waterfalls, swam in the waterfall that Peter Andre's 'Material Girl' music video and the Herbal Essences advert are filmed at, and saw the tree that the Avatar tree (from the film) was based on. The quad biking was great because it was raining, so the bikes were sliding everywhere- messy, and insanely fun.

Lucy decided, whilst in Cairns, that she'd like to do the AJ Hackett bungee jump off a 50m tall, purpose - built bridge in the rainforest. Hayley and I both went along to watch and I'm SO glad we did! The bridge was huge and her face/reactions on the way down (after they finally convinced her to go) were priceless. Needless to say, we bought the DVD. Afterwards, she tried to get me to climb the tower and appreciate both the amazing view and the ridiculous height. Halfway up the stairs, I bottled out- the view couldn't be that much better from the top anyway, right? At least, that's what I told myself!

2 days (and 2 goodbye mewls) later the girls flew down to Brisbane to catch their long flight back to the uk, and I was thoroughly miserable- I'd spent 6 weeks joined at the hip with those lovely ladies, and life in Cairns without them was awfully quiet. A few people even asked where 'the other two' had gone! I spent a week longer in Cairns looking for work, and met some pretty awesome people up there- Lizzie from England and Alex from Holland. After a week of job hunting failed, I chose to return to Sydney to find work.

Getting back to Sydney after being in Cairns was strange. I'd spent 2 weeks in bikinis up north, but Sydney was freezing in relation, and felt more like winter in London. I was lucky enough to get a job from my first interview in Sydney- a live-in receptionist at a hostel right in the centre of the city. After spending a couple of days staying with a friend, I moved in and began work straight away.

My time at the hostel deserves its very own blog post after living with such wonderful people. I hope to have that one up in a week. Love to all the wonderful people who read my blog xxx

PS. More photos to come- I neglected my camera as Lucy was SO efficient at taking pictures!

I've lost count of weeks!

I can't believe it has been so long since I last blogged! Time is flying, and life is as busy as ever.

The last couple of weeks in Sydney were equally good. I started attending the gym with Eleanor to lose some weight (which was quite necessary by that point!) and went out to lunch to some lovely cafes. I took Oliver to the Aquarium for a day, and then Eleanor and I took him for lunch. I spent a day at Taronga Zoo, which was probably one of the nicest zoos I have ever been to. I saw my first kangaroo, wallaby, platypus, koala, and tasmanian devil there, and the baby bilby named after prince george. At the end of the day, I took a cable car over the zoo and then watched the sunset from a boat by the harbour bridge.
I spent one morning before work climbing one of the pylons of the harbour bridge. It took me a pretty long time to get to the top as I'm not a big fan of heights. There was a small museum inside the pylon, with original pictures of the building of the bridge, which was absolutely fascinating.
I spent one morning visiting Palm Beach with Eleanor and Susan. We went for breakfast at the boathouse, a little waterfront cafe looking across the bay at the national park. We also watched the sea plane taking off and landing from the jetty in front of the cafe. It was, perhaps, one of the most beautiful places I have ever eaten. After food, we walked up to the light house where the view was even more spectacular.
I visited the wildlife park with Silvia, one of the girls from work, and we saw more kangaroos, wallabys and bilbys. I got to meet a koala called Aaron for a picture, fed some tropical birds, stroked a snake and saw a massive alligator called Rex.
Two nights before I was due to fly to Brisbane, Susan, Eleanor, Abbey and myself went for a meal at the Bavarian Beer House which was great, and reminded me of the Oktoberfest. The next day, I packed my case, visited Justine, and popped into work to say goodbye. I spent my last evening present giving presents and chilling with the fantastic Kirkpatricks, the best hosts in Sydney. Thanks to their generosity and hospitality,  I had the best time possible in Sydney and I am eternally grateful.

After meeting the girls in Brisbane, we spent just under a week there relaxing and sight seeing. The two higlights for me would have to be the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary (where I held a koala and fed a kangaroo) and the Eat street Markets, an evening market with foods from all over the world, brightly lit with live music playing and some cute craft stalls/2nd hand stalls.

After Brisbane, we travelled down to Byron Bay. The hostel and town were both lovely, and I spent the first day walking over the cliffs up to the light house, seeing wild wallabies, turtles, and dolphins on the way. I had a pretty interesting tour of the lighthouse (which is still in use and operates from a lens taller than me but a bulb only a couple of centimetres tall) and stood on the cliffs at the most easterly point on mainland Australia. On one of the days, we hired a car and drove to Mount Warning, a large extinct volcano, with the intention of climbing it. After only a few steps, Lucy retreated to the car as she felt uncomfortable in the environment. Hayley and Daniella (a friend of Lucy's) carried on for another 10 minutes before giving up. I carried on, alone, for about an hour, before being warned that if I carried on to the top it would be too dangerous to return alone in the dark. Despite not reaching the top, the climb was great, the rainforest was beautiful,  and the view was spectacular.

Our next destination was Surfers Paradise,  where we stayed for 5 days, over half of which we spent in theme parks. We visited Wet n Wild, Warner Bros Movie World and Sea World (my favourite!). All three were great, but the dolphin shows in Sea World were fantastic, and I loved stroking the Stingrays and seeing the penguins and polar bears. My favourite rides were in Sea World too, especially the water rides, on which I got absolutely drenched. In the evening, we went to Hard Rock Cafe and, with eyes bigger than our bellies, didn't even succeed in finishing our mains!

We travelled on to Maroochydore for a night to catch up with friends I had made there before, and then carried on to Noosa where we stayed for 3 nights. We spent a day at Australia Zoo, where we saw the Crocodile show made famous by Steve Irwin, and a tribute wall to remember him. The Zoo was good, but I preferred Taronga Zoo in Sydney. 

After Noosa, we travelled to the Town if 1770, named after the year that Captain Cook landed there. I was unsure what to to think at first, as the town was so secluded, it did not even have mobile phone coverage. However, first impressions were deceiving and by the end of our stay there, I did not want to leave! On our first night there, we were greeted by a full beef roast dinner- a rare luxury as a backpacker travelling alone. Our first day there was spent relaxing on a beach. On the second day, we did the famous scooter roo tour, where you are dressed up in biker leathers and fake tattoos, given a 20 minute lesson on how to ride a motorbike, and then taken out on the roads for 3 hours of driving and kangaroo spotting, with a short stop to watch the sunset. It was a brilliant afternoon, and I would have done it again, had I the money to spare. That evening, what seemed like half of the hostel walked down to a secluded beach around 10pm for a bonfire. I was unimpressed at first, as the walk was through dense woodland in the dark without even a footpath to follow, followed by a steep descent down the cliff. However, the night that followed was worth the ratger arduous journeh. The night was beautiful, and I lay on the beach bg the bonfire, counting shooting stars and seeing the milky way for the first time. We stayed there until almost 3am. The nect day we (rather groggily), got up for a surf lesson. I had a great time, but I was prettyrubbish at it and came away with plenty of scrapes and rashes on my knees and elbows fro  the board.

Now, after a ten hour overnight bus journey, we have arrived at Airlie beach in preparation for our 3 day/2 night sailing trip around the Whitsunday Islands, during which we will scuba dive in the great barrier reef. Excited is an understatement!

Next week, we will travel up to Cairns where we will spend a week before the girls fly home. I am not, as of yet, sure where my travels will take me from there, but a visit to New Zealand is on the cards, and hopefully soon! I will blog soon with updates xxx

Weeks 11 and 12 in Sydney

The past couple of weeks in Sydney have been as fantastic as the first, despite the amount of time I have spent in work.

I was lucky enough to go and see a performance by the Sydney Theatre Company at the Wharf Theatres called 'Fight Night'. The play was a devised piece (seemingly created in a style similar to Mike Leigh's) requiring heavy audience participation, and created in collaboration with Belgium's main theatre company. It required the audience to vote on their favourite actors on stage based on very little- firstly just their appearances, and later simple charismatic speeches or their answers to trivial questions. One by one, the actors were eliminated. The play subtly and cleverly mimicked that of political systems worldwide, until you eventually began to question if you had a choice at all. It, rather amusingly, ended in a small revolution where a large portion of the audience chose to hand in their voting devices and leave the theatre, and the rest left wondering if anyone had really won at all.

After the performance, I was lucky enough to speak to two of the actors and ask them questions on the process they went through. Despite the script being based on their own answers and personalities, they admitted that by the time they had done a few performances, it almost felt like being a different character themselves.

On my birthday, I was given the day of work and opened a few presents from home. Susan, Clive and their daughters, who I am currently staying with, very generously bought me lots of typically Australian items (wine, sweets, timtams, vegemite) and a pass to 5 Sydney attractions, starting with the Sydney Eye- an observation tower with views over the whole of Sydney and its suburbs. I went up at lunch time with Abbey and Eleanor. Thankfully, the weather stayed clear, and the views were spectacular. Next, we went for lunch at the Guylian cafe overlooking the harbour bridge, followed by cocktails at the Opera Bar in the Sydney Opera House, and finally a meal in a pub on the rocks. It was a perfect day, made even more lovely by wonderful company and their astounding generosity.

The next day, I went to the famous 'Sydney Royal Easter Show' with Susan and her friend. It was very similar the the Royal Welsh Show in concept but on a much grander scale, with contributions from the entire of Australia. There were displays of all kinds- from food, fashion and technology to animal displays such as horse jumping and sheep dog competitions. I partucularly enjoyed the food displays, in which each state had entered a large 3D landscape with the components being made entirely out of farm produce. I also loved seeing the cakes- I used to consider my cakes to be of a reasonable standard until I saw the incredible competition entries. I also bought a traditional show bag, a gift bag containing a variety of things usually worth more than the amount paid at the show. At the end of the day, I went into the animal petting section and cuddled a few piglets and baby goats- a very sweet end to another wonderful day in Sydney.

On the weekend, I went to stay with an old school friend of my Mum's, who emigrated to Australia at the age of 15 and has lived in Sydney since. It was lovely to meet her family and see another part of Sydney, and lovelier still to spend time with someone who understood why I was excited to go home. That weekend, I also went to the Easter Church services in St Andrew's Cathedral, which turned out to be the same church that Kate and Will were attending! A rather strange and surreal coincidence! To conclude the weekend, I made Susan, Clive and the girls dinner (chicken and mushrooms in a creamy white wine sauce with rice) and dessert (easter nests and a rasperry and chocolate sponge cake).

This week, I have been to Madam Tussaud's with Abbey and Eleanor and had lunch at a locally famous restaurant called 'Pancakes On The Rocks', my first savoury pancake! I have tried so many new foods since being in Australia, and no longer live on pasta, fish and mashed potatoes. I have also met an actress who used to perform with the Sydney Theatre Company, and we are meeting up for coffee next week.

Last night, I went to see a performance of 'Music' by Jane Bodie performed by the Griffin Theatre Company at the SBW Stables Theatre in Kings Cross. The play was very dark, but beautifully written and focused around the topic of mental illness- schizophrenia in particular. The topic was tastefully and accurately approached, avoiding false yet frequently believed stereotypes. Although not completely flawless, the performances by the actors and actresses were very good, particularly that of Kate Skinner who played a large supporting role. Some moments when she was barely doing anything were the most chilling moments overall. Once again, I was lucky enough to speak to a couple of the actors afterwards, who were happy to have a picture and answer a question or two. I was disappointed when the main character told me that his research was primarily google and youtube, but perhaps it is unrealistic to expect that he should have done more interesting research? In my opinion, there are more effective ways to research a character with mental illness, but I am overlg ambitious in nature.

Today, I woke up at ten to 3 in the morning and drove into the city with Eleanor to see the Anzac day dawn service. The service was similar in nature to the poppy day services in Britain, with the same hymns and the playing of the last post on a bugle before the one minute silence. However, it was fascinating to learn about the battles most remembered in Australian history, and the way they are remembered. Being Welsh, I was pretty surprised when the hymns were barely audible by those who were watching, and the national anthem was not significantly louder- not really a problem you'd get in Wales, and I'm starting to understand why mang of the people I have met consider us a country full of singers. I wore the traditional sprig of rosemary to commemorate the battle of Gallipoli, and then wdnt to the pub for lunch and to play the traditional Anzac day game,  2 up. That was my first ever experience of gambling and we came out $20 richer!

So, that is pretty much it (I think!) from the last couple of weeks although I'm bound to add something in the next blog which I have forgotten from this one! Thank you all for the lovely birthday messages! Xxx