Australia Update

So, here I am again trying to condense all of our adventures into a couple of pages. Not an easy task. But I’ll do my best. It’s been just over three weeks since I wrote the last update, but so much has happened it feels like several months. So here goes.

Last time I left you we had just arrived in Sydney. We spent four nights in Sydney in a lovely little hostel called Alfred’s Budget Accommodation. Which really was lovely, apart from only having four bathrooms for the entire building to share. And each of these bathrooms was also a shower room, so there were always busy. Not the cleverest of designs in my mind. Anyway, we met a really nice couple in our dorm called Ali and Alice who had just come from Asia and were able to give us all sorts of tips on places to see/avoid.

Sydney was quite a shock weather wise. New Zealand had been pretty mild, some nice sunny days every now and again but nothing over about 23/24 Celsius. Within the first couple of days in Sydney it had gotten up to 34 and we just didn’t know what to do with that sort of heat! Strangely enough though the weather then went to 14 degrees the next day.

Obviously, the main event while we were there was New Year’s Eve. Right up until the day we had no idea what our plans for the night were going to be, but having talked to Jo.T (one of the girls I went to school with, who has been working in Aus that we met up for a drink with) she suggested that we join her and her friends in the Botanic Garden to watch the fireworks. The only thing to bear in mind was that we’d been told the botanic gardens would be closing about 3pm so we were going to have to get there before then.

We grabbed some water, sandwiches and sunscreen and headed over to the gardens. The Queue to get in wasn’t too bad when we got there, but hundreds of people followed us in. Security was pretty tight too. They were saying no to any alcohol or unsealed bottles. One guy who obviously though he was part of the secret service interrogated me on whether we had any alcohol with us then insisted on opening our bottles of lemonade to make sure he could hear the seal click. We assumed the no alcohol rule was some safety thing until we got inside to find the bar serving $30 bottles of wine.

We tried to meet up with Jo and after some time searching and some confused text messages we worked out that we were actually in two different parts of the botanic gardens and there was no way to get between the two. With the gates now closed to people getting in that was going to have to be our spot for the day. It was an incredibly hot day and every square inch of shade in view of the display was taken up with bodies. There was also a large amount of exposed flesh covering the grass that was in the sunshine. We really didn’t want to wait out six hours in the sunshine so we headed towards the exit where there was no view for the fireworks and found a small tree with some spare shade. The plan being that we would just move to somewhere we could see the fireworks when it got dark. So under that small tree became our home for the next five hours and we moved around with the sun to stay under it. We were even lucky enough that someone moved some bins out from under a tree because they wanted some shade, which suddenly provided us with a wall of shade. As it was, we managed to escape from any burning. Most of the rest of the crowd were a rosy red by the time the sunset. We managed to meet up with Ali and Alice (the roommates) who had picked a good spot and spent the evening with them, whiling away the hours until midnight.

When the fireworks finally started they were absolutely breathtaking. We had the Harbour Bridge in front of us with the harbour to our right and the skyscrapers to our left. This meant we were absolutely surrounded by the display, and utterly swept up in it. It really did beat last years waiting out in the cold of the Embankment to see the London Eye surrounded by smoke.

The rest of our time in Sydney was less eventful with us making the most of having a big city to just wander around and enjoy. On the forth fifth day there we moved over to Manly. Manly is probably geographically similar to Southend, being situated at the beginning of an estuary, just outside a big city while facing out to sea. But that is where the similarities end. White sand beaches, beautiful cafes and the tag line “7km from Sydney and a million miles from care” are all part of what makes this such a popular spot for Sydneyites.

Our hostel here was frankly a bit rubbish. The kitchen was foul. There were no cups, mugs, bowls and barely any pots and pans. Alan had his morning cereal out of a saucepan. It was also incredibly noisy, especially as our dorm was below the courtyard area where all the drinking games went on. And our fan was broken so we couldn’t close the window.

But we did get to enjoy the beach and fit in some roller blading (which it turns out I am now appalling at) before our last day. We spent our final day going back over to Sydney to see some more of the sights, walk over the bridge and going up the sky tower. That was also when we saw the contortionist fit herself in a 16” square box (see the pictures). We then met up with Jo again, for what was supposed to be a quick drink, but turned into us helping them come third in the pub quiz! We then realised the time, had to run for the train back to circular quay, then for one of the last Ferry’s out to Manly. Our Ferry was slightly delayed leaving because one of the stupidly big cruise ships was leaving the harbour and it took them 15 minutes to turn round. But we got there in the end, only to realise we’d not made any plans to get ourselves to the airport the next day. So I got up at 7 the next morning (after going to sleep at 2) booked a shuttle, got packed up, checked out and we were on our way to the airport and Melbourne.

We both really enjoyed Melbourne even though we were only there for a couple of days. The hostel was beautiful compared to the last one; it really felt incredibly homely. The people were all nice too and we managed to start up a game of poker in the dining room on one of the nights.

We spent our time exploring the city and one of the best days was spent just lounging on some fake grass in front of a large TV screen and watching an incredibly dramatic game of cricket. Sometimes it’s the simple things which are the most fun. Likewise with the pictures from the sweet shop. We hung around for ages annoying the guys making the candy marvelling at them roll out this huge load of sugary stuff and getting something 15mm across to spell out Melbourne. As a coincidence the guy we were chatting to is heading to Bali 2 days after us, so we may well run into him.

Much too soon it was time for us to move on, but this time to pick up our campervan! We’d gone with a company called backpacker Campervans because they had the best deal but when we got there it became clear that they were owned by the same people as Britz and Maui campervans. What they very cleverly do is brand a new vehicle as being Maui (and charge extra for it) then after it’s a few years old they re-brand it as Britz (a little cheaper now) and finally after about 6 years it becomes a Backpacker camper and they charge even less for it. But, we were lucky enough to be upgraded to a Britz campervan, so it was all of the facilities we’d booked it for whilst being in a younger van.

When we first got there we were given a portable DVD player to take into the van with us so that we could be shown where everything was and how it works. It really wasn’t roughing it. We had a fridge, gas hob, sink with running water, electric lighting and when we were plugged into power we also had 240V sockets into which we could plug the kettle and toaster (plus any phone chargers etc.) The bench seats in the very back converted into the bed at night and if we’d had a third person there was even a ‘top bunk’ which could be constructed over the top. He really was a very nifty little guy and quickly got he nickname ‘Colin the campervan’.

The idea was that we would head east of Melbourne to an Island called Phillip Island, stay there for two days then head back through Melbourne to the West where we would start on the Great Ocean Road and eventually end up in Adelaide ten days later. We had the option of campsites or free camps (anywhere you could find) when available. The big (and probably obvious) advantage of campsites is that it meant we could have Electricity, Water and showers.

So Phillip Island was beautiful, it’s both a holiday destination for residents of Melbourne and a stop for the cruise liners. Coincidentally, the one docked in when we arrived was the same boat we’d had to wait for in Sydney Harbour.
The highlight of Phillip Island has definitely got to be the Penguin Parade.
There is a colony of little blue penguins living on the island who all spend their days out at sea and then when night falls they come back in to the beach to return to their burrows. These little guys are only 30cm tall so their easy prey for birds and seals and are consequently a little skittish. They form ‘rafts’ out at sea with a bunch of other penguins and when it gets dark enough they start to creep up the beach (after being bashed about a bit in the waves first). So these groups of eight or so penguins start running up the beach trying to get to cover, except sometimes something freaks them out and half of them go running back to shelter in the waves. Once they’re out of the water they wander up to a kilometre to get to their burrows and you can wander up the boardwalk watching them the whole way. When we were there is was chick season, so as the adults are trying to get out of the water the baby (and very fluffy) chicks would come sprinting down the beach and bowl into the adults, knocking them over, in their excitement about getting their food. It was such a very cool thing to get to see.

Our first stop on the Great Ocean road was a place called Geelong (pronounced with a soft G as it was pointed out to us a week later). The place doesn’t have much to shout about, but we were able to park looking over the marina for a free camp and get a pretty good night’s sleep. We spent the Sunday morning at a local arcade that had a deal where we spent $15 and got 2hours unlimited play on all of the games.

And then we were on the road again. Driving Colin felt as though he had a sail attached to the roof. (He was 2.5m tall) So each and every little gust of wind sent us wobbling over to the other side of the road. Nerve racking at any time, but particularly because we’d been told that the only thing we could possibly do to invalidate our insurance would be to roll the thing. I laughed when she said this, but once we were out on the roads it wasn’t quite so funny. We also had to tackle Australian maps, which quite frankly were awful. Putting the place just willy nilly along the road, in whichever order they please is not good mapmanship. (not a word, but should be.) And on top of all of this, we were stopping every five minutes to jump out and see another viewpoint or touristy something.

We saw all of the obligatory sights along the Great Ocean Road – the twelve apostles, the grotto, the thunder cave, etc. But above all the best thing we got to see has to be the lighthouse which starred in the TV series ‘Round the Twist’. Unbelievably cool. The day we got to see all of the big touristy sites was ridiculously hot and humid and so there were millions of flies buzzing around and landing on people. It was so very annoying and meant we couldn’t hang around anywhere for very long. Alan managed to fashion his own Cow’s tail from a T-shirt, which was surprisingly effective.

We got to see Kangaroos and Wallabies as we were driving along, mentally trying to persuade them they didn’t want to choose that moment to jump into the road. We also stopped to see some Koalas hanging around in the trees. There were absolutely loads of them and the roads ended up a bit gridlock with all of us tourists stopping to ooh and aah at the little guys. I also saw a snake as we were heading up to the lighthouse which really really freaked me out, the wuss that I am.

The rest of the great ocean road passed in a haze of little towns, very similar to the last. We did another free camp in Warnambool, which took a turn for the worst when the 24hr toilets nearby were locked at 9 o’clock. We also both slept really badly, because even though the road we were parked on only went to the end of the marina, there was really loud traffic all night. However, it redeemed itself slightly when we found somewhere that had cider on tap. (Pipsqueak, a western Aus export.)

The end of the Great Ocean road meant we had two pretty long days of driving to get anywhere near civilisation again. Our next stop was Hahndorf, the first German settlement in Aus. That’s where Alan had his large meaty dish and we both had the mouth-watering waffles with Belgian chocolate.

We spent our last two nights in Colin at a campsite in Victor Harbour. Here we got to watch an outdoor movie put on by the campsite and also play on the jumping pillow. Alan managed to make friends with all the small children because his jumping threw them all way up in the air. They were all following him around the pillow and marvelling at the old trampolining moves he was pulling out.

Victor Harbour has the world’s only commercial horse-drawn tram (they claim) that we took over to Granite Island. Here we got to see some little blue penguins in rehab. Any that were injured or sick are brought here so they can be nursed back to health.

We finished up our evening with a lazy walk along the beach, and the next day we got up and drove on up to Adelaide. We had to get all of our stuff packed back into our backpacks, having the entire van to spread out in had been far too easy! So we got all tidied, dropped our stuff off at the new hostel and then took him back L The good news was that while we’d booked a hostel room in Adelaide they didn’t have any space so we were upgraded to a motel room with en-suite, air conditioning and a little kitchenette. All for about 15 pounds a night each.

That first night in Adelaide just happened to be the first night of the Tour Down Under where Lance Armstrong was making his race appearance since deciding to un-retire. Watching that was fun, but we got way too hot and decided to find a drink. We found a little British pub which was serving Strongbow on tap, which went down a treat.
The three days we were in Adelaide were incredibly hot, about 38 C at the height of the day, and so we mostly spent the time relaxing in the shade or in the room. That sort of heat was just too hot to be doing anything else.

Our next stop was then Perth. We’re now staying with a family friend who lived in my road about 20 years ago. Once again, we’re really roughing it in the beautiful house, with a pool, just down the road from the beach. Tough stuff. And to Alan’s delight he was even fed Steak for dinner.

One night we went to one of the outdoor movie theatres where we had a picnic on the grass before watching a French subtitled movie! Aren’t we cultured! We’ve also been to the aquarium here, which has some really interesting fish, all of which can be found on the West Coast of Australia.

That evening we joined Jed and Deb and some of their friends for a picnic in the park complete with champagne, quiche, Pavlova… Did I mention we’re roughing it here?

We spent yesterday at the beach getting royally burnt, before coming back to the house to recover in the pool. And today we took a trip to Fremantle, just down the coast, where we got to wander around the markets. We also took a tour of the recently closed high security prison there, including getting to see the gallows. That part of the trip was pretty harrowing actually. So afterwards, we skipped dinner and went straight for dessert at a little chocolaterie where we had a Fondue for Two. And here we are back at the house.

We have a couple more days in Perth, including Australia day tomorrow, and then we’re off on a trip up the coast to see some more of the West Coast. After that we come back to Perth for a couple of days before flying to Bali.

Thanks for reading if you made it through all of that, this is as much a journal for me as for everyone else to get to read about our trip too so I won’t be offended if you got bored.

I hope everyone’s well wherever you are. Thinking of you all lots right now.

Sarah (and Alan)
xxx

Related posts:

1. Australia – Final Update
2. Australia – Third Update
3. Australia – Second Update
4. Australia – Forth Update
5. Australia – First update