It’s been a while-sorry about that!

It’s been a while since I last wrote a blog, im sorry. I could use the excuse of xmas but to be honest it didn’t feel much like xmas day when I woke up that morning, no presents to give and receive, no cold weather and no bacon butties! Whats more I spent the afternoon meeting Hilary at the airport, a not so small present in itself.

Since I left Perth I have been in Melbourne for about 4 days, 2 of which I just bummed around went out for a few drinks, walked around the city then slept a bit too – the torrential downpour kept us away from the $5 victoria vs India cricket match! After that I was on a 2 night trip to the Grampian mountains to see beautiful scenery and walk amazing treks – did neither due to low cloud cover and drizzle!! Some folk paid 85 dollars for ride the fog, I wasn’t to miffed however because I still had the great ocean road to go, the cloud had covered but the wind stuck around and thank god it did. The flies are terrible here in Australia but that day the wind kept them away and exaggerated the surf too making for some spectacular coastal scenery. My trip ended in Melbourne, I spent most of the night sleeping in a bus station (having done the same in perth airport the week before) I then caught a 4am bus to the airport, destination – Sydney!!

Sydney for xmas…

Australia is expensive, $8 for a beer (1 pound = 2.29 AUSD) and 2.50 for a bar of chocolate – Sydney is to Australia what London is to England – ridiculous! However with a keen eye it is possible to find steak for $10 and $3 dollar drinks, which in the face of things isn’t too bad and is almost cheaper than buying it in the supermarket. The truth is it isn’t cheaper because $10 will buy 4 meals…4 pasta meals that is. We didn’t seam to do much in Sydney, activities have gone down hill since we left Africa, something I really miss, we did however see the mandatory Sydney sights, the bridge and harbor and errrr the airport? Yeah that was pretty much it, there is a great water front called Darling harbor then there is the main harbor with the bridge and opera house. After that it is all bars restaurants and shops, one or two gardens which we skirted around but yeah, not much else. We did see Sydneys suburban beaches though, Coogee, Bonid and the pick off the 3 Manly, where we dabbled in a little surfing – injury free!!

New years eve was great, the only way to see the evenings fireworks was to pitch up a spot and sit out the day from midday, yes 12pm. We spent most of out time hiding from the sun, but at least there was the option of dipping into the harbor. Come 9pm the fireworks kicked off as a taster, billed as something for the kids a small portion of the $4m spent lit up the skies above Sydney. The midnight show was much more spectacular as you can see from the photos.

On the second Hilary and I went to collect the car we hired to begin the 2 week leg up to Brisbane. First stop the blue mountains, I’d heard reports of long walks and spectacular views and after the Gramps let me down I had to try again. Our first day the weather was perfect, we arrived just after lunch and walked until the early evening, a long walk but worth it, even including the worlds steepest train, an old miners transport train. The next day was better still. A new sport for me – Canyoning. We spent the morning abseiling 30m cliff faces then after lunch we went for the real thing, in nothing more than a wet suit and a ruck sack on our backs we stepped into a stream. The stream goes into a gorge, and so did we. Doing whatever it takes, climb, swim, crawl and jump we navigated the pools as gorge deepened. At the end was a waterfall, 30m worth of abseiling as the water poured over your head and the hikers watched from below. It was so much fun I’ll definitely want to be doing that again.

Today we are 3 days from that, 2 spent in Newcastle an industrial town with many a nice beach and only a short drive from a quiet town called port stephens. The short drive was actually an hour, something absurd to drive for to try pies at home – but we did it, stopping of at beaches en route we set of for Red Ned’s pie shop – many a winner of the great Ozzie pie competition! I chose Lobster, Prawn and Barramundi pie in coconut milk AND (couldn’t have one when 50 fillings were available!), AND Mango and chicken, Hil had some chicken option which I wasn’t too keen on!! We have been taken to the best pie shop in the world in plettenburg bay, SA but I can honestly say these guys were the best!! I wonder if they do mail order?

That was yesterday, today we had a stop over in Barrington tops national park, to do some walking and kayaking the rain however means the river is too high so we tried to walk in a clear spell did half an hour and it was just too uncomfortable in the humidity walking down poorly marked trails. Worst still when we got back to the car we realized we had been the subject of leech dinner! Not pretty.

Tomorrow we head to Coffs Harbour, with reports of flooding and typhoon like weather I have no hopes for a sunny pleasant stay, but our route is booked and we need to stick with it! A week Tuesday we will arrive in Brisbane and I will need a job as soon as I get there. Chances are slim for the teaching experience due to a lot of red tape at this end, the application for internationals takes around 3 months, by which time I will be in New Zealand. So another job it is, to be honest I will take whatever gives me enough money to travel the rest of the year. So fingers crossed it will all work out. I have linked the photos as always below!

Hope everyone at home had a good xmas and new year!

A few photos are here