All by myself....!!

Well not really as Darwin actually has other people here (weird after remoteness of west coast oz!), but Julie and Chloe have left the west coast and I'm travelling solo for the first time EVER! End of a fabulous era!!!

Anyway, lets go back to Broome....

So Julie leaves Broome to surprise my cousins Terri and Derek in Melbourne by arriving 10 days earlier than she was supposed to! Chloe and I get up voluntarily at 6.30am to walk her to the airport. (Thats right - walk her to the airport!) Can't believe she is going, but the McCosh sisters will be reunited soon enough!!!!

Our leaving night in Broome had all the makings of a top night. Great banter, loads of dancing and laughs, but with the added extra of Mr Mark Bundaberg attending! How funny! Every time someone bought a bundy and coke, the sticker went on Marks face, neck, top etc. Was hilarious! Danny and Mark are the highlight of the earlier part of the evening. I'm not going to mention Danny's chat up lines - you'll have to ask Chloe about that one! Getting back to the hostel, Chloe and I decide its high time to teach some Irish boys the highland fling - which Chloe dedicates a good few hours too, and wonders why on earth her legs are sore 2 days later! Next morning there is no sign of Mark and Danny and we won't let the Irish boys check out until they prove they can do the highland fling. Chloes work was fab and they showed us it successfully. Leigh-Ann would of been proud! Eventually Danny and Mark end up down to breakfast and we find out Mark has been watering some plants with carrots during the night, and Danny ended up in a completely different dorm room that he was meant to be in! Weird part is that his clothes were in the correct bed and the new dorm room was miles away from his! What a mystery!


Anyway, onwards and literally (1000k) upwards to Kununurra. We head for the overnight greyhound bus that will only take 14 hours. (Short ride then!) Managed to sleep for most of it, but did awake with the driver slamming his brakes on in the middle of the night and us being faced by about 14 white bulls on the road. Was pretty mad!

So from Kununurra, we do a 2 night camping trip to the Bungle Bungles. This was amazing scenery, however the tour was aimed at the retired end of the market and we didn't get to do any challenging hikes or go for any swims. The roads to the National park were really windy, through large puddles and bumpy. Caz - if ur reading this, think back to Fraser island and double the pain!

So spent 2 nights in a tent there. Felt a massive sense of achievement when Chloe and I put our tent up, however this was short lived as it fell down approx 2 mins after it was up! Its meant to b a boys job anyway! Roger (tour guide) was making us get up at 4.30 so we could go for walks when it wasn't too hot, so we were going to bed at 7pm. Seriously. The flies were driving us mad too - had to scream every couple of hours to let out the frustrations!! Was glad the tour was over and we were headed back, although it was great to see the bungles.




So back to Kununurra, and obviously we have to have a leaving night... So meet up with Colin and his tour who are a couple of days behind us, and we have drinks in the Kununurra hotel, which shuts at 10pm. Every pub in the west seems to shut at ridiculously early times. Very excited bars in Darwin are open till 4am! So we end up sitting on the pavement having a good laff at the camping expeditions till silly times in the morning! All good!

So next day involves a greyhound bus and Chloe feeling sick after drinking Old Crow or something ridiculous!! Get to Darwin, check in and meet Paul and Andy - who we have been bumping into all the way up the coast. Turns out they ran out of petrol about 80k's outside Katherine and had to show a bit of leg and do a bit of hitchiking to get petrol and take it back to the car! That is why I go on tours!!!

Chloe headed off for the airport to get her flight to Sydney for a few days before hitting NZ. Again, was sad seeing goodbye, but I know there will be NZ shennanigans to look forward to soon.

So I'm all by myself, but have met people that I've been seeing on the way up the coast, so not feeling too lonely yet! Went to the outdoor deckchair cinema last night with a girl from the dorm. The coolest cinema ever!

So going to chill out in Darwin for a while. Its so nice being in one place for a bit where I don't need to worry about moving, packing and checking in!!! The joys of travelling eh!!

10 signs I've been in Oz for too long...

1. I have stopped wearing shoes
2. I haven't seen lipstick in weeks
3. Spiders hanging in toilet corners are normal and don't freak me out. Even used to having showers with spiders and lizards
4. I say "sweet" and "oh really" far too much
5. Have cooked a bbq for 4 people with no resulting food poisoning
6. I now understand that a long drive does not mean Glasgow - Edinburgh
7. I know the difference between thongs and g-strings and where each should be worn
8. Its normal for kangaroos to jump out in front of buses I'm travelling on
9. My name has changed from Marlene to Marleeeen so people can understand it!
10. I have been beating the English at sport far too much. Ok, so its only pool, not cricket or rugby but hey!!

Broome Time!!!!

So now reached Broome and it feels like an oven. Seriously. Its 40 degrees here and e are struggling to cope! Life is now all about sitting in Hammocks and drinking beer and cooling off in the pool.

Anyway, since Exmouth, we have travelled about 1,500 km. First stop was camping in Karijini National Park. Was quite excited about camping after my Loch Lomond expidition in May with Emma and Jen, however we got there, it was pitch black and we got into our tent. After unpacking our stuff I got a glimpse of a massive lizard out of the corner of my eye, that was inside the tent hanging on the window! Jules shouted for Wes the tour guide to get the lizard out, however he came, grabbed the lizard by the tale and he fell and was running around the tent like some kind of gremilin for ages... Plus wes dropped beer all over Chloes pillow! Sweet!!! Anyway, just left the lizard to its own devices, so I could cook my first bbq ever! For 4 people and it was a massive success with no food poisoining!!! Go me!!!


Anyway, after a paranoid night of no sleep, thinking about wolf creek and lizards, we headed to karijini national park which was out of this world. Did a bit of rock climbing and swimming in pools and waterfalls, which made the long drive all worth it. Had a good laff at Colin who managed to fall in shallow water and get his bum all wet!! That night we stayed in a cattle station which involved a campfire and a lot of goon! Was a stunning night - even tho it was the remotest place ever and there were snakes and stuff kicking about!!!



80 mile beach on the way to Broome- even the clouds didn't spoil it!


The next day we headed to Broome and Broome time kicked in Big Style!!! Basically Broome time means do nothing and relax! So if the bus is meant to leave at 3pm, it will leave when the bus driver can be bothered! So far, we have had a big night out in open air bars, been riding on camels in the sunset (even though mine had a leg deficiency and vibrated when standing up and sitting down) and been enjoying ping pong and dips in the pool. Ohhh life is tough!!!!



Booked a trip to Darwin leaving on Wednesday so that is the next stop. Got a hard few days coping with the heat in between and chilling out on Cable Beach...!!!

Just a quick drive up north...

... is not what we have booked! Its crazy how remote everything is - seriously, you are driving for 12 hours with only a roadsign and a small roadhouse in between - and that is just one days travel and you havent really moved up the map!

Its taken us a week to get to Exmouth, which is about half way between Perth and Broome. First day was a trip to the Pinnacle Desert and a whole lot of driving. Day 2 was Kilbarrie to Denham, where we visited the Kilbarrie National Park and did a spot of rock climbing down seriously steep Z gorges with spider webs everywhere. On a separate point - I'm starting to get used to toilets with spiders in their webs hanging in the corner of the cubicle!!




Day 3 took us to Monkey Mia, where you get to see real dolphins right at the waterfront. Was so cool - they are so cute! Jumped off the bus that night at Coral Bay - so we had 3 nights there...


What can I say about Coral Bay! The population is 120 people and the showers/kitchens are salt water - which provided us with amusement when making tea and forgetting to use the fresh water tap! Coral Bay has been the highlight so far - have been trying all sorts of new things like quad-biking through the sand dunes at sun-set and driving along the beach at 70kmph - sweet! Tried some wutao dancing on the beach, saw a shark nursery area, went for a midnight swim in the ocean - did not want to leave!


However time to move on, and next stop was Exmouth. Firstly we visited Turquoise Bay, where we went snorkelling and I managed to con a free beer from the tour guide as I spotted the first turtle of the day! Also, big mention to James who showed me a shark and Colin for some stingray action! Coral and fish were beautiful too - was so amazing seeing all the animals. Decided I'm going to learn to scuba dive on this trip. Had a few drinks and enjoyed the Telstra phonebox challenge - think we fitted about 10 people in at the same time! The ratio of phone boxes to people in Coral Bay is about 1 phonebox per 6 people! Very bizzare!




Next day involved learning to drive scooters round Exmouth! Julie had a bit of a rocky start by driving over a bar in the petrol garage which kept us all amused! Did a bit more snorkelling and had a walk through Mangrove Bay - water up to your thighs where we could spot stingrays, crabs, small sharks and turtles in their natural environment. Bit of a dodgy moment as I had the petrol can on my bike, and didn't realise that one of the girls behind me had run out of petrol - was so busy racing Julie to get to the lighthouse. This meant Timbo the tour guide had a few extra k's to do!! Whoops!

Tomorrow we head up north and inland, so no more beaches for a few days. Will be good to be able to put sun screen on without rubbing sand all over yourself!!! Trip has been so good so far - lovin every minute!!!

Perff....

Had 8 days in Perth and it's been so good. Spent a few nights staying with Pat and Angie from Scotland who are good mates with my cousins in Melbourne. We were so spoiled there - had good showers, good food... wait... it gets better.... a bar in the house(!!) a pool and a snooker table! All good. Spent a few days hanging out with Joelle and Kassi their little kids. So cute!


Anyway, we got all energetic one day and hired bikes to cycle round Rottnest island. Jules managed to get a puncture tho when we were at the furthers point away from the island! Typical.



Spent a few days in Freemantle, which is just south of Perth. Living in the best hostel ever - so homely, but also with the loudest snorers in the world! Just took some time to chill out and enjoy the sunshine. And try and watch Liverpool Champions League games!!! Didn't quite happen tho!

Now we r in the big city, after going on a wine tasting cruise to get to Perth, and its just been party party party. Big night on Friday in the casino for Julie's birthday, then big day out to watch the Aussie Rules Final. This is the biggest football game of the year here, and we ended up in Mustangs (just imagine Walkabout) watching the game. got so caught up in the game - so good. West coast eagles v Sydney swans... Luckily the eagles won, so it was party time!




Spent the next day chilling out on Cottesloe beach, where they have the best Sunday sessions ever! Met up with Steph (from Southampton) Raf and Brendan, our wee Irish mates, and had goon for the first time ever! Headed on to the Perth Celtic Supporters club (Rosie O'Gradys) where Jules and I ended up meeting people we went to school with, and people that used to drink in the Thorn Inn. Really is a small world!



Heading up towards Broome tomorrow. Booked a cracking 7 day trip... www.easyridertours.com.au, called Broometime. Bring it on!!