Back to proper civilisation!

So arrived in Melbourne and have been here for about 3 weeks now. Spent the first couple of days visiting family, then headed up to St Kilda - back to the backpacker lifestyle! Been partying quite a lot in St Kilda, and I don't ever wana drink free champagne again.... seriously! Worst hangover on record in Oz!

The first weekend in Melbourne involved going down to Philip island with Colin, Emma and John where we hired a wee cottage with amazing sea views. Enjoyed having a big ozzie barbie and a few too many voddies which resulted in us dancing around in Cowes at what seemed to be an under 18s disco! Well seriously it wasn't an unders, but everyone was sooo young! Went to Inverloch on the way back which had a spectacular beach - place to go camping in the future!



The next week was busy with finding a flat and finding a job. So now I have both! Jules and I have a flat right in the middle of the city with 2 other girls. Its also walking distance to my new work in the Docklands. I'm working for an NZ marketing company who does a lot of the direct marketing for National Australia Bank - so its back to reality with a hard bump for me!


Spent the next weekend with my cousins. We went down to Sorrento in their caravan and had a really good time. The highlight was Derek building a rope swing for the kids, but me and Terri taking over it, and going to the ocean beach where we were getting chased by the waves. Got visits from my cousins mates and family and it was great to see everyone again.


So back to the city and as I dont start my job for another week, I decide to make the most of it and head to Sydney which is where I am now. Currently in Manly beach where I'm about to go for a surfing lesson! Extremely excited about that - I better be able to stand up or there will be trouble!!! Looking forward to spending the rest of the weekend in the city and having some random adventures!!


Next week involves getting all serious and starting my new work. However its the Christmas party night on Monday at a really posh restaurant at the Crown casino, and my first day is Tuesday! How unfair is that!!! Looking forward to catching up with a few people I met on the west coast who will be arriving in Mel next week too, and back to normality going to pub quiz with Emma and John! It better be easier than the one at the Baillie!! The highlight will be going to the Noel Gallagher gig next Sunday night. So excited about that!!!

So anyway - I'm off to fall off a surf board A LOT!!!!

And on down to the middle...

So next part of the trip involves a lot of sitting on buses for ages, but seeing some incredible sites. Booked a 9 day tour that is broken up into 3 parts...

Part 1: Kakadu National Park
This is one of the most famous National Parks in Northern Territory and I can see why. Had 3 days here and it was so much fun. Was with a great group (although far too many smelly socks in the back of the bus). First day involved a drive up to Kakadu National Park and we headed straight for a massive hike. However, its now the wet season and it lived up to its name! Everyone got absolutely drenched in the rain - when it rains it really pours! So after about an hour it calmed down and we made it to some rock pools for a swim and dive through tunnels (which I wimped out of trying).


Camping was hilarious - we arrived at the campsite after dark, and it was impossible trying to set up tents, cook dinner and light a camp fire in the dark! Probably just aswell it was dark so you couldn't see the Huntsman spider that was kicking around! Just as we finished dinner the thunder started and it really poured down so there was a mad rush for everyone jumping into their tents to avoid getting soaked. Was pretty cool though as you could see the fork lightening through the tents and the rain was so heavy that I thought the tent was gona collapse! Defo an experience!



However we survived and spent the next day hiking up to the Twin Falls, doing more swimming and chilling out. Saw a pretty cool lizard too sunbathing! Managed to arrive at campsite before dark and had the pleasure of cooking a bbq on the campfire! Surprised at how good it tasted! Enjoyed some drinking games at night round the campfire - had my new french mates running around saying "I'm a dancing queen" and shaking his bum and running round the campfire! Well funny!Once again it poured - hilarious as some of the guys had decided to sleep outside! I've never seen anyone move so fast to get in a tent!
The last day of this part of the trip was pretty good too - headed back to Darwin after seeing some Aboriginal rock art type stuff and having fun on the bus, laughing at the Irish guys taking pics of each other as they were about to fall asleep - by waving smelly socks in faces and dripping sun cream all over them! All good. Finished the day by spending it in the Vic, where we watched a hilarious drinking game of Fluffy bunny - I'll say no more!

Part 2:
Darwin to Alice Springs
Ohhh getting picked up far too early! This one is at 5.40am! Head to Katherine Gorge where we hire canoes for a few hours in the afternoon. So much fun, although our canoe seemed to zig zag much more than it went straight! Spent the first night in tents again. Starting to get used to this camping business!
The next day we headed on down to Tennant Creek. Firstly we stopped at Mataranka Thermal pools chilling out for a bit and swimming in a pool that was under the trees with loads of webs and massive spiders hanging above them. We then visited the oldest pub in the Northern Territory for lunch and then headed on to spend another night camping - but this night was spent in swags under the stars. It was so cool and I wasn't even paranoid about the amount of dingos, spiders, ant hills etc that were kicking about! All good.


Then next day its off to Alice Springs. First stop is Devils Marbles - which is big massive rocks that we tried to climb (unsuccessfully for me!) Then we went to the UFO capital of the NT (freaky stuff!) before arriving in Alice. That night there was a lizard show in the hostel which was pretty amazing. I actually faced my fears and held a snake and lizard... Also had a python round my neck.... Yikes! It did take a few drinks firstly though! End up dancing till silly times and completely forgetting about the 5.30am alarm!!!



Part 3:
Uluru & Kings Canyon
Another really early start today... struggling BIG TIME! It takes about 5 hours to get to Alice Springs. When we arrive we head up to the Olgas for a small hike and hit Uluru (Ayres Rock) by sunset time. Enjoy watching the sun-set with a nice glass of champagne! All good! Its another night of camping and I enjoy sleeping under the stars in Swags round the campfire.
Unfortunatly if you want to watch the sunrise at Ayres rock you have to be up ready and along there before it gets up. So grudgingly set my alarm for 4.00am! Get to see Ayres rock at sunset but it doesnt really change colour and then we do a 10km walk around it. The climb was closed due to high winds which was a bit disappointing. The afternoon involves a drive to Kings Canyon which is another 5 hours away and night time involved more campfires, goon and sleeping in huts!
The highlight of the trip was the hike around Kings Canyon. It was 3.5 hours and pretty hard work, but it was defo worth it to see the views of the canyon. By the time the hike was over everyone was pretty much exhausted, so luckily the afternoon just involved driving back to Alice, via the singing dingo! Don't ask! Once again another drunken night was had by all on tour at night time and a lot of funky dancing going on!! All good. So looking forward to not having to get up in the middle of the night the next day!!! All good!


So now its on to Melbourne where it will be good to have the luxury of light switches and pillows!!! And not having to shoo flies out of your face every 2 secs!

Darwin

So almost 2 weeks later and I'm still here! And that was totally unplanned! By the time I got here it was so nice to be in the one place for a bit that I decided not to get on my flight to Melbourne but to spend some time in Darwin see all the National parks and drive down to Alice Springs and see Ayres rock/Kings Canyon etc.

So I spend Thursday night sitting on the grass and watching my flight take off without me!!! All good!

Darwin has been pretty awesome. Its ridiculously hot though - temperature is above 40 degrees each day! And somehow I'm still white. Its not fair!

Have had quite a few nights out and met some really cool people. Highlights have been the fancy dress party last Friday night, where no one got chucked out of the Vic for sleeping (and for once it wasn't me - honestly!)or accidentally dropping bottles of beer over the balcony!


There is a deckchair cinema here which is pretty good too. Been there a couple of nights. Nothing more relaxing than sitting under the stars watching a big screen. Didn't like the amount of rustling in the trees though - was thinking some big salt water crocs were going to jump out and eat me!

Enjoyed sitting at Mindel beach watching sunset a couple of times too. Went down to the last market of the dry season and it ended with everyone sitting on the beach watching fireworks under the stars. Fireworks weren't a patch on the Edi festival ones, but the whole night/atmosphere was out of this world.


I decided to book a trip to see the jumping crocs and go and visit Litchfield National park. Again things don't quite go to plan. The night before, a group of us from the hostel decide to go to the Vic to use up some $3.50 meal vouchers. It's halloween night and therefore, there are outrageously cheap drink offers going on. In particular - $3.00 small bottles of peach and strawberry champagne! All good. First time I look at my watch it's 12am! (Am getting picked up at 7am the next day!!) Keep trying to leave the bar, but the dj keeps playing all my fav songs, so I don't end up getting in until 2am.... The amount of funky dancing was outrageous - Nick you would of loved it!!!


So I only get 4 hours sleep before my Litchfield trip. This trip started off slowly... firstly we headed to the croc park where we went out on a boat and watched the guide feed these saltwater crocs by dangling bits of meat into the water and making the crocs jump fully out of the water to get them. Quite scary! Then we head to Litchfield which is basically full of beautiful waterfalls. Manage to swim the whole 100m to get to the water fall when the loudest bang of thunder happens and scares the sh!t out of us!! We try to swim to shore but the rain is so heavy that you can hardly see in front of you! Eventually get back, but by this time its a full blown rainstorm and we are all completely drenched and filthy! So funny! Am meant to be camping at the weekend without tents, so the thought of a storm like that in the middle of the night is not appealing!


Tonight is the last proper night out before the tour leaves on Sat. And what a night its gona be!! Firstly getting some replayed Champions league action - Celtic v Benefica followed by Man U v FC Copenhagen. Then managed to get free tickets for Ministry of Sound in Discovery nightclub. Imagine how good the party is going to be if Celtic qualify!!!!


Leave Darwin on Saturday. Doing this tour in reverse (ie Darwin to Alice)
http://adventuretours.com.au/index.php/travel/nt/09_day_cloud_9_alice_springs_to_darwin/