Brisbane & Noosa 9/1/12-13/1/12

Brisbane was the 2nd largest city which we visited in Australia. We struck lucky with a decent hostel. A good kitchen, clean bathroom/room and air conditioning are all luxuries when you're staying night after night in hostels and amazingly this hostel had them all! I like to cook, even out here, but when there's 20 people hovering over 4 gas hobs in sweltering heat then it gets a bit silly. I think we've managed to cook some decent food out here though and eaten relatively healthy, although my tomato sauce with spaghetti the other night was apparantly 'too tomatoey' - no problem though, I thought it was good so I polished off both plate loads!

The weather in Brisbane was very hot. The Australian heat just seems to stick to you and force you into shade whenever you can. We spent the 1st day having a look around the city and used the public boats which stop regularly up and down the river - a cheap way of seeing the city without too much walking!

We went out for a quick drink that night, which is something we haven't done a lot of in Australia. It's just too expensive and we're saving that side of things for Asia. You're probably looking at $6-7 for a beer which is between 5 and 6 pounds with the exchange rate. There's the odd backpacker deal about, but they're pretty few and far between.

One thing  about our hostel in Brisbane was that every door was locked and you needed an electronic card to open it. Clever thinking really from a security point of view. Apart from when Jenna went to hang our washing on the line in a closed off courtyard which was accessed through one of the locking doors. It was only after 10 minutes or so that I went in search of her, fearing the worst, that I spotted her outside in the court yard waving at me from behind the locked door.

On a side note, as Jenna has mentioned previously, lots of foreigners have no idea of spacial awareness. This is being backed up by the 3 French people crowding over the two computers either side of me as I write this! If they're reading this, give me some room s'il vous plait.

We then travelled up to Noosa which was a decent beach town. It was a bit expensive though and looked to be more geared up for local holidaymakers rather than backpackers. Our hostel was a bit rubbish, but the outdoor area was nice so we spent a lot of time there.

While we were in Noosa we booked a day trip to Australia Zoo, also known as the Steve Irwin zoo. Steve Irwin was the original 'Crocodile Hunter' who unfortunately died a few years back when he was stung by a stingray I think, while filming one of his programmes. The zoo was set up by Steve's parents a number of years ago and he took it on with his family and turned it into what it is today. We had a great time there and enjoyed watching the crocodile show. The show was actually performed by Steve's wife and his two children. We fed the elephants and Jenna posed for a photo with a koala. We also fed kangaroos and saw some giant tortoises. It was cheesey in places with so many 'crikeys' and other Steve Irwin references dottted all over the park, but it was funny all the same!

Byron Bay (Lennox Head) and Surfers Paradise 5/1/12 - 9/1/12

Hello again guys,

Sorry it is taking so long to write these posts, it is just we have been manic for the last few days and have been stranded on islands and boats so we haven't had the internet!

We ended up staying in a place called Lennox Head instead of actually staying in Byron Bay as the whole place was booked up! Lennox Head was about 10 miles outside of the Bay and I think after speaking to a lot of people further north, quite a lot of people end up doing the same as us. So, when we arrived at Byron Bay we had to get on a bus to take us to Lennox Head and in doing so we met a couple who were doing the same thing as us. We all dropped our bags off at the hostel and then went to sleep on the beach for the afternoon!! That evening a lot of us from the hostel sat outside and had a few drinks while playing cards which was nice. I was reminded of the game s**thead that we used to play in sixth form all the time so that took me back, although I am sure all the rules are different to what we used to play but I didn't push the point because I didn't want to sound like a grandma!! We had over 20 people playing at one stage!!

The next day we went to the beach again with a big crowd of us from the hostel and in the evening we cooked a huge bbq and then went out to see a random drum n base band play! They were really good!!

We managed to get up early the next day though as my amazing friend Faye from back home said her and her boyfriend would come and pick us up so we didn't have to do another coach/bus journey. We had a great morning, we went to the Byron Bay lighthouse and saw wild dolphins wave surfing and jumping and then had a lunch time bbq before looking around Byron Bay itself and seeing the beach!

We ended up having a really good few days in Lennox Head and to be honest from what I saw of Byron Bay it looked a bit too 'hippy' for straight laced old me!! Although I did get a nice anklet from one of the 'hippy' shops and very nice it is too!!

After Lennox Head we went to Surfers Paradise for two nights and stayed at the YHA near the marina. The first night we went to a really nice restaurant on the marina and I had a Ceaser salad, it is surprising how much you actually crave salad, fruit and veg when you are constantly eating rubbish for 6 weeks!! It is just so expensive out here. The next day we went to Wet n Wild the water park just outside Surfers which was a really good day. They had some really good rides, especially the only loop the loop water slide in the world. It was so funny to watch though as some people didn't make it all the way round, so you had to get out of the escape hatch at the top. Generally though the people that didn't make it round were size 8 tiny women as they were too light, needless to say, I made it all the way round no problem!!!

We cooked dinner in the hostel on the second night and then James went to bed relatively early as he was not feeling too great, too much excitement for one day I think! ;) I went for a few drinks with the girls we met in Coffs Harbour.

We spent the next day sunbathing in the morning, then looking around Surfers itself in the afternoon. We then sat in the park on massive beanbags until the coach picked us up at 5.00pm.


We had heard relatively bad things about Surfers paradise, that it was a bit like Blackpool abroad but James and I thought it was okay. We really enjoyed our time there although there is not much 'scenery' other than beach which is probably why some people don't like it! It is also full of high rise buildings too, but it just meant it was a bit different then some of the other places we have visited!

Port Macquarie & Coffs Harbour 2/1/12 - 5/1/12

So Jenna got to write about the amazing city of Sydney and the exciting NYE we had, and I'm left with writing up the next few days which basically involved little else other than lying on a beach!!

We're traveling the East coast of Australia, starting off in Sydney and heading north up to Cairns. We have 4 weeks to do it in as we have a flight out of Cairns to Singapore on the 31st January. The distance along the coast which we will be traveling is 1491 miles, which if you looked on a map of Australia, would give you an idea of just how big this country is. We're using the Greyhound bus which is very similar to the Intercity buses we used in New Zealand.

Our first stop after leaving Sydney was Port Macquarie. The town was situated right on the beach and seemed to be quite a popular holiday destination for Australians - not too many backpackers to be seen. We just spent the day and a half which we were there sunbathing on the beach. Along the sea front there was a small jetty which on the 1st day kids were busy jumping into the sea from. On the 2nd day we sat nearby again but this time spotted a shark swimming around, no more than 30m from where the kids were swimming the previous day! For some reason I seem to have gained a fear of the water over the past couple of years, I'm not quite sure why. As Jenna will confirm, I'm happiest when I'm in situations that I feel I know exactly what's going on.... and as this shark proved, you never know what's going on near you in the sea - particularly in Australia! Safe to say I chose not to go for a paddle.

 My experience with Australian wildlife went from bad to worse when I awoke from a little doze and found this monstrosity of a bird pecking his way towards us. Admittadly I flapped a little! We later met some girls further along the coast in a different town who were sat a few yards behind us and had seen my 'flustered' reaction!

 We then traveled a couple of hours further up the coast to Coffs Harbour. We spent 2 nights there and thought it was a good place, but very similar to Port Macquarie and to be fair we could have done either/or. We spent plenty of time on the beach again - Jenna thought she'd try to fit in with the locals and.... ride a camel on the beach! Her camel was called Ozzie which i think helped them bond well. When it came to Jenna actually getting onto the camel, I had the camera at the ready in anticipation of the inevitable. Amazing though she didn't fall off, so I put the camera away with a mixture of relief and disappointment!

 After cooking a BBQ in the evening, we went for a drink with the 2 girls who had seen my earlier pelican episode. We ended up chatting  to a bunch of sailors who had just finished a 40 hour yacht race from Sydney. They were a real good laugh and absolutely plastered, a couple of them were good enough to take us to see their boat to show us around and get us drinking a few rum and cokes which apparently has to be done when you're a sailor!

NYE 2011- Sydney 27/12/11 - 02/01/12

Hello again everyone, Jenna here!

We are really struggling to find the time to write these blog posts but so many of you keep on about them that we thought we better carry on! haha No, in all honesty it is quite a good way for us to remember everything we have done and it makes me feel like I am some sort of z-list writer for a crap magazine column that has an average of about 3 readers a month!

So, after having an an amazing festive period in the Bay of Plenty it was onwards to Auckland. We had pretty awful weather again in Auckland and to be honest because of this I think it was a bit of a let down. We also stayed in our worst hostel room to date that had NO windows or ventilation and stank of damp. What made it even worse was that I saw the room next door to us and this had a great view of the marina with about 8 windows so we were obviously just unlucky. We spent the least amount of time in the room as we possibly could. We were also in the middle of the red light district so that didn't help matters. I would definately NOT stay in that hostel again, EVER! FYI the hostel was a Nomads hostel and was called The Fat Camel.

We were also supposed to meet a friend of mine from back home but unfortuantely due to the weather he had gone away to escape it! All we really did while we were there was walk around the town, did a bit of shopping and took a walk to the marina which was actually really nice. We did eat out at a mexican on the marina one night which was nice too so I guess I am being a little harsh on Auckland to be honest, I think it was just that we came from such a beautiful place that it had a lot to live up to! I can imagine that Auckland is a nicer place if the weather is good but we weren't really that impressed.

After Auckland we were leaving New Zealand :-( to head for Australia's East coast and our first stop was Sydney!!

Just to summarise New Zealand in general though, it is by far the best county I have ever visited and I do not have a bad word to say about it, (apart from Auckland) haha! No seriously, it is absolutely stunning and I could not have picked a better place to start off my travelling adventure. I will 100% be going back there, that is a given!!

Anyway back to Sydney, OMG I love Sydney. We were staying about 100 miles from the city centre but that still didnt ruin my experience of the place. It is just amazing! When we first arrived we went to meet one of James' friends who moved to Sydney about 4 years ago. He took us to see Sydney vs Melbourne which was amazing because you could drink during the game and it was like a European atmosphere with lots of dodgy singing! We had a really good time although Sydney lost 4-0!

The next day we met up again with James's friend Ali and his wife and daughter and went for lunch in The Rocks area of Sydney. We then visited the Rocks Museum which was really interesting and gave you an insight to what Sydney was like when it was first inhabited.

We also visited Darling Harbour, Cicurlar Quay, the Opera House and we also walked across Sydney Harbour bridge. I think James was in love with the bridge as he kept telling me to admire the steel work- admire the steel work? Really? He then got me to take a photo of him with the bolts of the bridge and when I moaned he told me I did not appreciate it enough! Then when we were walking across the bridge I needed the loo, so was walking quite fast and James kept having a go at me because again I wasn't paying enough attention. To be honest, the view from the bridge was stunning and we paid to go to the top tower which gave you a great view over Sydney itself.

During our time, we also met up with my friends from back home Quinn and Faye and also Karlie while we were there so that was really nice to see them and catch up over a beverage!! Of course!! We went to a really nice bar that reminded me of London with a massive beer garden so we had a few drinks to celebrate being in Sydney!!

And then it was NYE! I had been looking forward to this night so much and it was soooo good!! I had just the best night ever and by far my best NY, although I did miss all my ladies!! We were really lucky to be honest as we had the best view of the fireworks and the Opera House behind it and this was down to Faye and Quinns friend Potts for invititng us to a house party, so I will be eternally grateful to him for invititng us along!! Thanks again!! Basically we got the party with the others at around 9ish after the police had let us in the road! We had a bit of an issue to start with but I just played the English tourist card and said I would be so upset if I didnt get to see the fireworks and the police officer let us down the road!! They just try and keep people as filtered out as possible for safety reasons I think. We then had a few drinks and left the house at 11.30, walked about 2 mins up the road and had the best view, that people had been queing for since about 9 in the morning! Amazing!!!! The fireworks themselves were fantastic and I enjoyed every minute of it. We then went back to the party and carried on the celebrations!

When we left at aroound 3ish, I had the great idea of going to sleep on Bondi beach and waking up at the beginning of 2012 by the sun! Very romantic! ha This was a great idea at the time but we woke up at 5ish when the sun was rising absolutely freezing. There were loads of other people there enjoying the sunset too but I think they had thought about it more and had jumpers, sleeping bags and blankets!! Woops!! It really was a great way to start 2012 and I will never forget that start to the year!! We then got back to our hotel at 8 in the morning so I really did feel like I was embracing the travelling spirit!! haha

We then spent the next day recovering from our lack of sleep in Hyde park. There are so many road names and places in Sydney the same as London that sometimes you would think you were actually still in London!! We had our last meal in chinatown that evening which was really nice. All in all, I loved Sydney and would love to go back there some day!! We crammed a lot in to 4 days as you can see but it would have been nice to stay for longer if we had the time.

Bay of Plenty 23/12/11-27/12/11

Hi everyone, we've been a bit slack in updating this for the past fortnight, mainly as we just haven't had time to sit down - believe it or not each post with photos takes us at least an hour to put together!

So we left Rotorua and made our way up to Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty in the North island. We were fortunate enough to stay with Jenna's cousin who emigrated to NZ earlier in the year. They have an amazing house a stone's throw away from the beach in Papamoa where we were really looked after. We stayed there 4 nights in total over Christmas.

We were kindly allowed to borrow a car so on the 1st day we drove a couple of hours inland to the Waitamo Caves. This was something I'd wanted to do for months. Basically it's a natural underground cave system with rivers and glow worms. We went for the tubing option which meant we sat on rubber rings and made our way through the caves. Although it was a good experience, I was a little bit disappointed with it as I think I'd built it up so much before we came out here! That evening though Jenna's cousin Estelle and her partner Dave cooked up a huge red snapper that he'd caught while sea kayaking which was amazing.

On Christmas eve we went to Mount Manganui. This is where Estelle and Dave work - they have their own kayaking business. Hannah a friend of Estelle was also staying, so the 3 of us climbed up the mountain. The view was pretty special, particularly considering the heat. I carried our backpack all the way up the mountain and then all the way back down...... about 100m from the car Jenna asked if she'd like for her to take the bag for a bit, I said yeh because the last 100m back to the car is the part your back really starts to feel the burn!

On Christmas eve night we caught up with Cara - a friend from back home who was out in the Bay of Plenty visiting her family. Dave and Estelle took us all out on a night kayak trip which took us along Lake McClaran in the pitch black to see glow worms. We did this after Estelle cooked us up some fajitas on one of the park's outdoor BBQs. The glow worms were spectacular - far more impressive than those at the caves.

Chrismas day itself was a great experience - it was completely opposite to what you're used to back home. We started off with a cooked breakfast and then spent most of the day down the beach kayaking and learning how to surf. I managed to stand up which I was happy with and Jenna managed to avoid any major injuries which I was also happy with! Dave and I went out to sea on the kayak and we capsized after a big wave took us out from behind. I'm not the greatest lover of the sea so I was happy to get back in the kayak pretty sharpish! We then went to a local nature spot with some incredible waterfalls where we cooled off before heading home for an amazing Christmas day BBQ.

Boxing day we went out on a Dolphin and Whale trip. The success rate of seeing dolphins was 98% the tour proudly boasts - so you guessed it, we were one of the 2% trips that saw none! We did however see a hammerhead shark which scared the crap out of me. But we were on a decent sized boat thankfully. We were offered a free trip another time to see the dolphins but we couldn't spare any more days at the Bay as we had a flight out of Auckland to Sydney to consider. Boxing day evening we had another BBQ, this time on the beach, with some of Estelle and Dave's friends. Jenna learnt to kite surf - minus the surf board, which was pretty cool.

We had an amazing time at the Bay of Plenty which was mainly thanks to being looked after so well. We'll be visting again soon I think. Although we missed everyone on Christmas day and as much as we love doing what we usually do on that day, it's safe to say we won't forget this one.