Katherine is a strange place. It's near enough one main street with speakers on the lampposts which play country music during the day? A big aborigine area, most of which hung out at the bottle shop, in pubs or sat on the shaded bits of grass drinking grog. The only white people I saw in the town were the people working in the pubs and shops.

The Ghan itself was empty so everyone grabbed 2 seats for themselves. I really enjoyed the journey, we went through some great landscapes and arrived in Alice Springs early on Tuesday morning.

I expected it to be more desert like, but it's pretty green. Aparently they had good rainfall over the past 2 weeks. The flies are out in force here although I have resisted the temptation of using my fly net, although quite a few people do wear them.

I had a good look around the town. It's small and modern with food and chain stores.

I visited The Flying Doctor Service - that was cool. It's operating live as you walk round. Dave sits at a desk and takes calls from Doctors (they docs are the only people with authority to order a plane off the ground) and contacts the medics and pilots with details. While we were there he was dealing with 2 emergencies. One, a small child and the other a baby, each about 60-90 minutes by plane in different directions from Alice Springs. Dave sent one plane out to collect the child first so that the baby only had one take off/landing to deal with. It's only a small office and you can read the details on the whiteboard and see the plane routes/destinations on the map.

There's 14 Flying Doctors Stations operating in Oz so everyone is within a 3 hour flight from help. 90% of the people they help are aboriginal. What they do is pretty amazing.

Later in the afternoon I sat around the pool at the hostel, had a bit to eat and caught an early night.

The Ghan

High Street, Alice Springs

Flying Doctor Service main office

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Everything in Darwin is newly built because of the WW2 bombings and the 1974 hurricane Tracey. Also the average age of Darwin residents is 28-35, so a young place too. This means that young people move up the employment ladder faster than usual and have more disposable income and a mortgage pretty early on.

On Saturday I went in to town with Bob, a dutch guy from my dorm. We'd both been given a dinner voucher from reception for the same bar, so walked there together. Dinner was ok and we stayed for a dance but left before the finals of the bikini competion started and the men poured in. There are so many more men than there are women in Darwin and I think it's the cause of a lot of the fighting. After dark there is always a high police presence in the streets.

Every Sunday the hostel has a live band from 3-8pm and is popular with the locals, so it was quite a busy and fun afternoon.

There is a big aborigine community here with groups of them on the streets drinking grog and walking around the pubs scavenging for cigarettes, or taking fag butts out of the ashtrays. It seems they're pretty well looked after by the government, they get a weekly payment, but just seem to spend it all on booze. On the news, the aborigines were being interviewed about getting back in the work place and say 'they couldn't cope with a full time job after being unemployed for 10 years', so the government try to support them by finding them part time employment. The whole thing seems to be a vicious circle and self segregation between the more affluent whites and poorer barefooted aborigines is clear, yet unofficial.

A big source of employment here is barramundi fishing when it's in season - as it is now. Fisherman make their way to Darwin from all over Oz, it makes them very good money. I was seriously offered a job as cook on a prawn trawling boat for 4 months... I don't think so, I get sea sick on the Thames!

The tropical weather here boasts huge thunder storms, the lightning can be amazing, almost like watching a firework display. The rain is so heavy you can't see from one side of the road to the other. For the most part though, it's hot sunshine and high humidity.

I also did do a day trip from Darwin to Litchfield National Park - that was pretty good. The first stop was the jumping crocodiles on the Adelaide River. They hold a pork chop on the end of a rope and dangle it in the river and the crocs swim out for a feed. We were lucky enough to see a 5 metre croc. Back on the bus we drove through Humpty Doo (I love that name) to Litchfield National Park. We stopped at Florence Falls for a swim then Wangi and Tolmer Falls. Finally stopping on the way home to have a look at some cathedral termite mounds before heading through Batchelor and back in to Darwin.

Main Street in Darwin

5 metre croc

Tolmer Falls, Litchfield

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We stopped for lunch at the natural spring of Mataranka in Elsey National Park. You had to walk down this dirt road to get to the hot springs. It was like something out of a horror movie, tall trees on either side and millions of bats swooping between them, with their piercing screech. The rangers here have done everything they can to try to move the bats on but they come back every year to the same place, at the the last count (and I don't know how they do this) the rangers said there were 7 million of them in this one place. We ran through to the springs, but no one got in to the water, it looked lush but with a few people already having bat shat on them, we decided to give the springs a miss. It didn't smell too good either!

After lunch and a few flies for good measure we made our way to the town of Catherine, just a quick stop to walk along the main road of the town - it took all of 5 minutes to walk from one end to the other.

Then on to the Adelaide River Pub for a cold beer and to meet the famous 'Charlie the water buffalo' a stuffed water buffalo which stands on the bar. It was the very buffalo that was used in the filming of crocodile dundee... poor thing.

Last stretch of road took us to Darwin, arriving about 7pm.

Everyone got on so well and we arranged to meet for dinner at 8.30. Was a great night, we went to the Vic in town for dinner, drinks and dancing. The next morning we all met for breakfast and went to the museum of the Northern Territory. At lunch time we said goodbye to a few that were leaving. Then the remaining 6 of us met for dinner that night too. We walked to Stokes Wharf, a 15 minute walk from the centre of Darwin. They have a couple of food outlet places and we all ate Barramundi fish - yum.

Then out of nowhere a storm blew up, even the locals looked a bit worried. The wind was so strong they moved everyone to one side of the building. The building was swaying and the heavy duty metal doors buckled and pushed rain through. I was scared, but there's nothing you can do, just stay put and hope it passes quickly. One of the tug boats lost both it's lines. It lasted about 2 hours and the muddy walk back to Alans flat was pretty slippery in flip flops.
We only had a quick beer with him before saying goodbye and made tracks back to the hostel.

Daly Waters Pub

Millions of bats

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We passed about 5 cars and 2 road trains all day. The trucks communicate to each other by radio. The road is a single track so when Alan can see a road train approaching, he speaks to the driver on the radio to let him know that he'll pull left/right off the road and they might advise each other of the weather ahead/flooded areas or if there's any cattle ahead.

The roads out here cut right through cattle stations, so now and again you get a herd of cattle just doing their cow thing in the middle of the road. These stations are massive, they can be the size of Switzerland! One station we went through is so big that during mustering season when they gather all their cattle together to brand the calfs and chose which to keep and which to sell/slaughter, it can take a few months. It's done by motorbike and horseback. During the dry season they have to keep the 70 odd water holes full for the cattle. So they employ 2 people full time, to regularly fly over each water hole to check (this alone is an 8 hour flight), if they see any problems they drive the 4x4 out to fill it or correct it. Most of larger stations are owned by companies and the smaller ones (well anything a quarter the size of Switzerland and under) are usually family owned.

We stopped for lunch at Tennant Creek. This place only has a police station - nothing else! The police station is in the centre of the area it patrols and deals mainly with missing people and road accidents etc. Quite a few people go missing around this part apparantly!

Lunch was set up, eaten and packed away in record speed because of the amount of flies. As you open your mouth to take a bite, one flys in. I think we all munched a couple of flies with our sandwich! They go for the moisture of your eyes and like to get up your nose and in your mouth - not pleasant but an experience nevertheless!

A quick stop at Hells Gate Roadhouse for a cold drink then back on the road.

Further on, and Alan pulled the bus over for a 'nothing walk'. We got out and he told us to walk - there was nothing for 360 degress, not even a tree on the horizon! It was so hot, the ground ahead looked blurred from the heat rising from the ground. We just walked for 10 minutes before Alan caught us up with the bus. It makes you appreciate the isolation and vastness out here.

Finally we arrived at the Heartbreak Hotel; a bar with some dormitory accomodation attached. It got it's name from the heartbreak it caused when being built in such a remote place. This is said to be one of the most remote places in Australia.

We all met in the bar and Dave the Owner had dinner ready... then the generator went! Nothing, no lights, no showers, no back up 'genny'! Dinner was eaten in the dark with a couple of torches on the verandah. The only other people in there 2 blokes from a white 4x4 that had overtaken us during the day. Their 2 dogs soon turned in to the talking point, they wanted to play with all the cane toads and of course wasn't allowed to because the toads would kill the dogs. The guys drove their car over to the verandah and put some music on for us...country & western of course. They were friends, one was driving the other from Noosa to Alice Springs to help with his cattle station for a few months.

So we all sat there in the dark for the night with the car stereo on, helping ourselves to the beer by torch light because the till didn't work. The 'genny' did eventually come back on right at the end of the night so I settled up my tab with Dave and decided not to take a shower that night incase the lights went again when I was in the shower, a 5 minute walk away from everything in flimsy corrigated iron blocks with all the bugs and toads.

Road Train

Nothing Walk

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This morning we continued along the Matilda Highway, passing the township of Normanton. Normanton's claim to fame is one of it's residence caught the biggest croc ever caught at 28 feet in length. A replica and plaque stands proud on the main road. Apart from that, it has a petrol station and 5 or 6 shops along one road.

The next stop was to collect firewood from the side of the road for tonight's campfire. Back to the bus with hundreds of km's to go... we saw Brolga birds and an Ergo bird, which are really rare (they are the only indigenous stalk in Oz).

We also stopped at the Burke & Wills roadhouse for a quick drink with locals before setting up a bbq at the picturesque Gregory River. We had a quick swim there before making our way to Lawn Hill National Park(Boodjamulla). Here we hired canoes. It was awsome, we canoed through a gorge with 60 metre sheer sandstone cliffs on either side and crystal clear green water with tropical plants. After a leisurely 30 minute canoe we came to a dead end, and waterfall. Everyone parked their canoes and went swimming under the waterfall, it was like a jacuzzi and the water was so warm. We looked out for snakes and fresh water crocs which live there but didn't see any.

Tonights accommodation was at Adels Grove, a camping ground in the middle of nowhere. After dinner, pre-prepared for us in the bar we set up our campfire. There's no light pollution this far out so the stars were so bright. Alan walked us to the nearby airstrip (all 'stations' have their own small airstrips, basically a small strip of land that they must keep clear by keeping the grass down or repairing holes in concrete etc incase the flying doctor is needed). We all layed on our backs and Alan taught us how to spot the Southern Cross and find South from the stars. We watched the sky in silence and saw shooting stars and satalites moving about. I love it!

Dodging the hundreds of cane toads on the walk back to the campfire, some of the guys pestered Alan to take them croc hunting. So we all walked down to the nearby river with a few torches between us. Morgan spotted a snake, which turned out to be a Taipan - the most poisonous snake in the world. We all had a good look and carried on to the river. We shone the torches at the opposite bank of the river hoping to find 2 orange eyes reflecting back at us, but nothing and after 20 minutes we followed Alan back to the campfire.

Alan was tired and although he had a dormitory bed chose to sleep outside next to the fire in his swag. He fell asleep and we carried on chatting for a bit longer before hitting the sack ourselves.

In my canoe

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The youngest in the group was Morgan at 19 and the oldest, his uncle Uno at 57, both from Switzerland. A real mix of ages.

So, I said goodbye to the rain forest and East coast and off we went. The first stop was Mount Surprise where we all helped to prepare lunch, then Russell made an appearance with some of his mates; pythons, carpet snakes and loads more, they got passed round and he gave an interesting talk about snakes and how to deal with the poisonous ones.

After that we drove through the Gulf Savannah country which attracted lots of people during the gold rush and towns sprang up quickly. Not much left of them now though. One the way we passed flocks of red tailed black cockatoos and loads of galahs. It was a long drive to our overnight destination at Croydon, an authentic outback aussie pub. During it's hayday Croydon was one of Queenslands biggest towns, with 40 pubs. Now, The Club Hotel is all that's left, along with a new, small supermarket.

After checking in to our rooms (mine was next to the room that must never be opened because of the ghost - wished I'd never flippin' asked about it!) we went for a swim at Lake Belmore, a fresh water hole then stopped on the way back at a peaceful lookout over Croydon to watch the sunset.

One of the locals was having his birthday bash at the hotel that night and we were all invited. I thought the bar would get packed, considering it's the only place for miles to go out, but it didn't. That evening, the locals didn't really interact with us. I tried to make conversation but they weren't interested. The only person that wanted to chat to us was a big aborigine lady. It was strange, they get bad press here, yet my experience of them so far has been ok. The aborgines sat seperately from the white locals, although they spoke and I didn't see any animostiy from either side, it was clear they didn't mix well?

As it grew dark the pavement out the front went black, as I looked closer I could see it was covered in a thick layer of insects... stink beetles. They were everywhere, the rush of them only lasted a few hours then they slowly dissapear to a bearable number although I was still finding them everywhere the next morning - even in my bag and clothes! They don't hurt you but if you squash them they flippin' stink!

Also cane toads everywhere. They're a real pain in Oz, introduced in 1935 to help farmers by eating the sugar cane beetle. No research was done on the toads, and it later transpired that the beetles were active during the day and lived on the high part of the sugar cane, the toads were active at night and stayed at the bottom of the sugar cane - so they never even see each other! The cane toads have no preditors in Oz and are poisonous to all the indiginous animals that eat them. So they're slowly making their way across the country and killing crocs, snakes, lizards, birds and domestic pets.

Back at the party outside the back of the hotel the jukebox played loads of country and western tunes. All the kids knew the words and was obviously what they'd grown up with, not chart stuff.

Stopped to look at the termite mounds

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Next we stopped at a place which has a short boardwalk through the Daintree Rainforest. On the walk round the guide pointed out plants and bugs. One of which was the green ant. It's a fairly large ant with a bright green sack on its back. He ate one, and said the green sack is filled with an intense amount of vitamin C. So we stopped to chase the ants, I ate mine. It had a really strong citrus taste that wasn't pleasant, it was so strong it made my tongue go numb! Later when talking to locals at the hostel, they laughed at me and said I was only suppose to lick the green sack - my tongue went numb because it bit me! Dam that guide.

The hostel I stayed in was set back in the rain forest, 600 metres from the beach. Cape Trib is the only place in the world where 2 natural wonders meet each other - the Daintree rain forest meets the Great Barrier Reef. It's so small, just 2 shops... a chemist and a supermarket on a dirt road in the rain forest.

Staying here, sounds and feels every part like living in the rain forest. The massive trees and vegetation make you feel really small and the bugs are big and nasty - everything that moves wants to bite a chunk out of you! The regular monsoon rain clears the air for up to 20 minutes before the high humidity returns. As it's the wet season, the place was near empty. I had a walk to the beach and just chilled out. Later on I spoke to a few people working at the bar, they were locals that were driving to the next town to do some chores, banking and stuff. They asked if I'd like to join them so off we went. Only we didn't get as far as the town, we stopped at the Cow Bar Hotel for a beer. It was just full of locals, as you'd expect in such a small place, everyone knew each other. We sat with them on the verandah outside and they made me feel welcome. A mix of people, women, men and children of all ages, all seemed nice apart from a bloke they called Possum - don't think he likes pommes. Pat invited everyone back to his house for a drink, Possum declined but everyone else came. So off we went again in the 4x4s to Pat's.

The houses are really spread out from each other which gives a real feeling of isolation. The outlook from the verandah was great, just forest in all directions. There were about 10 of us there. Most of them worked in the local hotel or hostels - which is the main source of employment for them.

The music played and we had a boogie in the front room and before I knew it the sun was coming up. Pat and Mickey had to get to work at my hostel so Pat drove me back via Cow Bay beach where we stopped for 5 minutes to see the sunrise. Then back in the truck a Cassowary crossed the road in front of us. It was too quick for me to get a picture, but I was so fortunate to see this endangered bird. It's like an emu with a horn on it's head.

That afternoon I caught the bus back to Cairns.

Sunrise at Cow Bay

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The boat stopped at 2 seperate snorkelling spots. I swam with a turtle on the first stop, it was so cool. He was munching on the coral below me and then swam up to my right hand side, still 4 feet or so beneath me, but we swam a little way together! I didn't take my underwater camera with me on that snorkel! So at the second snorkel spot I had my camera hoping to see another turtle, but it wasn't to be. I saw some pretty big fish though and swam through shoals of little fish. The visability was so much better than at Airlie and you could see under water for a long way in all directions. This time no stinger suits were necessary. The jelly fish tend to hug the coastal lines and we were 2 hours out from the coast and right over the barrier reef.

I had a great day and back at the hostel packed for my onward journey the following morning.

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Not sure what I expected from Mission beach, but thought it would have more to offer than we found. The main shoping area has about 10 shops, although there is a long and beautiful beach. The beach was full of little white crabs which you couldn't help but tread on.

A lot of our time was spent making the most of the luxury (well, compared to what I've got used to) and spent a lot of time in and around the pool, which we had to ourselves.

Mission Beach

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The town itself is small, just a modern main high street full of cafes and souvenir shops and tour operators. We'd booked to go on a 3 day/2 night sailing trip around the Whitsundays departing the following day. After calling to confirm the trip I was told to phone back in the morning for confirmation that the boat would still sail due to gale warnings. Sure enough, the trip was cancelled and the rain kept coming. All roads North to Cairns were flooded and closed. People we spoke to had had to fly from Cairns to Airlie in order to make their sailing trip only for it to be cancelled. There isn't a lot to do other than the sailing trips in Airlie.

That night a storm really got up. large tree branches and metal signage boards had blown on to the streets. We seeked shelter in Magnums Bar, then Shenanigans, an Irish bar in town. There was only the 5 of us in there, an old bloke at the bar called Rory and 2 irish lads behind the bar, me and Steph. As it got later and few more walked in, it turned into a good night.

It rained for 2 days, we kept an eye on the weather forecast and decided to take a chance and book a snorkelling day trip to Whitehaven beach on saturday.

Friday came and the sun shone! We spent the day at the lagoon in Airlie. Airlie doesn't have a beach to speak of so they've created a man made lagoon which overlooks the ocean. Was a nice relaxing day just mooching around the lagoon.

Saturday and the sun still shone. We were collected from the hostel and boarded the boat pretty early. The first stop was Mantaray Bay where we did some snorkelling. We had to wear these ridiculus looking stinger suits to protect us from the jelly fish. As I'm not a good swimmer I donned a life jacket and 2 noodles as well, I looked a right nerd. The water was warm but the visability wasn't brilliant because the storms had churned up all water but we did see lots of fairly small and colourful fish and coral. Oh, and we did see Elvis, he's four foot in length and is known to be curious and swims out near the boats often.

Back on the boat we made our way to Whithaven Beach and bbq'd on the beach. There wasn't many stingers there so most people got in the ocean - the shallow water was as warm as a bath! Whitehaven is like paradise, turquoise shallow waters, white sand and palm trees. After the bbq we walked up to the Hill Inlet lookout for a great view of the island.

Back on the dingy to the boat and then the boat made its way back to Airlie. We both had a great day and I hope to do some more snorkelling when I get to Cairns.

The Lagoon at Airlie

Me and Steph in our sexy stinger suits...not

Whitehaven Beach, the Whitsundays

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The next day was pretty lazy, there's not much to do in Rainbow. The main drag constists of a few cafes and shops. I loved this place for that reason, just quiet and relaxing. In and out of the swimming pool all morning. We attended a safety briefing early evening for tomorrows self drive 4x4 safari on Fraser Island. After that we did got talking to some locals, Linda and Pat in the local pub and ended up going back to Linda's house for a drink, there she introduced us to her husband, China. The day just flew by and when we got back to the hostel it was time for bed.

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I was one of 3 desinated drivers for the trip. So after we'd packed our truck with food, tents etc we set off with the other 2 trucks to catch the ferry over to Fraser to start our journey.

One of the first thing everyone noticed was the huge marsh flies everywhere, they're about 2 inches long and give you a nasty bite - there were thousands of the buggers. As we found out later they disapear after sunset and that was always a welcome relief.

Our first stop on Fraser was Lake McKenzie, this is a fresh water lake which is naturally infused with teatree oil. My skin and hair felt really conditioned after! After spending too long at the Lake it was a race to get to our camping spot on the beach before high tide...but we made it and put up our tents in semi darkness, then me and Nicky cooked steaks in pitch black and pouring rain.

We only got the truck stuck once on our way to the Lake, I think we were driving too slowly so the wheels just sunk in the soft sand. All out to push... it wasn't me driving that time!

The next morning after brekky, we packed the camp away and walked to the Maheno Ship wreck, which has been washed up on the beach. From there we drove to Eli Creek, this is a like a small stream, the water is about thigh deep and if you just float in it, it carries you all the way to the ocean. We spotted a python and huge spiders by the side of the water.

The beaches on fraser are full of jelly fish so you can't swim in the sea which was torcher at times because of the heat, although we used the sea to wash our dirty dishes and going to the toilet meant digging a hole...nice, especially with the marsh flies around!

Back in the truck and my turn to drive, we went to Indian Head. This is where I saw my first wild dingo. It was so bold, came really close to us and no amount of shouting, clapping or shooing scared it. I loved driving the truck on the beach, occasionally hitting soft sand and washouts. I drove about half of the 75 mile beach to Indian Head.

On to Dundabera to fill our eski's with fresh ice and drinking water then on to Lake Wabbi to camp for the evening. The sky was really clear and the stars were sooo bright, I've never seen anything like it. I could have just laid on my back all night looking at them, it was really breath taking.

The next morning we walked to Lake Wabbi. We'd been advised it was an easy 20 minute walk. It took an hour walking over very hot sand dunes! Think someone was pulling our leg! I loved the isolation on the dunes, it was so quiet and you could see forever. After that walk in such hot conditions Lake Wabbi was so welcoming. Another fresh water lake, this time with turtles and catfish swimming about. After a couple of hours here we took the alternative walk back through the rain forest and back to the truck.

Dropped the truck off at the hostel, unloaded and caught the bus to Airlie Beach.

I loved Fraser Island, the landscape is so different from what I've seen so far, it's completely untouched. Unfortunately we didn't get a particularly good group, with most of the conversation being in Swedish and the couple from England always cozying up, it was down to me and Steph to make the best of it...and we did.

Packing our truck for Fraser Island

Lake McKenzie, Nicky and me

Maheno ship wreck

Eli Creek

Lake Wabbi

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I walked across the bridge back to the city centre, stopped in a bar and got talking to some people that had just finished work. Watched England-SA rugby game and headed back to the hostel. Met Steph in the hostel bar for a few drinks and had an early night ready for our onward journey the next day.

I thought Brisbane was an average city, it's got everything you'd expect from a city but nothing that stands out.

Brisbane skyline from the ferry to Southbank

Man made beach on Southbank, Brisbane

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Nimbin was so weird, this little town was full of misfits. Hippys, people stoned off their faces, cafes where full of people sitting around bongs and the air thick with smoke. We walked around the town just taking it in, it's like Nimbin is stuck in the 70s with sychodelic signs and hippy wall paintings on both sides of the street.

We walked through the Nimbin museum, even more curious!... nothing but old tut, newspaper cuttings covered the wall and old rusty car parts scattered over the floor. While walking through we were approached a few times to buy some weed but declined. I'm sure the museum would make much more sense if you are stoned!

We wondered further up the road and bought a few hash cookies. Both cautious about eating them, we had a nibble every now and again, and after a few hours had both finished a cookie each - it didn't do anything for us and as we found out later, neither did it effect anyone else - ripped off!

Back on the coach there were a few stoned people and Ivan played some loud music for everyone to chill out to. Our next stop was at Paul's place, he owns and cultivates a huge area of land, it was like a scene from a film, complete wilderness and beauty. Paul met us from the coach, an excentric hippy even down to his John Lennon glasses! He showed us to his home in this jungle like place, just a large wooden hut over hanging a large pond. We were offered watermelons and macademia nuts which he grew organically on his grounds and we swam in the pond. Paul didn't stop talking all afternoon, all of it was rubbish, just drug fuelled banter about changing the world. Was very funny although no one laughed out loud.

On to a quick 30 minute stop at Minyon Falls, although there was no water because of the drought. Back on the bus we headed home taking in a quick 'munchies stop' on the way. It was a fun day and a big eye opener.

That evening Steph and I met Emma and Chris in Buddha Bar for a few beers while we watched an amazing fire show.

Paul, Nimbin

Paul's Pond, Nimbin

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There was a mix up with dorms so we ended up staying on 'the island'. It's only accessible via a small wooden bridge and has about 15 permanent canvas teepees. Me and Steph shared a teepee for the 3 nights. You're completely with nature there, it's like living in the rain forest and the creatures are so loud night and day. Some of our neighbors included bush turkeys, river dragons (2 foot long lizards), snakes and quite a few huntsman spiders, a couple of which lived over our front door. It's a big complex and very hippy orientated, a few joints on the go in the outside communial area, people walking bare footed, lots of dreadlocks and beads everywhere. I loved it, the whole atmosphere was relaxing and everyone seemed friendly. There was always a background noise of digeridoos where people learnt how to play or make their own. I joined in the mornings activities and learned how to use sticks and poys (like a circus skills lesson), mastered the basics after 2 hours...not bad!

That evening Steph and I went for dinner at The Rails with Emma and Chris. It's an open air bar which usually plays live music...except monday's. Nevermind, the food was good and we went back to the Buddha Bar next to the hostel for a few drinks after.

I got up early on Tuesday morning to catch the bus down to Cape Byron to watch the sunrise. Cape Byron is the most Easterly point of Australia and so the first place to see the sunrise...it's suppose to be amazing, unfortunately it was a cloudy morning which obscured the sunrise, just a dash of pink and orange on the clouds. Back at the hostel Steph got up and ready and we walked to the beach for the afternoon. The beach in Byron is pretty cool, and we spent our time at 'The Wreck' beach so called because of the ship wreck sticking out of the sea close to the beach.

After a swift beer at the Beach Hotel we made our way back to the Island hut to get ready for the evening. Again, we met up with Emma and Chris in the Buddha Bar for a pub quiz.

Island hut at The Arts Factory, Byron

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The dingo talk was interesting and I learned the only true wild dingos left in Oz reside on Fraser Island where they are unable to mate with domestic dogs (which is what's happened everywhere else). I'll be camping on Fraser Island in a few weeks so got some top tips on how to deter them...throw rocks near them and light a fire, technical stuff!

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Australia Day is taken as a public holiday so everyone gets in to it. The whole day had an amazing atmosphere. Back at the hostel I met everyone on the roof terrace for a bbq. Matt got his guitar out and there was a funny singalong session with tie me kangaroo down sport and waltzing matilda played over and over. From there we all walked down to Darling Harbour to watch the fireworks. The Ozzies know how to do fireworks like no other - the display was on a par with new years eve... there was a big build up to it with Ozzie speakers and special guests and then the National anthem played, 150,000 people in the Harbour cheering. Then the fireworks started, they lasted about 20 minutes and were set to music, with the bass vibrating through the ground. The grand finale was an army aircraft flying low over the harbour which shook the ground, and it was dowsed in fuel for a big burn off - you couldn't tell it was a plane, it just looked like a slow moving comet, just this masive loud flame flying over.

We rounded the night off with a boogie at ScuBar.

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Today we had a few quick stop offs, included Wave Rock and Hippos Yawn, both rock formations. We arrived back in Perth about dinner time were me and Rowena ate at the Ocean Beach Hotel in Cottesloe and watched the sunset.

The next day, Saturday, I spent all day on Cottesloe beach and caught up with Claire who I met in my first few weeks in Sydney. Had a great and lazy day before flying back to Sydney on the following afternoon.

Wave Rock

Sunset at Cottesloe

Perth to Esparence - Day 5 remains copyright of the author Tall_Bird, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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It took us about 2 hours to complete the return climb to the summit. I found it tough but the views were superb, it felt like you could see forever. On one side was the view of the whole Espernce area and on the other a view of Cape Le Grand National Park and the 110 islands of the Recherche Archipelago.

Back on the bus and out to Lucky Bay. I've never seen sand so white, it looked like snow but it felt really strange to walk on, like cornflower. When you scuffed your feet on it, it squeaked like a clean plate when you rub your finger on it. On to Hellsfire Beach (voted top one of the top 10 beaches in the world) for a bbq lunch. We all just chilled out here, sunbathed, swimming.

Next was pink lake, so called because when the weather gets very hot, the algae living in it produces a suncream to protect itself and the sunscrean is pink. It obviously wasn't hot enough for us to see it, just had a tinge of pink about it.

On to Twilight Beach for a couple of hours, we played cricket on the sand which was great fun. My bowling was spot on but my batting leaves a lot to be desired! Connor, the irish lad hadn't played before, so first time in bat he missed the ball and threw the bat by accident...was funny to see.

Back to the hostel in Esperance and after another bbq dinner I got myself ready to go out. Everyone else had decided to sit in again! Can't beleive it...we still hadn't seen anything of Esperance the town itself, only the areas around it. So I decided to go out on my own anyway. I walked along the sea front to town. On the way was a jetty, it was twilight by then. The jetty was quite busy so I walked over to see what was happening. There were big wooden tables along the jetty where fisherman were gutting and scalling their catch, chucking the guts in the sea. In the sea was Sammy the Sea Lion eating it all up. I got talking a family standing next to me and it turns out Sammy is quite a local celebrity and locals bring their children to watch Sammy, who turns up at the same time every night for a free feed. The locals had watched him be chased away by a shark the previous week and hadn't expected to see him again, so it was a nice surprise for everyone that he was back.

After that I turned to walk off the the jetty and noticed a film being projected on to a building opposite, as I got closer I could see it was footage of flooding and devastion. The lady next to me explained how the recent flooding had effected Esperance, with fisherman still unable to get out to sea because the sea still hadn't come back in so all their boats were still beached. The sea had washed away the beaches and they had to physically bring sand in to replace it. A few people I spoke to thought it would take at least 10 months to correct itself.

I walked on to the first bar I came across, the Pier. In there I found a table outside and just people watched. There was a karoke on and the place was pretty full. 2 girls had just finished their shift behind the bar and came and sat at my table, Christy and Heidi. They were friendly and seemed to know everyone. I decided to try the 2nd of 3 pubs in Esperance town and asked if they wanted to join me. It was really strange, they'd lived there for 12 months and never been in the other pubs, it's very territorial there. I convinced them to come for one and Christy didn't want to leave...she loved it. We all got up and sang on the karoke in The Esperance pub. It was fairly empty and you get a free beer for every song you do. It turned into a really good night. The pubs although rough (what with the police escorting a guy away, full of drunk miners, open conversations about drugs and fights) were real. No pretentiousness, just very straight forward people who were proud of where they lived. Through Christy and Heidi I met lots of people who offered to show me around and about their town. The 3 of us walked back to the Pier, where there was time for one song on the karoke before going to the attached 'nightclub'. They called it their towns nightclub, but it was just another room in the pub with a late licence and loud music. I was really flattered, Christy spoke to her boss and out of the blue I was offered a job behind the bar with free accommodation if I would like to stay on in Esperance. I would have loved to have taken them up on the offer but had to get back to Sydney to meet my mum. The club finished at about 2am, and after we'd eaten a sausage roll from the local garage Heidi gave me a lift home.

This had been the best day of my time in Australia so far - completed emersed in real ozzie life.

Frenchman's Peak (2nd hill from the left)

Lucky Bay

Twilight Beach

Perth to Esperance - Day 4 remains copyright of the author Tall_Bird, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Back to the bus for the 8 hour journey to Esperance. We stopped at a few remote places on the way. Pete phoned the office to confirm the roads were clear and we made our way on the dusty red roads with nothing but sparce, small green vegetation on either side.

The hostel in Esperance was really good, we were the first group through after the storms so the few people that were there were ozzies following work around the country.

After a bbq dinner everyone else wanted to stay in and play cards. I don't get that? We hadn't seen anything of Esperance so I convinced Rowena to join me at the local pub. There were about 10 men in there, mostly drunk miners. Esperance is a comuter belt for gold miners (about 2 hours drive from the mines). We had a game of pool with a couple of them...and won. Then went back to the hostel and played a few drinking games with everyone else before bed.

Group at Castle Rock summit

Perth to Esperance - Day 3 remains copyright of the author Tall_Bird, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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On to the Valley of the Giants. It's a walk 38 metres high through the Tingle forest tree canopes. It was so windy and pouring of rain, the walkway was really swaying. It was a shame really, I would have liked to have spent more time up there but as it was it took 15 minutes to walk round. Then I did the Ancient Empire walk at ground level. It's a boardwalk through a grove of veteran Tingle trees - the girth of the Tingle trees can reach 24 metres around!...and they're usually hollow trunks where a fungus eats the insides, it's easy to see why the first settlers used these trees as their homes.

Off we went again, this time to Elephant Cove and Greens Pool beach, they were once again...amazing. We spent an hour or so exploring before setting off for the Natural bridge - a rock formation which has eroded to form a bridge and The Gap - kind of like a gorge. It was so windy and still pouring of rain that scrambling over the slippery wet limestone to view them both was a bit scary, what with the sheer drops everywhere. We were so high up and yet the gale force winds made the sea so strong, the top of the waves hit us.

On to our last stop for the day, Albany. Albany is the oldest settlement in Western Australia and at one point was going to be the Capital of WA. For many years it was the first port of call for the mail from England which put it in a better position than Perth.

We went stopped for 20 minutes at the Anzac war memorial before arriving at our hostel for the evening. After dinner we walked to the local pub for a couple of beers, and then to bed.

Bi-Centennial Tree climb

Valley of the Giants

Greens Pool

Perth to Esparence - Day 2 remains copyright of the author Tall_Bird, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Our tour company made the decision to go to Esparence regardless and turn back if necessary. So off we went, 17 of us on the bus. A real mix of people, a few ozzies, an irish couple, an english couple, a japanese guy who didn't speak english (Mr Y) and a few others. Our tour guide Pete was from Adelaide and seemed alright.

By 11am we had reached Bunbury. This is where I stood thigh deep in the sea and a wild dolphin swam passed, he was so near I could have touched him but you're not aloud to. The volunteer workers at Bunbury want to limit the interaction between the dolphins and people to keep them wild. They don't feed them or encourage the dolphins in anyway, it's just the dolphins curiosity that keeps them coming back. It really was surreal, this dolphin being curious about me, and loads of these tiny little fish all around my legs while he swam back and forth.

Onwards to Busselton, this was a small coastal town. Just a few young families on the beach. The towns claim to fame is it's jetty. It is the longest in the southern hemisphere at 2km. We stopped here for a picnic lunch and onwards again to Ngilgi cave. The cave was fairly small compared to the caves in the Blue Mountains but impressive all the same. It only took about 30 minutes to walk through but went very deep and as there is only one way in/out the oxygen levels get pretty low and everyone is huffing and puffing and it gets quite hot down there too. I was quite pleased to get back out, it's certainly not made with tall people in mind and it got quite claustrophobic down there, spending most of the walk bent over, and trying to navigate narrow stair cases.

On again to the Margaret River. This is the wine making region of the West Coast. We stopped for a spot of wine tasting at Sandalford Vineyard. Lucky for me Rowena doesn't much care for wine, so I doubled up! The scenery in this area is lush and green, a stark contrast to everything I've seen in Australia so far.

Next on to the Margaret River surf beach where international surfing competitions are held. Finally we arrived at Pemberton in the Margaret River area where we spent the night in a log cabin in what felt like the middle of nowhere. Everyone chipped in to prepare dinner, I made the coldslaw. We all sat on the verandah and watched the sunset over the green woodland and hills with a cold beer.

Dolphin swimming past me at Bunbury

Busselton

Perth to Esperance - Day 1 remains copyright of the author Tall_Bird, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Woke early Saturday and went for breakfast on Cottesloe Beach. The beaches around Perth are fantastic, had a paddle in the sea and went on to Fremantle (Freo as the locals call it). Wandered around Freo and came across a canon which is still fired at 1pm everyday. It drew a small crowd and the lady preparing the canon asked if I would like to fire it. So after asking everyone else to step back, the lady introduced me to the crowd, we did a countdown from 10 and I pushed the button!

The canon was used years ago by the sailors to check the acuracy of their navigational equipment. That doesn't happen anymore, although they've continued with the canon.

Went to pub in Freo called Little Creatures, it's also a brewery. So sampled a few of the home brews...very nice. Sat outside on the edge of the sea and watched the fisherman sail in and out.

That evening we went to a local pub called the Paddington to watch a live band play.

Sunday morning I was up at 5am to make the 45 minute drive down to Rockingham where we went fishing. I thought it would be a big boat, but no. It was tiny and still on a trailer on the back of a ute. We drove the boat on to the beach and then waded through the shallow waters to get on the boat.

I caught 2 whiting which I was pretty pleased about. We also pulled in a few rock cod and skippy. Others that we threw back because we couldn't eat were scorpion fish, rainbow fish and something that looked like nemo. There's quite a lot of skill involved in this fishing lark - more so than I'd appreciated before. The swell was up and even with 2 sickness tablets I still felt queezy. That night we went for dinner at Scarborough beach and had an early night.

View of Perth from Kings Park

Cottesloe Beach

1st Weekend in Perth remains copyright of the author Tall_Bird, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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It was a really high atmosphere, with everyone chatting to everyone else around them. We played cards with people on the towels behind us and shared food with others.

Entertainment began at 1pm with a canon going off, then every hour on the hour something else, like an air show, laser light show and at 9am the childrens fireworks. They were just as spectacular as the midnight fireworks only it was a shorter show.

The fireworks at Midnight went on for about 20 minutes. This year was the 75th anniversary of the harbour bridge. It was lit up in green like a coathanger (the bridges nick name is the coathanger). The fireworks were worth waiting for, they were spectacular.

No one hung around after, as soon as the fireworks finished everyone gathered their stuff and made tracks. We walked back through the park to our local 24 hour bar and had a few bevvys in there. I got back to the hostel at about 5am and went up to the roof terrace. From the terrace I could see there was a party going on in the apartments opposite, it looked quite good, with disco lights and music.

Made my way back down stairs and sat with the staff and a bottle of red...until Deborah walked in at 6am from her night out. I dragged her back out to see if we could blag our way in to the party over the road. We walked to the secure building and a girl was coming out of the block so we just walked in and mentioned to her we were on our way to the party 'what floor is it on again?'. She confirmed it was level 6, so up we went. It was easy to tell which door it was from the noise. The front door wasn't locked so we just walked in and before I could shut the door behind me a guy (who we discovered was called Alan) started talking to us. We didn't give anything away, just said we were looking for Dave (random name - don't know a Dave) and finished our chit chat, a few steps further in to the hall way and a guy asked who we were (turns out he was the owner of the flat, called Eddie), we just mentioned we'd been talking to Alan, and he said, 'oh you're with Alan, make yourselves at home' so we did. This 2 storey penthouse apartment was amazing, they'd even hired a professional DJ in their lounge for new years eve! and the large balcony had a small pool. Although the music was good and we enjoyed the dancing, we didn't stay long, only an hour and left. Me and Deborah were too normal to fit in, everyone was either gay, lesbian or pilled off their heads. Deborah pulled though, a nice ginger lesbian took a fancy to her and became quite clingy - time to make our exit!

Back at the hostel we had a quick cuppa and laughed about what had just happened. Finally got to bed at 8am ish.

8am queue for Botanic Gardens

Our view from the Botanic Gardens

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Christmas eve, most people finished work early. On my walk home from work the heavens opened and it didn't stop raining all day. We had thunder and lightening storms all afternoon. I took cover in the nearest pub and sat outside in the covered bit on the street. From the shelter of my table it was quite amusing to watch the tram go past like a boat, people rolling their trousers up to cross the road, then the biggest rat I've ever seen, I mean like the size of a small rabbit ran passed my feet - it must have been flooded out of the sewer. I got talking to people in the pub, most of whom had done the same as me and taken cover hoping it would pass. Becky came to meet me after she finished work and we ended staying there all night with a group of kiwis on the next table. Turned in to a really good night inspite of the crap weather.

Christmas day started with a bbq on the roof terrace at 12noon. I tried kangaroo, it was ok but don't think I'll be rushing out for more. A few glasses of champers and me & Becky decided to get a cab to Bondi beach. It takes about 15 minutes by car and as we were paying the cabbie Slade's 'it's christmas' came on the radio. The taxi driver turned it up for us and we sang our hearts out on the back seat...then it felt like christmas! Off to the beach only to find alcohol was prohibited, after a bag search we went for a quick paddle in the sea and off to the pub on the promenade. It was a great atmosphere in Bondi, people in santa hats, santa made an appearance on his jet ski and then walked up the beach giving out sweets. Kirsty and Simon came up later to meet us too and we all spent a hot afternoon in the sun.

I enjoyed boxing day. I caught the bus to Watsons Bay, the posh, expensive suburb of Sydney and I can see why...it's beautiful. The Bay gave superb views of the start of the annual Sydney to Hobart yacht race with the city skyline as the back drop. It was a nice relaxing day in the sun. Layed on the grass, ate fish and chips...

All in all a great bank holiday but not very christmassy. The ozzies just can't do christmas, we do it best. I think New Years will be their big one!

Christmas day - bbq on the roof terrace

Christmas day - with a glass of bubbly

Christmas day - Bondi beach

Christmas day - Becky at the bar on Bondi beach

Santa jet skis in to Bondi

Watsons Bay on Boxing day - Start of the Sydney to Hobart race

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