Just to wish everyone a Happy New Year from down under.
Just to wish everyone a Happy New Year from down under.
Since my last post I have flown 2100 miles traveled over 300 miles by minibus and approximately 600 miles by coach.
The first flight was from Cairns to Alice Springs where I spent a couple of days before going on a three day Ayres Rock trip. One of the days in Alice I was even mad enough to hire a bike (temperature in mid 30s) and visit some of the slightly more outlying attractions. The first of the three days was spent traveling from Alice Springs to Kings Canyon where we went on a walk around the top of the canyon and had a swim in a water hole. Upon our return to the minibus a quick check of the thermometer at the start of the walk said that it was 47, although despite the big hat trying to keep it in the shade it had ended up in the sun, a check at the thermometer in the nearby tourist resort revealed that it was 38 in the shade. The night was spent sleeping under the stars after cooking our dinner of Camel Bolognese (not sure if it was camel or not and guess never will). The second day was a early(ish) start to get to the Olgas for a walk before it was closed at 11am due to the hot temperatures. This was the nicest of all the walks, and one thing that supprised most of the group was how much greenery there was in this area which most had expected to be just red sand. Though it was probably greener than when most people see the area as there had been over night rain the two previous days. We then went to the campsite to relax for a while and fill time until we headed to Ayres Rock to watch the sunset. Another night under the stars and a bit of panic when a few raindrops were felt, though it only rained for a couple of minutes and very lightly. Then it really was an early start a 4.15 wake up call so that we could be back at the rock for sunrise. (why did we choose to do a trip that had us visiting the rock on the longest day of the year??). After sunrise a walk around the base of the rock and then back to the ayres rock resort where most of us were dropped at the youth hostel as we had booked flights from Ayres rock airport. Unfortunately I had two days to waste with little to do other than relax in the swimming pool.
A flight to Melbourne and then a bus and tram across town took me to my Christmas accommodation. It was now 4pm on Christmas eve and I had no idea what I would be doing the following day. Luckily the hostel was doing a special Christmas dinner of roast turkey and ham and some of the trimmings. After dinner it was down to the bottle shop to buy some beer for the beach.
Boxing day started off as a wonder around the town until I was offered a free ticket to the boxing day test match. The rest of the days in Melbourne were spent visiting places around the town and occasionally having a rest in the square watching more of the cricket on the large screen.
After a twelve hour overnight coach journey I am now in Sydney. I was a little concerned that I didn’t have any accommodation booked, but I managed to find something fairly quickly upon arrival (from what I heard a short while later it may have been the last bed), although it was a little more than I had hoped, but I have payed more for a hostel in London. Tomorrow will be spent relaxing at one of the viewing places for the fireworks, as I have been advised that you need to get there early as they fill up quite early in the day. But with two lots of fireworks I am hoping that any wait will be worth it.
Over the last few days I have been making use of the offer of free food. The hostel that I have been staying at gives you a free breakfast, and a voucher to get a free dinner at one of the bars in town. The free dinner isn’t exactly the largest portion, but that doesn’t matter as if it didn’t fill you up then you can go and have another free meal at one of the other bars that only requires you to prove that you are a backpacker or show a wrist band handed out by one of the travel agents.
Free spag bol or chili can get a bit boring after a couple of days, but thats ok as another of the travel shops hands out vouchers that allows you to get a meal with desert and pint for $10 (full price cost ~$22). So the one tip for anyone travelling to cairns is don’t pay full price for your meal.