Melbourne to Sydney again!

It was the last part of my trip round Australia, I can't believe it's gone so fast!
On the way back to Sydney we stopped at Wilson's Prom national park, the most Southerly point in mainland Australia. There were amazing views out to sea from up there. We visited squeaky beach which is a white sand beach that squeaks under foot.
The next day it was up to the snowy mountains, except there wasn't much snow! It was pretty cold though as we climbed the highest mountain in Australia. The hot tub in the hotel I stayed in was appreciated! And the free locally distilled schnapps!
On the last day of my 3 day trip we called in to Canberra where we had a look round the Parliament. The city itself was a bit dull though!
The it was back to Sydney, hadn't changed much in 2 months. I did all the things I didn't do last time, like the Blue Mountains. That was such a good day trip. The mountains really did look blue in the haze of the sun. We did a lot of hiking that day as well to see waterfalls and look out over the mountains. The highlight was the vertical mountain railway which went at such an angle up the mountain I thought I'd fall out!
On my last day in Oz I went to the botanical gardens and did the harbour bridge etc just to get more photos!
I really enjoyed my trip round Australia! I can't believe it's over! But bring on New Zealand.
xxx

Adelaide to Melbourne

Some of the group who I'd been with from Alice were still on this part of my trip, the rest of the group must have thought we were mad with all the games we were playing! We set off early again, in the cold now as Australia is heading towards winter.
On the way to Melbourne we trekked in the Grampians National Park and scrambled up the rocks. It was great fun, I felt like a mountain goat!
The best part about this bit of the journey was the Great Ocean Road which winds it's way along the coast with some pretty impressive scenery. Here we saw the 12 Apostles, giant limestone stacks that jut out of the ocean with the waves crashing around them. We drove along by the sea for miles. Round every headland was another breathtaking view. We called in to watch the Surfers at Bell's Beach where they'd just had the world championships. We also went on a tree top walk round the canopy of a rain forest which was cool but you couldn't look down! We also did a koala walk and saw lots of koalas but the most exciting thing was the parrots that would just fly down from the trees and land on your head!
Then it was into Meblourne. It's a really cool place with lovely cafes and coffee. I went on the Neighbours tour and saw some of the sets and the school. We tried to go up Ramsey Street but it was closed for filming, which was annoying but cool that we got to see them film a scene with Ringo and Donna, don't worry they are back together by the look of that scene. The fake kissing looked awkward! I went for my dolphin swim ,but my curse meant that there were no dolphins to be seen! But I did swim with seals which was cool, they swam right up to me and played round me.
On Sunday I went to an AFL match. It was crazy, there were loads of guys just running round the pitch and just throwing and kicking the ball anywhere! There didn't seem to be that many rules but it was good fun to watch! In the evening I met up with Tanya who I'd not seen since Trinity of 1st year so it was great to catch up. She's working as a solicitor in Melbourne now and she took me out for a yummy dinner and then to the last night of Melbourne Comedy Festival. It was pretty funny, saw an Ozzie guy called Dave Thornton.
I moved hostels to stay in St Kilda just outside Melbourne for a few nights down by the beach. There are loads of bakeries there and I had a yummy cupcake! In the evening I went to the Neighbours trivia night and met Dr Karl! Yay! It was a great night, we came 2nd in the quiz not bad! Dr Karl's band performed and so did Paul Robinson and I met Stingray and Donna as well. I'm so cool!

Alice Springs to Adelaide

I left the East Coast behind and flew to the very hot and dry outback. It was a 5am start to head into the outback. We drove for about 10 hours before we reached our first stop at Kings Canyon. We went for a hike in the midday sun, not the best idea! It was so hot and the flies were everywhere! But the impressive view looking out over the Canyon made up for that!
Our first stop for the night was at a camp sight not far from Uluru. I was expecting tents and not much else but it was really nice with showers, a fully functional kitchen and the tents had beds in! I went for the real outback experience though and slept in a swag under the stars!
We had to be up early again to watch the sunrise over Uluru. It's a really weird experience. You cram into a car park with thousands of other tourists and it's all noisy but then the sun comes up and suddenly everything and everyone goes quiet. Everyone is just staring at the massive red rock appearing on the horizon. I know it's just a rock, but there really is something impressive and magical about it that you can't help but stare with your mouth open!! You can still walk up it but I decided I didn't want to. It felt really disrespectful as the Aborigines don't like it plus it's a pretty steep climb! So i walked round it, which meant pictures of the rock, not just the view of nothingness from the top. I took far to many photos! In the evening we watched the sun set with some sparkling wine-heaven! Then we had a BBQ and camp fire with marshmallows before sleeping under the stars again!

The next day I was up at 4am!!! We drove 12 hours to Cober Pedy where they have opal mines. We went on a mine tour and even slept in caves carved into the rock! I even got to hold a joey and he gave me a kiss. If you blow on a kangaroo's nose, if they want to be your friend they will lick you and they have ears in their feet, just so you know!

Thursday was a driving day to Flinders Ranges national park. Drove through the nothingness of the outback. We had a really fun tour guide called Benchy (all drivers have silly names!) who got involved in the games as much as we did. We went to a salt lake which is just crystallised salt no water, it's like walking on the top of a Christmas cake! In the evening we went on a hike up to the Dutchman's Stern and saw loads of kangaroos.

On the last day I went on a camel ride through the outback. My camel was called moon and she was lovely, no spitting!

Then it was back to civilisation and Adelaide. It was really sad to leave the group behind. I was supposed to do my dolphin swim but it got cancelled. So I did some museums and art galleries and the Botanic gardens instead.

Next stop Melbourne!