Sorry to those of you who actually check this blog, I'm not very good at keeping it up-to-date. My life really isn't exciting enough to write something every other day - or whatever people do on blogs. Anyway....two weeks ago I went to Melbourne to watch some Tennis. I had a brilliant time. I went to the Kooyong tournament where I got to see Federer, Roddick, Safin and Murray to name a few. Then I went to the Australian Open (where tickets for the main arena cost less than ground passes for Wimbledon - absolutely crazy - but great for me!!). So I went to two day sessions and a night session where I saw lots of plays, Federer (again), Muresmo, Sharapova, Hewitt and many others. While I was in Melbourne I stayed with the Imries, who are friends of the family. They were really nice and it was great being back in a family atmosphere again (and a proper house!!) - plus I got home cooked meals again which was just fantastic. You seriously don't realise how much you miss the simple things in life until you go travelling (or become lazy and can't be bothered to do it for yourself!!).
Then last weekend I went on a camping/canoeing trip in Kangaroo Valley (which should be renamed as I have now been there 3 times and have never seen a Kangaroo!!). Anyway, there were 8 of us in total who were on this 3 day trip, Myself (obviously), Will, Ben, Phil, Sally, Dan, Zoe and Katie (see picture above). We arrived on Friday morning and set up camp at the camp site. Once everybody had arrived we went down to the river for the afternoon and had a lovely time swimming and relaxing. By the way Friday was Australian Day, so all the Aussies were going mad about being Australian so the best thing to do was to leave Sydney!!
In the evening we had a lovely BBQ, before returning to our tents and drinking and talking. Eventually we went to bed (although this proved pointless for me because I didn't get a wink of sleep). One of the reasons for this was the fact that someone had left the garbage bag near our tent and some creature decided to investigate it. It then proceeded to trip over our tent ropes twice in the night which scared the sh*t out of me. Now as many of you might know, Australian wildlife are not know for being friendly. So there I was the only one awake, listening to this creature wondering what the hell it was. I really wanted to know, but just in case it turned out to be a growling, teeth bearing Dingo I decided the best option was to stay in the tent.
Eventually morning came (that would be 6am for those of you who don't realise it exist!). We got up, packed and had bacon sarnies for brekkie - wonderful!! We then made our way down to the canoe centre were we again packed up our stuff in to plastic barrels and then packed up the canoes. Once down at the river we set off. We were all making great progress floating down the river (which you might all think would be pretty easy floating down a river rather than up - I beg to differ!!). After an hour the wind picked up, so much that if you stopped rowing the canoe started floating up the river!!! So for the next 2 hours we killed ourselves trying to get down the river to our camp (please bear in mind I am doing all this with a broken elbow - yes it is broken - I had a scan last week and it shows that my elbow is clearly not whole - apparently its going to take another 2 months to heal - great!!).
Eventually we made it, we found the red roof house which apparently was just before half way and settled for the first camp we found (which in fact turned out to be the best). We unpacked and set up camp, and then spent the rest of the afternoon chilling out, swimming and having a laugh. Night time was slightly better - I got one hour of sleep this time. This time it had more to do with the fact that camping is actually very uncomfortable and my arms hurt like hell after the canoeing so everytime I lent on my side I was in a huge amount of pain. Luckily, there were no scary animals this time, although we all did hear something walking around, but we think it might of just been a wombat - or even a Kangaroo!!
The next morning we woke up to the most wonderful view (picture above - camping does pay off sometimes!!). We left camp at 10am and proceeded to continue down the river. Again the wind was not with us, but at least it wasn't as bad as the day before. Luckily we stopped for lunch just at the right time when the wind really picked up and nearly took away our canoes while we were sitting on the beach!! Eventually at 2.30pm we arrived at our destination, we had a celebratory swim (it was very hot). It was then back to the canoe shop, which involved the most terrifying 30 minutes drive of your life. The minibus driver felt the need to pelt it down the country roads, with no consideration for the passengers (of whom there were more than the legal limit allowed in the bus because a lot of canoe groups had arrived at once so he crammed everyone in). I found the best way to get through this was to close my eyes!!
We then headed back to Manly, where I had a lovely, well deserved bath and a good nights sleep :-)
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