The next part of my adventure!!

Well I am sure you are all exciting to hear about my next adventure, I can't wait to go anyway!! For those of you who don't know how this all came about I shall elaborate... While I was looking for a way to get back to the UK, I found that it was actually cheaper to buy another round the world trip and therefore visit the countries I wanted to see before I came home plus some more!! So I have spent the last couple of months planning where I wanted to go (it only took this long as I was trying to do it while travelling the west coast, and with time difference, my agent pouring hot water on his hands and another agent going on an extended holiday, it took a bit of a mission to book, but I finally got it done and picked up my tickets yesterday!!). So I bet you are all dying to find out where I am going now!!!!

I leave Sydney, Australia on July 12th 2007 and fly to Auckland, New Zealand. As I am sure many of you remember, I have already been to New Zealand, but it actually costs me no extra to stop here for a while and I figured why not. Now that I have thought about it, I can think of a few reasons as to why not... To start it will be the middle of their winter and therefore bl**dy cold!! But on the positive side I will hopefully be able to visit the very north of the north island which I didn't get to see the first time around (although, this is apparently a lot nicer to see during the summer, oh well!!), and of course more importantly I will be in an English speaking country when the lastest and final installment of Harry Potter comes out. I am of course relying on the fact that the book is being released the same time it is everywhere else in the world, but this is New Zealand and may not be the case - fingers crossed though!!

From New Zealand I will then fly to Santiago, Chile. I will then spend the next 4 1/2 months travelling around South America (if all goes to plan!). I will hopefully be going to Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil. I will then fly from Brazil to Madrid, Spain and then onto the UK. I have to do a stop over in Madrid and therefore I felt that I might as well spend a week there and hopefully meet up with a few people I know there when I did my TEFL course. I will then fly back into London - again bad timing as it will be the middle of winter, but at least I will be at home for Christmas :-) Now some of you might be mistaken for thinking that since I am home then that would be the end of my trip - you would be wrong. I figured that one month would be enough before I felt the dia need to travel again. So in the middle of January I will fly to Barcelona and then onto Egypt where I will hopefully do some diving which I am really looking forward to. After a month away I will return to the UK again for my birthday. I figured you guys are really upset about missing my last 2 birthdays!!! So I shall be at home for this one! I will then take off again in March and head to India, then Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and China. I have given 4 months for this, but who knows. After that I am supposed to return to Sydney in the middle of July, but I am yet unsure as to what I will do. It's a year away so I figured I have a bit of time to think of something!!

If anyone is planning on doing some travel to any of these places, let me know and maybe we can meet up...

Wish me luck...

Sydney to Krambach

Well I arrived in Sydney safe and sound. It was weird being back, although kind of like coming home, as to be honest, this is the first time in 17months that I have gone back to somewhere I have spent a considerable amount of time in. Anyway, as always, I was greeted in the same way I always am when I come back to Sydney...... with rain!! And lots of it! As some of you might know, Australia is going through one of the worst droughts in history, and it just so chooses to start recovering the day I get back to the East Coast! Don't get me wrong, I am really happy it is raining here as I know they need it, but can't it rain somewhere else in Australia (anywhere but where I am!!) I come from a country that rains, I know what it looks like, I don't need to see it anymore!!
I only had one day in Sydney before I headed north up the coast. In that day I rushed around the city trying to sort everything out and looking more and more like a drowned rat in the process. I might add that I don't own an umbrella, rain jacket or in fact any jacket (far too bulky to pack!). But I did manage to sort out my next round the world trip which is very exciting. When I have time I will let you all know where I will be traveling to for the next year or so. I so can't wait :-)
I then caught a bus up to Nabiac which is a small town (or village by UK standards) 4 hours north of Sydney, where I will once again be spending time on a cattle farm. I was picked up by Keith and driven to his farm (some 2000 acres) in Krambach. Surprisingly enough it was still raining, so for the first few days we didn't do much as we couldn't get out as there was so much water. Although on my first night I was taken to another little village called Wingham by Ross (who works on the farm) along with David (another British person helping on the farm who is very strange indeed!) to do some dancing. I'm sure all of you have heard and seen on TV these people who get together and go to the local town hall one evening a week and do some dancing and that most of these people tend to be retired. Well guess what - that is exactly where I went!! I have to say it was a very interesting night and I did get to try out lots of dancing although my waltz was a little to be desired!! Other than that I have just been driving a tractor and building a cattle yard. Yes, I am now an excellent tractor driver, I can move the fork lift and everything!! I have also built wooden fences (which hopefully the bulls won't break out of now!!) I have to say that the finished result does look petty impressive!!

I am now heading back to Sydney where I will spend my final 3 weeks saying goodbye to everyone and hopefully doing everything that I haven't managed to do yet - we shall see. I know some of you will be glad to hear that it is snowing in parts of Australia at the moment. The weather is absolutely terrible, although in the space of 2 weeks, Sydney went from a desperate state of terrible drought to better than it has been in 40 years or so!! I just hope the sun comes out for my last couple of weeks - keep your fingers crossed!!

Darwin to Alice Springs to Ayers Rock

What a week I've had!! It all started early one morning in Darwin. Kelly and I had to get up at 4.30am to pack and check-out of our hostel in time to catch our tour bus down to Alice Springs. Well I have to say we did a pretty good job considering we didn't go to bed till late and I only got 2 hours sleep!! So as you can probably guess I was in a brilliant mood to start off with!! We sat around waiting and waiting (this seems to be fast becoming one of my favourite past-times!!), eventually the bus turned up (it turned out the driver couldn't find the hostel - I don't know how he missed it, its on the only main road in Darwin with a bit YHA sign outside it!!). To top it off the tour guide (Luke) was far too chirpy and happy for that time of the morning! So we just chucked our bags into the trailer, found some empty seats and tried to ignore him and get some rest!! This proved easier said than done. To start off with I had a middle-aged Icelandic guy sitting opposite me who insisted on staring at me - this became rather spooky after a while. I kept whispering to Kelly that he was freaking me out and eventually he got the message because after 5 hours he eventually changed seats - thank god!! On our first day we headed to Katherine Gorge which was pretty! As it was a very hot day Kelly and I opted out of climbing a huge rock to see over the gorge and did a boat ride down the gorges instead. We got to see a fresh water crocodile (they apparently don't eat people, but I wasn't about to test that theory!!), a turtle and rocks! There isn't much to see between Darwin and Alice Springs, just some rocks which they call the Devil's Marbles and a pub! We eventually managed to make it to Alice Springs unscathed - that is without hitting any wild kangaroos, cows or camels! We went out that night in Alice - a final farewell to our group. I did send a text out to some of you as I was in this pub/club place that broadcasted live over the net. So the lucky few who were close to a computer at the time got to see me drinking and 'dancing' -I hope you enjoyed it!
The next morning we were off on our trip to Ayers Rock. This time we didn't have such a good group. There was a dutch couple where the guy was just rude, and then 3 Asians who's English wasn't that good so the conversations were mostly one way. Luckily we were saved by our tour guide - Will (aw yeah!!) who was in fact English but had been in Australia for 6 years and was therefore mostly Aussie!! At least he looked like it, dressed up like Steve Urwin, wearing a cowboy hat and using so much Aussie slang that Kelly and I spent most of the time taking the piss out of him!! Anyway he made the trip as he was pretty much the only one we could have a decent conversation with. Although, he was a huge liar!! On our first night he told us that there were no tents and therefore we had to sleep outside with a swag and a sleeping bag. For those of you who don't know a swag is like a canvas bag with pretty much a piece of foam as a mattress inside. I might add it's not very comfortable (therefore I requested I slept with two!) and not very warm. I know most of you might be mistaken in thinking that Australia is a hot country and this would especially be the case in the middle of the desert! Well you would be wrong. For a start it is winter here right now and in the outback it gets very very cold - it was 2 degrees Celsius when we were there at night. I had 2 swags, 2 sleeping bags and 7 layers of clothes on just so that I felt slightly warm sleeping outside. We also had to contend with the fact that there were wild creatures about - i.e. dingoes, snakes, spiders and any other nasty creatures. This did not make sleeping on the first night very easy!! Luckily for us we were not bothered by any of these, but Will did get a thrill out of telling us that not so long ago he had a snake at his camp site and also that a dingo bit him on his foot while he was sleeping - Oh how I felt so much better about the whole thing!! Anyway, going back to the story - when we woke up the following morning we found that there were in fact tents that we could have slept in - so thanks Will!! Although I have to say that despite being tricked into sleeping outside I did enjoy the experience - but I think I would prefer to camp during the spring when it is slightly warmer!
So the reason we were going through this crazy camping was to see Ayers Rock (Uluru) which we did. We walked around it - it took us 2 1/2 hours - its pretty big! We also got to see King's Canyon and the Olgas. It was all amazing and beautiful and I must have about 300 photos now of red rocks sticking out of the ground - during sunrise, daytime and sunset! Once our 3 1/2 days was over Will kindly drove us back to Alice Springs (some 5 hours away!). The following day Kelly and I parted ways. She was off on a 3-day trip to Cairns (I wouldn't mention the fact to her that you can fly there in little over an hour for the same price!). I spent the day in Alice Springs which I slightly regretted as there is absolutely nothing to do there. I know I was warned but I thought that the place could at least occupy somebody for a day - I was wrong. I did manage to find the baby kangaroo rescue center where I got to hold a baby kangaroo called Uluru who was only 6 months old. He was very cute and more importantly very warm (Its still cold!!). It was then time for me to leave the outback and head back to civilisation.

Broome to Darwin

My first thought about Broome was that I was going to die - the place was sooooo hot. The humidity was unbelievable, so we spent most of our time seeking out places with aircon. Although this was fairly limited as Broome is very small, at the top end of Western Australia and pretty much ignored by Australians like everywhere else on the West Coast!! Although we were lucky as this place did have at least 2 roads of shops!! Despite this we did enjoy our time there. My highlight was going camel riding on Cable Beach at sunset. It was a great experience, regardless of the fact that when the camel stood up (2 people sit on the camel and I sat at the back) I head-butted poor Marisa as I hadn't 'braced' myself enough!! If she hadn't been there then there is no doubt about it - I would have gone flying over the top - so thank you very much Marisa for saving me that embarrasement!! Although me head-butting Marisa was enough for everyone else to chuckle about it for the hour long ride!! But at least getting off the animal was a lot easier (despite it being pitch black and you weren't sure where you were landing - luckily we avoided the camel poo!!). Other than that we just relaxed in Broome. We went to the outdoor cinema which was cool, although the mosquitoes come out in force despite you emptying half a cannister of insect repellent on yourself - I swear that the repellent actually attracts them!! Anyway, watching a movie under the stars was great.
After Broome I was heading to Darwin. I was getting there by plane which all seemed rather straight forward to me. Although, unknown to me when I was booking it, my flight actually had a stop over half way at a tiny place called Kununnura. Kelly was also flying to Darwin on the same day as me, leaving 2 hours after me, but getting there about 40 mins after me (her flight was direct and only 1.5 hours compared to my 3.5 hours - I'm not bitter!!). Anyway, I make my way to the airport, and walk up to the check-in desk. I place my bag onto the weighing machine - and from here on my problems just kept coming thick and fast!! My bag was apparently over-weight - no surprise there really, I have travelled all around the world and never once has it been under the required weight, but I have never had a problem about that as every other carrier has let me get on with no extra charge. But guess what - not this time!! It turns out that as this is a small plane the weight limit is 13kg (not the usual 20kg). So the lady makes me remove 9kg from my bag (it was 22kg). So after putting the bag a further 4 times on the weigh machine she finally lets me get away with 13.5kg (wahay!!). Now what I was supposed to do was put the 8.5kg into zip up plastic bags which would go on standby and maybe not get to Darwin for several days - great!! Well I wasn't going to do that (they had already pissed me off enough). So I got one of my spare bags and filled it up as much as I could and only ended up putting about 4kg into a plastic bag to go on standby. I might also add that you were also only allowed to take one piece of cabin luggage at 4kg. I had 2 - one was 4.5kg and the other was 8kg!! So eventually we were allowed to board this tiny plane. Also at check-in they wanted to put me in the emergency seat (i have had experiences of these seats before and know that on quite a few planes the seat doesn't recline). So I asked to change to a window seat and she assured me that the rest of the seats do recline. Well I got onto the plane to discover she had put me at the very back, where if you perched at the edge of your seat and leant forward you could just about see out the window and the seat did not recline!! Anyway, I managed to get away with my two bags and I was getting some luck as my standby luggage had also got on the plane. So we took off and the flight was no problem. We landed in Kununnura and had to disembark for 30 mins before we would be loaded on again and then fly off to Darwin. 30 mins went by and still nothing happened. A further 15 minutes when finally they announced that on landing the plane had hit a bird and they were worried about one of the engines, but no need to worry we would be going in 15 mins! 15 mins later - 'Actually there will be a bit more of a delay. We are now flying an engineer from Darwin to have a look at the engine - that will be another 1.5 hours!' 'Err, actually we now have to get another plane to fly down from Darwin as the problem with your plane cannot be fixed in time!' Well this was just great!! I will also point out that Kununnura airport has to be one of the smallest airports every. There were not shops, in fact pretty much nothing except a little kiosk thing where you could by crips, soft drinks and chocolate!! So I was pretty pissed off by all this and I figured I had a few hours to kill, so I went up to the manager and said 'since you guys made me unpack all my stuff and put it into 3 separte bags and since all that stuff is technically on the plane, can I please have my bags back so that I can put it all back into one?' Well he couldn't really argue with me, so he went off and found my bags and I spent 45 mins repacking the bl**dy thing (at least I wasted time!!) So much for their 'we cannot have any bag weighing over 13kg'!
Anyway, after spending a 'glorious' 4 hours at Kununnura airport, we finally got our new plane and were allowed to go - yeah!! But first we had to go through security (I think this was my fault as I had taken my bag off the plane, repacked it and I think they were checking that I hadn't removed anything sharp or dangerous!! So sorry everyone on that flight for making you go through this!!) Anyway... Once again this did not prove an easy task. I have been through countless security checks and never once during my travels have I been pulled up. But guess what, I was this time. It turned out they were suspisious of the coins in my hand luggage. I am carrying a lot of spare change from all the countries I have visited and have yet to get rid of them. So once we found the source of the 'potentially dangerous object' - I was allowed to pass though. Eventually we borded the plane and took off. Once again the flight was pretty boring and we eventually landed in Darwin at 10.10pm (I was supposed to arrive at 6.10pm!!). Well during this time when I was having a laugh - Kelly caught her flight 2 hours after me and arrived 3 hours before me. She had sussed out the town, and most importantly found the bars!! I got into the city centre, checked-in to the hostel, dumped everything and headed straight for the nearest bar. But as I was so knackered, we only managed 2 drinks before we headed back to bed. I'd also like to point out that Kelly's bag also weighed 22kg, but her carrier did not make her unpack it, she had no problems what so ever. So my advise to any of you who are thinking about travelling in Western Australia is to never ever ever ever fly with AirNorth - they are terrible and apparently they have problems all the time. Sky West is a lot better!!
After all this hassel, it turns that Darwin isn't that exciting anyway - oh well!! Kelly and I visited Litchfield Park where we saw massive termite mounds, swum in some lakes and also saw jumping crocodiles (the dangerous kind) which was actually pretty cool. I also ate some crocodile which tastes like overcooked chicken (or apparently KFC, but I've never eaten there!!) Tomorrow we are heading off on a 7-day camping trip to Alice Springs and Ayers Rock - wish us luck!!

Photos

Well I have posted a bunch of photos so I hope you all appreciate that!! There is also a huge post of me waffling on about what I have done for the last couple of weeks below all the photos - sorry if it bores you to death!! Also a tip for everyone, don't bother going to watch Spiderman 3 - it has to be the worst movie ever, I can't believe it has broken all box office records! Save yourself the money and go to the pub instead!

The dolphins at Monkey Mia

Me at Monkey Mia