Australia

Spent my first day in Sydney having a very cultured day, visiting museums, art galleries and the opera house. Went to the maratime museum to see an exhibition about the ice man. I had originally tried to go to the museum when I was in the Dolomites a few years ago but it was closed the day I went, so was good to finally get to see it, although it was a bit of a strange location for it. I was puruaded to go on a guided tour of the rest of the museum and had a look round a replica model of Cooks Endeavour. Its a suprisingly small boat considering the number of people that lived on it for years. In the afternoon I went to an art gallery in the Botanic Gardens and saw a lot of Australian art. Then in the evening I went to see the Sydney Symphony Orchestra playing at the Opera House. Never been to a proper concert like that before, but it was actually really good and only a few dollers more expensive than just doing an hour tour of the building. I did feel a bit out of place though as the average age of the people there must have been over 50 and everyone else was very dressed up, whereas my very limited selection of clothes wasn't ideal.

After the day of culture, I spent Sunday having a lazy day. Brought a ferry ticket for unlimited use of boats on the harbour and just went to random places. First I went to Manly, just north of Sydney, where there was a nice beach. It had been taken over for the day by a surf life club saving competition, so enjoyed watching that. Was the most stereotypical Australian event, a lot of swimming, surfing, running on the beach and BBQS. Later I went on the boat to the Olympic Park, did't bother looking round it though, just went for the boat trip down the harbour.

Then on Monday I thought I should complete my experiance of Australian beaches by going to Bondi. So spent most of the day there watching people surfing. It was quite busy as there were loads of school trips at the beach, because there was a display of sculptures along that part of the coast. But a school trip to Bondi beach, how good would that have been.

I got the overnight bus back to Melbourne last night. So just here for my last day in Australia before flying to New Zealand tomorrow.

After months of enjoying nice weather, my luck has run out. Arrived in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains and it was in thick fog. must have driven past the campsite a couple of times before I actually found it as the fog was so thick you couldn't actually see the sign by the road.

Apparently there has been a drought in this part of Australia for about 10 years, speak to anyone who lives here and the conversation soon ends up being about the lack of rain in the area. So when it started to rain that evening I thought it was a good thing but a few hours later when it was still raining very hard, with thunder and lightening I was starting to change my mind. When i went back to my tent and found 2 ducks enjoying themselves by it things were not looking good. Although everything in the tent was still actually dry, it was like lying on a waterbed as the ground was so wet so I decided to sleep in the car instead. Probably a good decision as it carried on raining hard most of the night, turns out it was actually the wettest day in Sydney and Melbourne for over 2 years. But by morning it had stopped and the fog had cleared so I could actually see where I was. The campsite was actually just across the road from one of the main bushwalking parts of this area, so I had a very nice days walking around there, with some great views over the valley.

But unfortunately the dry weather didn't lastand the next few days the weather was very Scottish, heavy showers, low cloud and its got really cold compared to what I've been used to. I've got used to temperatures in the 30s so seeing a maximum temperature of 8 degrees being forecast has been a bit of a shock. I still went out doing some nice walks though, although the weather is like being at home, bushwalking is very different. Some good forest walks and all the rain has made the waterfalls very impressive. To escape from the rain for a day I've also been on a trip down the Jenolan Caves, a big group of limestone caves in the mountains. THe different rock formations and crystals were very impressive as the variety in them was amazing.

As the rain continued and having seen forecasts showing that I was in the coldest, wettest place in Australia I decided to leave a day early and went to Botany Bay. Was quite suprised how most of the area is now very heavily industralised with only a small section of the coast kept as a national park. Was nice to be back at the coast again, and it was nice and sunny so I was finally able to dry out my soaked tent and gear. As there were still some heavy showers I decided to stay in a motel for a night so that I could pack up all my stuff before having to take the car back.

Drove in to Sydney the next day, stopping off at a wildlife park on the way. I've managed to see a lot of Australian wildlife in the wild, but haven't seen any koalas, so I decided some captive ones would have to do. Spending the weekend in Sydney before heading back to Melbourne for my flight to New Zealand

Arrived in Melbourne on Friday night and it was a bit of a shock to be in a big city again and to be staying in a hostel. Hostels in Australia seem to be different from everywhere else as most of the people using them are staying there for a few months and working so they have a different kind of atmosphere which reminded me too much of being in halls of residence in the 1st year of university. Spent the weekend in Melbourne, looking around the city on Saturday and then on Sunday I went to a new climbing wall that has just opened there. Haven't been climbing for months, so that was good fun.

Have hired a car for a couple of weeks to drive up to Sydney along the Great Dividing range for the chance to do a bit of walking. So left Melbourne on Monday and drove North to a place called Seymour to stay with my mum's friends for a couple of days. They have a small cattle farm in the hills just outside the town. I had a very nice couple of days there as after 4 months traveling it was just nice to be in a normal house again and have some very good home cooked food. Spent most of my time there being taken for walks by their dog, which had far to much energy as it was just a few months old.

From there I carried on North to Mount Buffalo national park where I started camping again. Had a nice couple of days there doing a bit of walking. Enjoyed being out in the hills again as I haven't really done any proper walking since getting to Australia.

Next I went to Mount Kosciuzko national park in the Snowy Mountains, where I was surprised to find there was actually still some patches of snow on the tops. I had planned to stay there to do a bit of walking but the next day it was raining and the cloud was very low so I decided just to carry on heading north to the Blue Mountains.

Haven't had chance to write anything for a while as I've been camping instead of staying in hostels, so its been more difficult to get online. But, I'm still travelling down the west coast of Australia, should be in Perth in a few days time.

From Broome I travelled south and inland a bit to the Karajini national park. Stayed at a good bush campsite here and had a nice walk along a river gorge. This was perfect as whenever it got too hot there were good places to go for a swim, so probably spent as much time in the water as walking.

From there I went back to the coast to stay at Exmouth. this is a nice little town where I spent a few days. Had very nice beaches with a coral reef not far from the shore, so just swimming from the beach you could see loads of fish. From the beach you could also see humpback whales swimming down the coast. The highlight of my stay here was a trip out on a glass bottomed boat over the coral reef. On the way to the reef a pair of whales swam right past the bat, and the water was only a few meters deep so you could see them really clearly. Went snorkelling at the reef, and his was amazing as i'd never done anything like that before. Saw loads of different types of coral and an incredible variety of fish. SO after that I went and brought a mask and snorkel and have been using it a lot.

After Exmouth I have just been continuing down the coast stopping at Coral Bay, Carnarvon, Denham and Kalbarri and basically spending a lot of time at the beach. While in Denham I went on a day trip to the Francois Peron National Park, this was really good, a very scenic and unspoilt part of the coast where they are trying to reintroduce endangered native Australian species. Most of them are nocturnal so didn't actually see any, but from one point on the coast I did see sharks, dolphins, turtles, sea snakes and huge rays.

Now I am in Geraldton, still enjoying the coast and beaches. I've never really had a beach holidy before so I guess this has been a good place to do it.

From Darwin my plan now is to head down the west coast of Australia to Perth in anout 4 weeks. I spent the first few days up in the north end in Kakadu national park, a huge area of wetland forest, which at the moment isn't actually that wet as its coming to the end of the dry season. But this was actually an advantage as it meant a lot more of the area was accesable. One of the main sights are two huge water falls, Jim Jim Falls and Twin Falls, in the wet season the only way to see them is by plane but at this time of year it is possible top get to them by a combination of 4 wheel drive tracks, a boat and walking. I had a really nice day on a tour to both of these sights. The drive to tein falls was quite exciting, at one point we had to drive through a river that was nearly 1m deep. This meant there were very few people that could actually get to the place, so it was a nice quiet secluded area. Had a very nice beach at the bottom of the falls but there is a risk of crocodiles there so couldn't get too close to the water. Both of the waterfalls there were still flowing, but Jim Jim falls was little more than a drip, but at the end of a very hot walk (it gets to around 40'C in the day) to reach it, the pool at the bottom made for a very refreshing swim.

I also went on a guided walk and found out a lot about how the indigenous people used the plants and animals to survive. I thought I wouldn't be eating any more strange food after leaving China, but I did end up trying green ants and I have to say they were suprisingly good, taste of citrus fruit, so i'd recommend them. Went on another walk to see some ancient rock art, which was impressive considering how old it is. Also went on a boat trip along one of the main rivers in the park, and finally got to see some crocodiles, whch are meant to be everywhere. From the boat you could actually get quite close up to them, some were up to 4m long. Other than that I spent alot of time at the campsite swimming pool as during the day its too hot to do anything much, everything here is done very early in the morning or at sunset.

From Kakadu it was a couople of long days travelling to reach Broome on the west coast. Arrived here yesterday afternoon, its a nice little town, the biggest place I've been to for a few weeks. It was originally established based on the pearl trade but now the main attraction is the beaches so I've been making good use of them. Leaving tomorrow to head further south.