25th september melbourne.

So got up today, thought i would check out the botanical gardens as i was going to yesterday, got there and wow it was really nice, i must say it was probably the best botanical gardens i have been to, and big too. as you can see i thought i would try te be artistic again and took some flowers. i had never seen flowers like these one and thought they looked pretty (ahhhhh, what is happening to me, i do wonder sometimes, me taking pictures of flowers what the ****)

so walked round the gardens for a while, sat down on a bench near one of the lovely lakes, and got me book out. sat there for a while and reaslise it was really really hot, so took off again, back to the hostel to get some swiming trunks and thought i would head to the beach, st kilda. meant to be ok, just a beach.

so got all the way down to st kilda took the tram, made a mess of the payment, as they don't have people, just machines and it didn't have st kilda on there. actually i have noticed that they don't check either if you have a ticket or not, i mean i got down the to beach on a ticket i shouuld not have done, as i didn't understand what i was doing. shame :)

got there, located a fun fair thing, which is what the picture above with the mouth is about (bet you got that picture as well sis :) ) went through the fun fair thing, thinking i could get out the end it was a kids fun fair and nothing for us adults (all big kids at heart i know !!) and found out i couldn't so walked back through it, there was some yummy mummys i must say so worth the walk. its nice being in the sun :)

got to the beach which is the other end of the fun fair, don't know why they couldn;t just open up the other end, nevermind. then i realise it was bloody cold, because of the wind coming in over the sea, so i never did get into the water. i just sat by the beach front and read some more of me book. went back for dinner and just chilled for the rest of the evening. got a flight to get tomorrow to cairns.



bontanical gardens, st kilba.

24th september melbourne.

got the sun is still shining, have been told i am lucky, a whole week before i came it was raining. so thats good for a change.

found out there was a human body exhibition was on, which displays the humon body with now skin and disects the body into pieces. it was rather expensive for what it was, but i found it so intriging and insite full, i was glad i went.

i was unable to take pictures, just like all exhibitions, although i was tempted to take a picture at the end of the tour and thought what would they do thrown me out, but i guess they would of got me to delete the picture, anyway i thought best not to.

so the exhibition, shows you about 8-9 different bodys that have no skin on them, and in different positions, its kind of disgusting but again interesting, to see the human body in this form. you then get to walk round basically all the bones of the human body that have been disected and on view for everyone to see. then there is a few human bodys that have been sliced up hoizionally and vertically. interesting i will tell you. should of taken a picture dam it, oh well. (located one on the internet for people to see what i mean, look above, doh !!!)

i do remember it was on in london at somepoint, but i never went so glad i got the opportunity here.

after that i just walked round again. i was going to go to the botanical gardens, as it is the right price (free as all botanical gardens) and i was told it is meant to be one of the best in the world.

but on my way i meet up with paul, who had moved on to leave in a house while he works for a political party (sorry paul forgot the name of it), and he was walking back to get his bags. we decided then we would go to the cinema later, so he departed to get his bags.

then i remembered i had made arrangements to speak to a mate in england, mark walker, hope your still well if you actually read this, i don't think you do, nevermind. and by the time i had finsihed talking to him, finding out how his daughters b;day went it was nearly 6pm and dinner time.

left him, went and got some dinner, meet up with paul and we went to watch "superbad", it is a another american pie rip off, but i must admit this was really good. and was funny. i wont give any details out incase people are going to watch it, but it does have a disturbing bit in it like american pie and drinking the sperm. so be prepared.

all in all a good film, rather strange story with the 2 cop's and i thought it was really wierd, but funny.

that was the day. take care :)

23rd september, melbourne.

so had a little bit of a hangover today, but managed to get up at around 11:00.

paul wanted to go to the melbourne cricket ground, and im not interested in that, so i took this opportunity to go to, 20 years of pixar animation exhibition. wow that was truley amazing, it had all drawings, story boards scultpers from all the pixar CGI films. I loved this so much. Dad you would of loved this big time. hope it gets to england at some point, you should go.

there is also a zapthing, can't remember what they call it, it is one of those things that you spin and have a strobe light on it and it shows the models moving, im sure you know what i mean. but they built it for this exhibition, wow it had all the toy story charcters in it and was amazing. Shame you can't take any pics, as with all exhibits. shame i would of loved to of taken a few in that place.

after that i sat in fediration square and waited for paul to finish his cricket grounds tour, he said it was good, but he should of been able to go onto the ground itself but it is ready for a big match coming up soon. oh well. boring.......

after that we rested for a bit in federation square then headed into town, did a bit of shopping. nothing major i brought a t-shirt.

after that it was then 5pm, dam didn't realise it was that late, we both decided as we didn't get in till 5am this morning we would just chill out in the hostel. so back to the hostel read a book and went to sleep.

22nd september 2007 melbourne

So dropped the camper off today, located the hostel that we wanted and they had rooms. paul asked if they had discount for YHA membership and they don't. but would give him discount for being irish. so i put on a irish accent but filled out the form as british, but she still gave me discount, only $2 but all count.

hostel isn't too bad. as nice as the rest seem to be in australia. So by the time we had settled in and stuff, we went for breakfast at blackjacks, not bad, but they wouldn't let me swap mushrooms for beans, which i thuoght was a little unfair, so i paid for beans, told them not to give me mushrooms, but did anyway. oh well not bad.

next we decided just to check out the town centre, didn't do much just walked round the city. its seems ok, like most big citys really. so didn't see much really. just got a feel for the city and where we was.

For the evening, paul had arranged to meet a friends of his he meet in darwin that lives in melbourne. so we meet up with her, julin, she is ozzie, but her parents are from malaysia. She brought a few people along, ross, amy, amy friend tim also joined us, and another girl joined us int he end, but i have no idea what her name was she wasn't every friendly from what i knew.

So went we for dinner at shanghai dumplings. which was under a $10 for everyone, we all got a main meal and also got about 32 dumpkings. so that is a good price.

so we went out for a few drinks, went to some shity bars and then ended up in a club called retro, which guess what plays retro music so all music from the 80's, it was ok, i prefer a bit of dance music, but as always i did dance.

21st september, hanging out around melbourne. Ramsey Street

Had a nice lay in today, againt i don't think there is much we wanted to do actually around melbourne and there is no point going into the city centre where most of the attractions are, because we are gonna to be staying in the centre after today, as we have to take samantha (sorry maybe i didn't say that was the name of the camper) back to wicked campers tomorrow.

So i wanted to go see ramsey street which im sure everyone knows is where neighbours is filmed. im not particually interested which is why i don't want to spend money on a tour to see it, i just want to take a few pics of the street. checked the map and the road is on the otherside of the city, and is quite far out from the city centre, which is why i am glad we are driving there and not doing a tour.

was rather easy to find. i must admit it is not easy driving round melbourne is is a huge city.

as you can see got there took some pictures, paul wasn't really happy taking pics, as he felt strange, because it is actually a road, which you can see is called pin oak court. and actually has people leaving in them. however i didn't care i said they must get this all the time and got my camera out. funny thing was there is a security guard in the street patroling it. after a few mins paul got his camera out. sod them there are only oz's.

so after ramsey street and there is not a sign that says that sorry people. We was gonna take a quick look at a hostel in the centre, but after going on a freeway we shouldn't of been on, apparently i found out, you have to pay to use this freeway, although im not sure how we managed to get on and off it as there were signs saying toll's all around, but we didn't see one, i remember seeing a sign saying unless you have paied to use this freeway or have a voucher you will be fined $500 or something like that, so i quickly got off the freeway. was a bit of luck really no one caught us i think. again must be the luck of the irish as im a shell and some people will know they tend to have bad luck.

so finally managed to get to the centre after driving round for quite a while i stoped and asked for directions, as i could see the centre, but for some reason couldn;'t get there. yes i know a man asking for directinos what is the world coming to, next women my be able to reverse !!! lmao. (lmao = laughing me arse off, incase anyone doens't know, and lol = laugh out loud, i have released that there are some people reading this that may not know these new hip abbreivations. )

so found the city centre, but paul didn't want to stop as it was expensive to park, about $15 hrs. which i think is expensive i must admit, and as he said we are there tomorrow anyway.

so we didn't stay just drove straight out, this time not getting onthe city freeway thing that you have to pay for. got back to camp sight, didn't do muhc. had dinner watched the first half of the ozzie semi finals. not bad, although there doens't look like there is any rules.

played some more cards, and guess what happened, ian won the game, bloody hell not sure what happened there, maybe paul shit out that four leaf glover i was talking about. but ian won the last game of jin rummie. i said i won the championship but claims i didn't.

so got to give samantha back tomorrow, she has done us proud, never had any problems, never hit a kangaroo or anything.

20th Septemeber 2007, geelong to melbourne.

Now we didn't actually want to get to melbourne this early, so we decided to go off course, paul wanted to see a exhibtion in ballaret called eureka, which is home of the australia rebelled againt there goverment and won independence or something like that.

so be honest i didn't want to go in, didn't really interest me having to read about all that, paul said he enjoyed it, i sat in the car and did more reading.

now we actually came stuck here a bit and had no idea what we was gonna do next. So we ended up going to melbourne, paul did want to see a big statue of ned kelly which was in a town north of melbourne, but we would not of made it up there and back intime to be in melbourne for saturday to give the camper back.

so off to melbourne, dam melbourne is bloody huge and we ended up staying in a suburb just outside melbourne, called maidstone. from there we found another safeways got some food, went to a internet cafe in a suburb called sunshine. bloody hell it was a shit hole, and i would not of liked to stay around that area on my own, it was rough as hell. and i mean rough as hell. we came out the internet shop and there was a car full of black people sitting infront of the camper, it looked like they should of been from compton or something in LA. very nasty.

so back to a camp site in maidstone, where we had dinner, watched some more TV. this time i watched ghost whisper, must of been a new season as well from what i saw back home. not bad, nothign special.

19th september - great ocean road. - apollo bay to geelong

from the look of the map there is nothing to much now from apollo bay to torquay which is the end of the great ocean road, although i still haev further to drive before i get to melbourne.

so headed out of apollo bay, managed to locate more view points along the road, took some rather nice pics. and as you can see the road really goes close to the ocean, you get some amazing views while driving. yes i know i am meant to be looking at the road !!

so we found a waterfall that was a short walk off the great ocean road, took us about 20 mins to find it. which was pretty good, i believe there was more to see, but the walk was about a 3hr walk and we both decided we had, had enough. so got back in the car

this time we ended up in a town called lorne, which has a lovely view point called teddy's viewpoint. which is the 3rd picture down. Had lunch at the teddy's view point.

We also managed to find a beach, which i suppose isn't surprising seen as we are next to the ocean. the beach had a wreak on it of a boat from 19th century, but unfortunaly you can only see it when it is low tide. nevermind.

basically back in the car for more driving, got to torquay, was thinking of staying there but there was nothing there to be honest. although the population was 3700 which is bigger then some of the places we have stayed. we decided to keep on driving up to geelong, which only took another hour. as there wasn't that much to see after apollo we made good time.

stayed in geelong for the night, walked round the town, went to safeways, yes it is still called safeways over here. did some dinner, and chilled out infront of a TV for a change, nothing amazing, some shitting australian cops show and a american Tv show about videos on the internet, you know you tube and stuff.

played some more cards, yes i lost again. and no he doens't have a four leaf glover up his arse, or so he tells me. i still have me suspections.

18th september 2007, great ocean road, warnambool to apollo bay

So again a lovely night sleep. started of in warnambool. although we have actually got onto the great ocean road. we didn't actually see the ocean till we got to the bay of islands. Bay of islands, although it is just rock coming out of the ocean, for some reason it seems more then that. we stood there for a while, admiring the view. (PIC1)

Then we went onto the grotto, was probably the best site i thought, it was different from the rest and gave an impression you was looking into another dimension, or something like that anyway. Plus the hair was done for a change. and no i won't get a haircut yet. (PIC2)

Next on the map was london bridge, which has actually fallen down, how ironic !!!! i beleive that called it that before it fell down like our london bridge, well that was burnt down wasn't it. close enough. (PIC3)

Then off to the arch, which was surprise surpirse an arch. i tried to capture the water going through the arch, think i did ok. but it took me a few attempts. (PIC4)

We discovered a place then that wasn't on the map, but we basically stopped at all every attraction we saw. This stop had 3 things to look at, thunder cove, blow hole, and a gauge. Blow hole was first, which was a tunnel that went under the floor for about 300m, you only get to see a part of it, a hole that the water enters. not sure why it was called blow hole. but that was rather pretty, (sorry can't add all the pictures to this, most are on facebook, if you have access). Went along to the thunder cove, ah now this time i can tell why it was called thunder cove, as the water goes into the cove, it sounds like thunder. quite interesting, something im not sure i have heard before. i also believe this was part of teh blow hole cave bit, i think it was the start. The gauge is just a gauge, had some nice view points, so you can see out to sea, and there was an island rock thing, just at the entrance which made it look beautiful.

Next was the 12 apostles, although you can't see all of them. there was 2 behind me and the others i couldn't even see. still an amazing sight. well all of them was. truely amazing.

If anyone comes down this way in oz, you best do the great ocean road, appart from stopping at these beautiful sights, you get a view of the ocean, pretty much all the way down. and the roads are rather windy and really close tot he ocean. beautiful beautiful beautiful. (PIC5)

Other then those sights, there was just mainly places you stop and see a view of the cliffs and ocean, still worth doing, but once you have seen a view cliffs and beachs. they kind of look the same.

so we headed off to apollo bay. again didn't do much, played cards. and fuck me, i have heard the phase "luck of the irish" which im sure most of you have, but fuck me paul has won ever single game of jin rummie so far. im gettting a little pissed off. he is so jammie it is unbelievable, must be the luck of the irish i hear about. i wonder if he has got a 4 leaf glover up his arse!!!! mmmm maybe i will ask him.

17th september 2007, beachport to warnambool.

wow what a wonderful nights sleep that was, no fuck wits in sight.

so leaving beachport today. still not at the great ocean road, that starts when we get to warnambool.

so toady we decide to take it easier, yesterday was a rather big drive. actually looking at the map it is about the same as today, by the looks of it.

so anyway i wanted to go to moutn gambier there is a old volcanoe that has been filled with water, its called blue lake. and wow we got there and it was really really blue. i have never seen such a blue lake like that before, i would like to say we walked round it, but we drove. yeah i got a car and im intitle to be lazy, i have walked all over china, thai, KL, singapore. dam you i will be lazy for once.

also in mount gambier we located another lake, called valley lake, this has a couple of lakes, a place called mutton leg, but that had no lake, not sure how it is a mutton leg, apparently it use to be one.

had a little walk round this lake. went into town and look for a few bits. got some jeans for 10 english pounds. not bad i thought.

Then back on the road, princes highway. went through heywood, missed portland, went through port fairy, up to warrnambool.. this is where the great ocean road starts, so decided to hang around here for the night. booked into another camp site, its ok, just $20, which is less then a tenner between two of us.

and we have lots to see and do as from tomorrow, we realised that the journey down to here wouldn't contain much, but it was still nice to see some of oz scenery.

16th september, victor harbor to beachport.

so finally woke up today, after not much sleep, from wickedy wickedy, fuck wit.

anyway finally got off, and went to wellington where we got a short ferry ride over river murray. headed down to meningie and out down the princes highway, down through kingston SE which is where i saw the large lobster, down through robe and stopped at beachport for the night.

now instead of the lobster there really wasn't much to say abou this day mostly driving. the roads are bloody long and straight. they are so long you can't even see the end of most of them. nearesting to drive. most of the day it was pissing down with rain as you can see form the ferry picture above.

when we arrived in beachport, we had decided to book a campsite, so that we actually got a decent nights sleep and won't be woken up by wickedy fuck wit again.

nothing much to see in robe, kingston (appart from the loster) or beachport. stayed in the camper park, cooked some dinner, well paul did as i have been driving. and that was that.

15th september, Victoria Harbor

So got our camper today, not the best looking one, as you can see it is aboriginal painted. which we are kind of fed up with by now, but never mind, still looks funky.

So we had decide to head out and we ended up in murrey bridge. there wasn't actually anything in murrey bridge so we head south to victoria harbor. Located an island just off the mainland called granite island. It actually has penguins living on the island. which i kind of thought was strange i never thought penguins can live in hot places, i thought they love the cold. anyhow.

To get to the island you can either get a horse drawn train, yeah it sounds strange to me aswell. why have a horse pull a train along. or walk over the bridge. just missed the horse thing it just pulled away as we got there, so had to walk. never mind have time to waste.

got to the other side, and went hunting for penguins. we did actually manage to locate one, which was hiding, i assume thats because of all the tourists. bet i would hide aswell, see my ugly face coming towards me.

So had a walk around the island. there was a few nice views, nothing special. got back into town, walked up and down the highstreet, most places are shut. this is the low season. Drove around the town for a bit, located a carpark next to a nice bit of green. thought this was a good spot, don't have to pay.

basicaly just hung around, played some cards, read my book. then went to sleep.

however at around 3am some kids decided to knock on the van pissed out of the head and start saying, wickedy wickedy wickedy wickedy, i want to rent you (this is down the back of the van), wickedy wickedy wickedy. this went on for about 15 mins. both me and paul obviously was woken up by this, but wasn't sure if we should say or do anything, not sure how many of them were out there, or if we had said something it would of made them be more annoying. so we left it.

they finally left as i said after about 10min. then around 5am, same thing. nice. maybe its not great to stay in carparks in towns.

14th september. Adelaide.

Got up had me free brekie, im doing rather well, i have got up for breakfast everyday so far. nice.

went and booked a camper van, little more expsensive then what we had hoped for as all the lower vans have now gone so we have to get a deluxe model. meaning it has A/C and power steering. oh well it was only an extra 20 a day.

all in all it comes to 270 pounds for 2 of us for a week and we would spend more then that together staying in hostels and getting a tour down the great ocean road. this was it lasts a week and we can do it in our own way. can't wait should be good fun. paul has some cards so that should keep us enterained for some time anyway.

Decided as it wasn't a bad day to get down to the beach front. not been there yet and we have another day to waste. we did get the camper van by the way it is for tomorrow saturday for a week. so will write on here when i can. or when i come across a internet cafe.

Got down to the beach front called Glenelg. was expecting something better. well i was expecting something like we have in england, were the beach is full of shops and peirs with things on them to do and see. and there was nothing. well there was piers but they had nothing on them. just a boardwalk then i suppose you would call it.

the actually beach was ok, sandy and big. there was no shops, appart from one street leading off of the beach. the only things looking over the beach and out to see where appartments. nice.

no one wants to walk down appartments all day. nevermind, went and sat on a bench read my book for a while. didn't lay on the beach or go swimming to bloody cold. yes even for me. wind was the problem really, if there was no wind it would of been warmer and i would of gone swimming.

meet up with lizzy to swap some pic's. thanks liz. had a drink with her and kane, then went back to the city with paul.

got to this internet cafe i am in now to write up the days i hadn't done yet.

so nothing tonight, as i said off to get the camper tomorrow and then travel over to melbourne. so hopefully by the time i update this again i will have more tales to tell and better pics to show.

so until next episode of ian's travels, stay tuned and keep smiling. i know he is !!!!

:)

13th september Adelaide.

so another day to waste here, i am so for a while, as paul and i are waiting for lizzy to decide what she is doing when her "special" friend arrives, paul and i want to live and get a camper van on the road so we can go to melbourne on the great ocean rd. but lizzy doens't know when kane her "special" friend is going to leave.

well i guess already that if he is coming all the way down from north oz, he will not be staying a day or two. anyway she meets him today so hopefully we will know what is going on soon.

So liz is off, paul and i decide to hit the museum and art gallery, they are free so the price is right.
I am so so glad there were free, the museum is pretty poo, it is the south austrlian musesm, so yuo would think it was all about south oz. well its not. most is aboriginal culture which is ok, but i have seen enough now. kind of like temples in china. enough is enough, there are only so many spears and tools you can look at. and there art, dam im sure little millie (she is 3 on 20th september) could do better. i think they are pretty shit. they are shitty pics made up of dots. sorry people im sure i should be more simpathitic, but i can't be. did i meantion they are the but uglest people i have ever seen in my life.

so anyway that was the museum, then we hit the art gallery, that was better. alot of portraits which i don't personaly like, but some nice scenic pics, and also some wierd ass contempory art, which again i can't get my head round, most of it actually looks like millie made it. sorry millie your pics are better.

again that was it, did a bit more walking around, nothing much to report there and finally heard from lizzy at 16:00 that she won't be coming, but they (meaning kane and liz) won't to talk to us about it tomorrow. well we told her we are booking one for paul and i today and went off to book one. mmm wonder what they (liz and kane) want to say......can we both come...... personal im not in favour of riding round with a couple, sorry "special" friendship.

paul and i got to the camper van place. www.wickedcampers.com.au if you are interested. and it was shut, great thanks liz. so paul and i will go down tomorrow.

meet up with liz and kane in the evening for a drink. nothing really to report there. sat there, kane was upset as liz and paul get on well. great jealousy and we have only meet him for about 30mins great. they did want to come along by the way, yeah we thought so. but we have told them no can do, we are going to leave saturday and there is no room for 4 only 3. they can get a camper and meet us later if they wish.

12th september. Adelaide, festival.

So we decided to do something today, was gonna go to the festival yesterday the 11th, but i found out that wed is cheap day, we can get in for $11.

so took a little trip on the tram to somewhere justoutside adelaide called goodwood.

there it was a little walk to the fesitval, well they call it a show. but it is a fesitval to everyone else.

it had lots of farm yard animals to see and touch. the last pic on this post, is called a silkie. very strange never seen anything like it, it looks kind of like a chicken, but is actually bright coloured at the example shows. looks like they are dyed to me, but i guess this could be real !!!!

so after looking at all the animals, we went to the champion wood cutting tournament, which was pretty good, another first for me. the champion, got through a 40cm trunk of tree in 18sec's, which let me tell you is bloody quick and impressive.

there was a few rounds, the normal champions, then a over 60's champions, and then another one but im not sure what this one was about. all doing the same type of wood and same thickness. the over 60's were pretty impressive, most where over 70 that was competing, and i think the fastest one there was only about 30sec.

next we walked round the fair, there was some pretty decent rides. bigger then what we have in england, well ok basingstoke anywhere. and basingstoke is the centre of the universe !!!!

so i didn't actually go on any, as i was the only one willing, maybe i should of gone anyway but i really wasn't that bothered, been on bigger ride in USA so who needs oz rides :) lol.

then we stood infront of the cocacola stand which was had these 3 blokes from zimbabwe, or somewhere, doing a acrobat show. they were pretty good, but i had seen a acrobat show in china and these boys just didn't cut the mustard for me after the chinese show. good luck boys.

then strolled around for a while. spent pretty much the afternoon there, back to hostel for dinner. picked up some steak and chips on the way home at the supermarket.

then to bed. the only thing to do in the evening round here is to drink, and we all don't wanna waste i money doing that everyday. so sleep it is then.

10th & 11th september. Adelaide.

nothing to report today. walked around, didn't see anything worth typing about. there are lots of strange wierd people in adelaide,. can't think of anything specify at this time, but there are some very strange. and its not like london where they come out at night, this is all day shit.

!@#$%^&*()&^%$#@%!%$@*%^

9th september groove grape day 2 - arrive in Alelaide

so arrived in Alelaide, its a rather nice town, has some nice old buildings. arch at me what do i sound like, nice buildings. mmmm

so got here about 17:30, and we left at 6am this morning, dam i know it was 900kl away but this bus driver was getting overtaken my everyone, i mean everyone, juggerants the lot. i actually think miss daisy drove past us at one point, he was so so so so so so so so so slow.

didn't really do alot, had a quick walk into town, incase you wonder i am the prat on the right of the picture., there are two big balls ontop of each other in the main town centre street and this is the picture that was reflected back on us. mmm nice.

so got some dinner went back chilled in hostel, this one is called backpacker oz. not bad, about the same as the other hostels really nothing special.

8th september. groove grape tour - alice springs to adelaide

So again up at the crack of dawn. the bus picked me up at 6:30am. wow we have 400kl to do today, have been told we get cooper pedy at 3-4-5-6pm so he has no idea then !!!

Not really much to say about the bus journey, it was long a hard, wait am i still talking about the buss. i mean the bus trip was long and boring, thats better. the seats were pretty uncomfitable, and there was no one talking on the bus. oh well im glad it is only for 2 days.

so finally got to cooper pedy at around 5pm. The lovely bus driver had arranged for us to take a tour of an old opal mine. wow what excitment. i read they actually charge people $10 for the tour, i am so glad there didn't try to charge me. it is a mine. the rooms before the mine were ok, it showed you how people did or still do today live underground. so at least it was kind of half interesting.

The place we were staying was ok, i was expecting it to be all underground but what it means is you stay in a dorm which has been dug out of a side of a hill/mountain. was bloody dark which really good for me as i sleep with my eyes open slightly anyway. but i had heard it makes snoring echo. oh dear i have been told i snore everso slightly !!! so better luck for everyone else then :)

Tour had arranged for us to have pizza in a local resturant, which was included in the price. not bad, i just didn't get enough, there was only 4 pizzas between 16 of us. that doens't seem a lot to me and wasn't at all. nevermind at least this is only a 2day trip.

7th September alice springs.

Did absolutely nothing today, not even sure were the daytime went to. Paul and i hung out (no not like that you rude people) while liz went off with a friend of hers. paul and i sat in a internet cafe for a bit, walked round, didn't really do anything to be honest.

Liz got back we meet up with another girl this time an english girl called laura, (nice name but then im baised right miss Cordery :) ) went and got some food this time we, i say we but liz was meant to cook it but never had cooked anything in her life. not sure what these people did without me, as i seem to be the only one who cooks. so made spagbowl. was pretty nice, was only $3 each, so cheap and cheerful, just as us bums/backpackers like it.

there was a bowling alley next to the hostel, so we went for there for the evening. yours truely one of course, but i didn';t actually do to well for me, highest was about 130. nothing special. had to game and then back to hostel. i read some more and went to bed.

have to get up early tomorrow again, this time for a trip on the groozt grape tour, from alice springs to adelaide.

6th september.

Ok got woken up by gale the french bloke, fucking idiot. woke me about 3am in the morning, and said (you have to do this in a french accent otherwise it doens't sound right) "i'on i canno slezp, your snooringg is keepin me awake, you have too dooo somezing" i appoligised and said "ok well you tell me what i can do and i will do it", i mean how fucking stupid do you have to be, you have to do something. no one else in the room was bothered or even heard me, just frenchy, hahah i actually like the fact he couldn't sleep because of me, that will teach him and his french people, to talk when the tour guide was trying to talk, fucking french !!!!!!

So im not sure what he did, i should of said, yeah i can do something come out here, took him outside and closed the door, that would of been funny. nevermind we always think of things to do after the event. plus it was 3am so i couldn't think at that time.

anyway, frenchy got his own back and woke me up again the morning this time about 9am, while he was packing his stuff, pretty sure he was being noising for the sake of it. oh well bye bye frenchy.

so went back to sleep for a little while, got up about 11am, did some washing and stuff, read a bit of me new book, its harry potter, not the new one the second to last one. i watched the newest film and really liked it so i thought i would read the two last books seen as i am away.

Then i woke up paul and lizzy as requested. booked a trip to adelaide that they are on, we are all going to adelaide and then they were off to melbourne so i suggest we hire a camper van and have a road trip, they seem well up for that, can't wait should be really good fun. we just take the piss and have a laugh. good people good people indeed. plus lizzy's a good looking lass so something to look at on the way, nice bum, and most of you know i am an arse man, i better rephase that a women arse man, if that makes sense. :)

so for the rest of the day we just hang out they did some washing. We meet a scottish women called nicky, she was a lovely women. So we all went to get some food and a dvd to watch for the evening, not sure how we did it but that took us about 3hrs, got back. i made a bbq for everyone. And there was this bloody italian bloke that was drawling all over lizzy and won't leave her alone, decided to follow us and sit with us while we were having a bbq, i suggest to liz, who is too nice to people, that i would tell him to fuck off, i don't care. no one wanted him there anyway, but again she is too nice wouldn't let me do that.
was rather funny actually, we did too much food, but paul and i was not going to give the italian bloke any, so we sat there going right, you eat this half i'll stuff this half in, bloody hell we were nearly sick but we managed it and italy got nothing. hahah england&ireland 1 - italy 0. lol

so liz want to watch wolf creek which is about some backpackers in west australia, who went to wolf creek and actually place you can go and they get into some murder thing, actually the film was really shit, was meant to be true, but i took it as a ozzie kind of blair witch thing. not very good at all. not even scarey.

next film was my choice, something i had seen before but they hadn't so i choose K-Pax, actually most people went to bed before this had finished, but paul and i stayed up, both agreed it was a truely amazing film, much much better then bloody wolf creek.

5th September kings canyon and back to alice springs.

So up again at 5am, loving every min of it !!!!

had a short trip to kings canyon. as we had camped near there. So today we have a 3 hrs hike, first thing we have to climb heart attach hill. sounds pretty big, but to be honest it wasn't as bad as i thought. and it is so worth it this canyon and by far the best such nice views and beautiful rock formations. canyon itself is pretty impressive. we got to walk down one of the canyons, into the garden of eden, its strange there is not much to see in kings canyon until we got down to here, this looks like a little oasis, which is why i guess they call it the garden of eden.

So we get there, we were told we can take a swim in it, but it is cold. well im from england don't you know. use to the cold water. So there were about 5 groups of people rangeing from about 10-20 people in each group, but for some reason no one was jumping in. well ian to the rescue again. Actually nick the tour guide jumped in he does it everytime, and lizzy joined us aswell. blood hell it was freezing, we didn't actually swim, just jump in breath very heavy then and jump straight back out, but i was glad i did it. i am only here once so why not.

Everyone thought we were mad, but i just think they are boring. plus with the weather out here, you don't freeze, actually i was dry in about 5min, once i had climb back on the canyon and was in the sun. Such beautiful view here, up the pictures above do them justice.

so that was the three hour hike, we then had about a 6hrs journey back to alice springs. we had a few stops, once for lunch. a few bathroom breaks and we also stopped off, so people could have a camel ride. I wasn't really interested in a camel ride. watched lizzy and a few others take one. was only $5 but still im not interested. it a bloody camel !!!! was fun watching them on it, the camel actually gave a little run, which kind od looked fun, but would of destoryed my man hood !!!! so give that one a miss was probaly a good option, i would like kids some day.

At the camel place they had a dingo, which is a dog to me and you, not sure what the differeance is, doesn't look like much to me. There were some kangaroos, and wow they had some little little babys, i believe they are called joey. could'n't of been very old one of them, was only about 10inchs tall. pretty cute though, i do have pic, but can't fit it on here, check out facebook if you want to see it.

Then back to alice springs. everyone was meeting up for a $10 meal and a drink and some dancing in bojangals, wish i had read the signs in bojangales when i got there, as they saloon is on webcam they have about 10 cams, set up round the place and they are on 24/7. shame i could of text and few people, and they could of watched me rock my little socks off. i know you guys back home miss my dancing. !!!!!

the beer out here is pretty shit if you ask me, i had a few but didn't even feel tipsy, shame but not to worry i had a good night. So random pisshead ozzie bloke asked me were i was from, i obvioulsy said south england, that was it he was off on one, his best mate is from south england, and he went off to phone him to find out where he was from and he is knew me !!! yeah like there is only about 10people in the south of england and we all know each other. so next min i know im talking to a few people that where on the tour, and now all of a sudden this bloke wants me to chat to this english bloke. ok so hd a random conversation with an english bloke on this ozzie blokes phone. !!!!! ok then. not sure what we spoke about can't really remember. nothing special i think he was actually from midlands. but there you go.

4th september, ayers rock to Kata Tjuta

got up, went to see the sunrise. it is just the same as the sunset in reverse. yeah i know stupid thing to say it is obviously going to be. so nothing really that special as i just say it last night. While we were watching that nick is making breakfast, which is toast or ceral. i had both. piggy me.

then it is a short ride only about 2hrs to Kata Tjuta, went to the Aboriginal Cultural Centre where we learnt more about the Aboriginal's and again the things they do on the sacred grounds of Kata Tjuta.

had a 2.5 hr walk round Kata Tjuta, was pretty nice, a think better then ayers rock. was some lovely views again they are all rocks. nick had a few talks, one about how Kata Tjuta was made, by earthquakes and stuff, then spoke about how the Aboriginies believe is was made, again it is madness, and to be honest i can't remember exactly how the aboriginies think it was made, something about a god sitting on ayers rock and throw some rocks, to form Kata Tjuta. as Kata Tjuta is about 5 large rocks in a dome shape. the all make up things to the aboriginies and are all spritual.

so this time we went again watched the sunset over Kata Tjuta , was nice. see some good views.

then went to another camping site, just out side of Kata Tjuta. this time it was better, we had a proper camp fire. man make fire. lol. nice. stars again amazing. had a nice little chat with everyone. had some dinner, this time nick cooked chili con carnie. really nice but i guess, most things are after a hard days walking in the hot hot sun.

again i was the last one up, but that is most like a good thing, a couple of people. well emily complained about my snoring. well i am in a sleeping bag, so i am lying on my back, and i had a few beers. not a good combo. actually it is quite funny, she thoght it was her husband adam, and he had just got to sleep when she kicked him and woke him up. lol i should laugh really but nevermind.

so this time she tells me she is gonna sleep near me so she can kick me and wake me up if i wake her with my snoring. she is a light sleeper. no one else has complained. (yes i know thats a miriacle michael !!!!)

actually i slept away from everyone over the other side of a car park. was nice. again up tomorrow. can't wait i love these early mornings !!!!!!!!

3rd september, the rock tour, day 1 ayers rock.

got up about 5:30. went and had some free breekie, which is just toast and jam, but doens't it always taste better when its free....mmmmm.

Got picked up at about 06:10 our tour guide is a ozzie-greek called nick. actually the title he has on the list of names is nick the woggiest wog that ever wog'd the rock !!!! mmm interesting name, i guess its not the same way we would use the word wog!!! i did asked him in the end and it a wog is a greek bloke. so there you go learnt something new everyday.

(rock tour photos can be located at http://www.therocktour.com.au/, click on photo gallery, then i was on the 3rd september tour, check them out. im told there are there to stay forever, but incase there not, check them out. and yes the ice was cold. don't ask how i got in that position !!!)

there was 6 people from toddy's being picked up. gale (french), marie and noemie (french) lizzy (american, in pic above) paul (irish, in pic above) and me (the legend!!!).

There is a total of 14 people on this tour. 6 above. matt (english) arnoet (french) takashi (japan, and no he doens't live in a castle i did ask him. !!! lol) ilres (dutch girl i meet on litchfield tour) sidrip (german), karrina (german), dominic (german) emily (american) adam (american)

****there is a group picture, but i will add it to another day as that was when it was taken) ****

so to start with we have a 6 hour journey to ayers rock (Uluru), we had a few stops. one to get some lunch. one to get some wood for the camp fire tonight, strange you can stop anywhere on the side of the road and just collect wood. everyone chiped it. then a stop to get beer. i was the beerman. i had to get everyones order and then sort out money. wasn't as bad as i thought it would be. we actually got a good deal, if we can get everyone to have 30 cans we can get a slab (thats a case of beer to you and me) and it turns out to be $2 a can. not a bad price at all. at the moment it is $2.44 to the pound.

so got the beer had a quick bite to eat, and off to ayers rock. finally made it, wow it is rather impressive and big. so nick the tour guide took us down the part called the mala walk. basically he talks at alot of different points to tell you what the aborignis do within this sacred place and how they believe it was formed. some crazy ideas if you ask me. crazy crazy ideas.

then if we want to we can climb the rock, but it is a sacred ground and aborignis don't like you doing it, i would of liked to do it for the view and to say i had done it, but aborignis don't like you doing it, so most well nearly all of us didn't out of respect. only one person did, and yes it was gale the french bloke. fucking hell he makes me laugh, when we spent a day together he tells me he doens't want to meet french people, he would like to practise his english and doens't want to talk to french people. what BS, we had a french guy and two french girls. fucking hell all he did was talk constantly to them in fucking french and i am constantly even when nick was trying to explain things. then fucking french pissed everyone off with there constant talking. bloody french, no wonder england isn't meant to like them. not sure i do now either, they are all rude, ignorant and selfish people. bloody french.

anyway. once we had done the mala walk and learnt all about the sacred place and what it is used for, we got to do a 1hr 45min round the rock. i was thinking nick was coming to explain things, but he went to get petrol or something while everyone except gale took a walk round. remember gale was climbing the rock.

So that was ok. i mean it is a rock at the end of the day, it is impressive the way it is in the middle of nowhere, and it is im told 360foot high. so rather strange in such a flat desert area. and its red. not much else to say.

from the rock we went to watch the sunset in a carpark, right next to ayers rock. i was told it changes colour every 2mins and it is specatular. i didn't see it change colour every 2 mins. i saw it change from a red to a dark red and that was that. was nice to see and a experiance i won't forget, but not change every 2 mins. while we was watching the sunset, nick was cooking food, it was some chicken noodles. very nice indeed. it turns out nick can cook rather well. nearly as good as me !!!!!!

after that we went to a camp site. made a fire with the wood we had collected. Shame actually the fire had to be made in half an oil drum. little dissapointing actually this camping, i was expecting it to be in the middle of nowhere and make a big fire and chill. but we were in a camping area, which electricity and a oil drim that we had to make a fire in. nevermind was still lovely to do. and wow i have never seen so many stars in my life. such a beautiful sky. nothing like it. wow truely amazing.

so chilled out, played some cards, shit head with the french. how ironic !!! and yesi was not shit head and they were, lol.

so i was the last one to go to bed, no matter when i get up i can't sleep till at least midnight. everyone else got to sleep about 10-11pm. so i had my ipod. and had a little dance to myself.

went to bed, have to get up at 5am tomorrow so we can see the sunrise over ayers rock.