18th / 19th April - Alice

Woke up early (6am) to catch a sunset from the hostel viewing point. Turns out the sun was on the wrong side (duh!), but still managed to get some great pictures as it was a really clear day. Apparently less than 1% of visitors get to see a cloudy sky above Ayer's Rock so we should be very pleased, we were told.

Waited for my bus with Bridget and a French guy I met. He was going onto New Zealand next so wanted some pointers for which route to take and what to see. I was chatting to him for a while and it turns out he had driven up to Ayers Rock from Adelaide, which is a fairly hefty drive! Bridget offered to show me around Hong Kong when I arrive there in July which is nice.

Got on the bus around mid-day and headed to Alice Springs which is around 460km or about 6 hours. The ride was interesting seeing the desert. Along the way I saw:

• Several burnt out cars
  
• A makeshift grave with newly dug earth on top and some fresh flowers
  
• A dead ox (cow?) with crows feeding on it
  
• Loads of tyres
  
• The odd solar powered station (apparently so truckers have hot water to stop off and shower)
  

Just as we arrived into Alice there was a broken down car with 4 aborigines hanging around. One was on the ground and looked like he had keeled over from the heat. I had heard stories about Aborigines doing this kind of thing and then robbing people (or worse) who were good enough to stop and try to help. Spoke to the driver and he was telling us that those guys had been there 3 days earlier, in exactly the same spot. If they had really broken down they would be dead by now! Makes you wonder.....

Alice springs is a pretty amazing town. Its completely self sufficient in providing its own water, gas oil and electricity. It's enclosed by mountains and desert and is pretty much in the centre of Australia. The town itself is reasonably modern, they have most of the big shops and good supplies of pretty much everything. I checked into my hostel here at around 7pm and am now in a 10-bed share. Fun times! Managed to bag a decent bed and got some food at the bar. Fish and chips for only $5! I felt obliged to get a couple of beers as well as apparently the town relies on tourist income to survive, so I had to help. Went out to the garden/pool area and they were showing Gladiator on a big screen. Picked a spot on the grass and watched the movie. Looking up you have the clearest view of the stars (I guess because were in the middle of no-where). It was pretty wicked.

Got some decent sleep until around 7am when randomly we had beethoven and Mozart pumped into the hostel sound system. Not sure why. But it was an early start then. Had a shower in the 1 shower to 10 people bathroom. The lock doesn't work so I figured it was just a matter of time before somebody walked in on me. I guess hostels kind of get you used to that kind of thing, so I wasnt too bothered. As it turns out nobody did, but glancing out the window I realised I just showered in full view of the other block. I guess you close the blind BEFORE you shower. Ah well.

Its bloody hot today. Just been for a wander round the town and had a full english breakfast. It's culture week today which means theres a big fair type thing in the middle of town. Lots of people selling junk to the tourists. I wonder if its culture week every week? Or maybe thats just the sceptic in me. Not much else planned today, might take a wander out into the bush (but not too far as its hot). This evening they are playing Amelie, so not sure if thats worth bothering with.... Tomorrow I'm getting the Ghan train up to Darwin, with a brief stop off in Katherine. Its about 1500km and takes around 24hours on the train (inc. the stop off). So I have a book ready for that.

Will probably post again in a few days.

Bye for now.

16-17th April- Leaving Melbourne/Arriving Ayers Rock

So my flight to Ayers rock was scheduled for 6.30am from Melbourne airport. The last shuttle from the city to the airport was around midnight. Even then I managed to arrive at the airport at 11.30pm. I think that's my dad's advice of always being extra early to the airport rubbing off. The airport was pretty dead so I just found a comfortable(ish) bench and got some sleep. I was paranoid I would miss my flight if I didn't hear my alarm so I had to get a couple of people to text me a couple of hours later, just incase!

The flight was pretty uneventful. Flew to sydney which took around 1.5 hours and then changed plane for the trip to Ayers Rock. All in all the trip was around 4000km. The airport in ayers rock is tiny. Only enough room for one plane and theres no real terminal, you just get off the plane and onto a bus transfer to the accommodation.

There's only one choice for accommodation, Ayer's Rock resort. But there are a couple of hotels and a hostel so obviously I booked into the hostel. It's probably the most expensive one so far (but then they do kind of have a monopoly being the only ones). It costs $44 a night and I was there for two. The room was ok, small but comfortable. I was the first one in closely followed by a girl called Bridget from Hong Kong. There was the choice of a 20 bed dorm but I decided that for my first hostel travelling solo it would be nice to have the luxury of a 4 share.

I was at the hostel around 2pm so decided not to bother going to the rock straight away as you pay for each trip. I pretty much just chilled and explored the area. Had a walk in the desert. Found what I think was a scarab beetle like in the film the mummy but I'm not sure if they are real or not. There are also supposed to be loads of different snakes / spiders etc but didn't manage to spot a single one. Found some giant ant's but that's not quite as interesting. I confirmed my coach for the trip to Alice Springs and then went to book my bus to the rock for the morning.

When I got to the bookings area I booked the cheapest trip ($45), you get to see the sunrise from the lookout and then they drop you at the rock so you can do your own thing. I didnt fancy being guided around. As it turns out people who booked the more expensive tour, around $120 ended up doing the same as me so that was a bit of a result! The woman at the desk asked me for my room number and then wanted to confirm if I was Ziang Ming Xi (or similar...) or Adrian Nessmann. I thought she was having a laugh, turns out she wasn't.

The rock is amazing. The sunrise was a bit of a bust because it was quite cloudy. I walked around the base of whole thing which is around 10km. The weather was cool which made for good walking conditions. There are huge areas of the rock which are supposed to be extra sacred to the Aborigine people, so they ask you not to take photographs. I found this out after I had taken around 50 photos. Never mind. There are hundreds of flies which get pretty annoying. I took a look around the cultural centre. There are painting from Aboriginal artists, some of which were really nice. The small paintings were selling for around $3000. Which is crazy. In the evening I wrote some postcards and had dinner (peanut butter sandwiches).

Ayers Rock!

I have arrived at Ayers rock!

The internet is extortionate and I only have 1min credit left...

Will post soon.

Cheers

Are we bad luck??

I was thinking last night about how many 'this is the worst ever....' events there have been on our travels. Steve and I have definitely heard that expression a few times, so I decided to make a list:

1) In manhatten, NYC, they had the worst flash floods the locals had ever seen due to tropical storm Hanna off the east coast of the USA

2) One of our stop off's in the USA, Texas City, Texas, had to be avoided as it was smashed up by Hurricane Ike

3) LA was having a heatwave when temperatures reached around 35C

4) Fiji had an outbreak of Dengue Fever when we were there, although we didn't find this out until after we left.

5) Melbourne had its hottest temperature on record hitting 45.6C on January 12th. There was also the longest period of consecutive day temperatures of above 40C.

6) The worst bush fires in Melbournes history, spurred on by the extreme temperatures, began on Black Friday, 12th Jan 2009.

7) And lets not forget the worst economic collapse since 1929. Which has made work very tricky to find.

8) And since deciding to travel SE Asia over the coming few weeks Thailand is on the brink of a military coup.

I guess its things like this that make the trip memorable.

Just thought it was interesting anyway, I'm sure we'd be complaining if it was dull!

The blog is back!

Woah, it's been a long time since anybody last posted on here!

As you probably know Steve and I left New Zealand at the end of November to come to Melbourne.

It was a bit of an abrupt end to the New Zealand trip when I found out that my grandmother had sadly passed away, so I contacted Qantas and made my way home from New Zealand via Melbourne and Singapore (not the best flight in the world, I think it was around 23 hours all in!) but I wouldn't have missed it for anything.

Although obviously a terrible reason to be visiting home, it was a great chance to see all of the family again, especially since pretty much everyone was there, which was good to see. The service was a good one.

So arriving back in England made my round the world ticket void, since I effectively used up the rest of my air miles to travel direct to the UK. This is a pretty good service Qantas offers as it means for just a 50 pounds fee you can fly home immediately should you need to. My insurance was also void.

So....the temptation was to stay at home....and I was VERY tempted. The idea of being so close to the family and friends again was very appealing. I could also start earning some money and begin some of the stuff I've been looking forward to, like looking for a flat. But I was also keen to see more of the world and finish the trip. And I know my grandmother had always said to me to finish the trip no matter what. That was actually the last conversation we had. So I was definitely keen to head back to Australia to carry on.

So at the end of November, 1500 pounds down for a new ticket and insurance, I left England...again. I arrived in Melbourne on the 1st December.

The time in Melbourne has been spent mostly in the city, in a hostel called Victoria Halls. This place became our home for a long time. Its a great hostel, reasonably cheap, and it comes with alot of luxuries like a cimema room and a gym. It also has a great rooftop area with a bbq and great views of the city.

Steve and I both found it very hard to find work. The 'easy to get' temp jobs had dried up, apparently due to the beginning of the recession. One recruitment agent told me that she had around 800 CV's on file and only 10 or so jobs to give, so her advice was to lay low over the winter months and come back around February time. That was all well and good but lying low is a) boring, b) something you can do at home and c) not a great way to see places.

There was a brief period when I looked into fruit picking work. If you do 3 months of manual labour you qualify for a years visa to be used at another time, which is ideal if you want to come back to Australia. For me it was about the new experience, getting some money and meeting some new people. I contacted the government agency. Lo and behold, there was no work. The fruit and veg season had been excessively hot and so the crops were either damaged or in low supply. They didnt need pickers. In retrospect, this probably turned out to be a blessing as the worst bush-fires in Melbournes history hit a short while after and affected a large portion of the fruit picking areas around the city. So I guess things do happen for a reason.

The last straw was to apply for a job at Specsavers. The company I have worked for since I was 15. Yes 15!. In face the only company I have ever worked for, apart from my 1 week work experience at the Basingstoke Gazette! I contacted the recruitment agency and they were very excited. They had a place which was on the east side of the city. I could start straight away if I would agree to work for 12 months. They could even sponser me to work over here permanantly and pay for my visa and exams to practice as an optometrist!! That was all a bit much considering I just wanted some part time work. So I haggled. I started low, agreeing to a 2 month contract. She wanted 6 minimum. I offered 3. She wanted 6. I agreed to 6. I lied. But what can you do, a job is a job.

As it turns out, I learnt a fundamental lesson when applying for a job. Always check the location of the store. To me, 'west of the city', meant a few blocks west in the central business district, which to me is Melbourne. As it turns out, 'west of the city' means west of the whole STATE!. A place called Werribee.

The trip took about 2 hours when I first began, each way. I refined it down to around 1.5 hours. I would get a train 15 stops down the line and then walk another half hour. This was a real pain in the ass as I ended up working there for 3 months. Especially when you work a 9-9 shift, arrive home at around 11pm, and then have to be back up to leave the hostel by 7am. And sleeping in a hostel can make it tricky to hold down a full time job. So as it turned out, I was never on time. Ever. It became a running joke that I would always arrive at 9.15am. The latest was 10.30, but that was partly down to the trains. Sometimes, on rare occassions, I was still drunk at work. But this is the beauty of having an un-important job in a place you know you are never going to go back to.

The store was nice and the boss David was a legend. Totally relaxed. A great environment to work in. And he didn't mind what time I turned up, as he understood the distance was a bit of a pain. The area was not so great. It turns out Werribee is the armpit of Melbourne. The gene pool here must be very small and most customers were related to one another. One person's response to my working in Werribee was 'What are you doing out there, shovelling shit?'. That didn't fill me with confidence. But all in all, I was glad of the job, and 3 months later David again offered me a very impressive salary and relocation bonus if I would consider his offer of a premanent work visa and move to Australia to practice as an Optometrist. I didn't consider it for a second, but it was still nice to know I made a good impression.

So most of my time in Melbourne has been working. But filled in with a good amount of fun stuff as well. We've had some great trips. Driven the great ocean road (3 times??), which as they say in Gavin and Stacey is immense. Went to Philip Island where there is the largest colony of penguins in Australia. We have been to the Melbourne car show, watched the Australian open and seen Basement Jaxx and N.E.R.D live at the future music festival. We have also done the other obligatory stuff like the Melbourne Aquarium and been drinking at many of the wicked bars in Melbourne. I think Melbourne is most famous for its bars. Some of which you really have to hunt for, hidden down dirty alley ways or between buildings. One of my favourites is the rooftop bar on Swanston street which has a cinema on the roof, and gives a really good view of the city. At Christmas time we went to Sydney for around a week and lived it up in a hotel room which we got on the cheap through a mate! Gave us a good chance to see all the stuff around there like Bondi beach, the harbour bridge and the opera house.

So....up to the current day. I have finished work now. Had a good leaving party. I have saved just around enough money to carry on the rest of the trip around Australia and then onto South East Asia. My flight is booked for tomorrow morning at 6.30am leaving Melbourne and flying to Ayers Rock via Sydney. The rest of the route is planned and I will add that in another post. Just thought it was about time to bring this blog up to date as I want to start posting alot more for the rest of the trip.

I also just wanted to say cheers to Steve for the trip so far, it has been a great laugh! We have had lots of discussions about money / where we want to go etc and Steve is keen to stick around Melbourne for a while. We both found it hard to get work but I was lucky enough to have Specsavers to fall back on otherwise I would have been screwed. Now that Steve has found work, he is keen to stick around Melbourne for a bit longer. I'm on a bit more of a tight schedule as I'm due to be starting back at my job in England sometime in August/September. So we have agreed I'm going to set off on the next leg of the trip now.

So GOOD LUCK Steve in whatever you decide to do! I will catch up with you back in England!

As I am writing this I have a mixture of excitement, and the feeling that maybe I have bitten off more that I can chew. The prospect of travelling through Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam of my own is definitely daunting. But the excitement is driving me. I have a big list of things I can't wait to see. And the excitment of the unknown is spurring me on. I'm sure there will be good days and bad days, and I have no doubt I will make a tit out of myself on several occassions along the way. But it will be an ADVENTURE!! Which is what I wanted when I set off. This is the end of the organised tours and pretend backpacking. Im off into the serious world of budget backpacking, and I can't wait!!!!!!!!!

Almost the end of NZ....

Since the last post of black water rafting in Waitomo we have done quite a bit. We stopped off at a small town (population 34?) called Punakaiki, which was a pretty last minute decision. The place was very cool we got to explore some caves and the local tavern was a great place for dinner and a few beers. The second day there was pretty terrible weather so we were stuck indoors playing games. The weather didnt stop us from taking a dip in the sea though. I think it must have been bordering on minus temperatures and Steve quite literally turned purple but it was a good laugh.

After Punakiki we travelled on to a place called Lake Wahinapua, which had some beautiful scenery, so got some cracking photo's there. There is a place known as the poo pub, which is an abbreviation for a much longer word. This is where we stayed the night. The landlord is a bit of a local legend. He's about 90 years old and throws a great party. We had steak dinners and then set off to the pub. Unfortunately, being such a cold day the dorm heaters must have all been set to max because the generator blew. So we had our party in the dark by candlelight and slept in unheated dorms with no running water. It was a pretty good night though and I did manage to win a free canyon swing at yet another blokes dress as women party. That was worth around 70 pounds and finally made up my mind as to whether I would have the balls to get over my fear of heights (the boys back home will probably remember my less than impressive bungee jump back home!)

Next was a stop at a place called Franz Josef which is home to the worlds fastest moving glacier. We got to do a full day of hiking here which was brilliant. The scenery was amazing and the weather was really good that day. The 8 hours of the hike went really fast and we got to climb through ice caves and slide through some very narrow paths in the ice. What made it all the better was that the guide actually carved out a fresh path as we were travelling because the glacier changes each day so it was a really unique tour.

We are currently in Queenstown which is high on my list of favourite places in NZ so far. The town is still quite small, although it is actually one of the largest in the southern island. It does have a really relaxed vibe about it and we've had some great weather so far. There's been a few good parties so far, the highlight probably being the World bar where Sunday night was england night and the alcohol was served in teapots (random). At the bar they give you a dice, roll a 4,5 or 6 and the drink is free. Unfortunatly I was regretting my good luck the next day but it was a cracking night!

As Steve's last post says we did the Canyon swing today and I'm still buzzing from the adrenaline. It is without a doubt the most insane thing I have ever done in my life especially having a bit of a phobia of heights. But I am 100% glad I managed to do it. The guys there were a real good laugh even if they do wind you up when you are hung 350ft over a cliff! Also, I am still amazed at Steve's handstand off the edge. It was by far the best jump of the day!

Tommorow we leave for Christchurch and then we fly to Melbourne, Australia on Friday. I have already had a few beers in the bar and am heading back there shortly so it might be a bit of a hangover day tomorrow but the journey is around 500km so it might be a good thing to sleep off some of the trip.

Hopefully you get time to check out our canyon swing videos cos that was a particular highlight of the trip so far.

Hope everyone is well. Will post again soon.

3, 2, 1... aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrgh

Abso-fucking-lutely incredible! Ady won a Canyon Swing a few days ago while dressed as a woman (Anne from Little Britain - with the added bonus of a couple of fantastic fake tits!), because of the win of his I decided to also take the plunge...

It was amazing. I was struggling to choose which of the twisted methods of jumping (or being pushed) off the edge so the guy who put on my harness suggested the hand stand! Not one of the official jumps, but a one that isn't for the feint hearted. Watch the video above - makes my palms sweat even now!