Lins and Rich’s Travel Blog

We thought that, after the last journey, the trip around Kakadu and Litchfield National Parks would seem comparatively short as Darwin and Kakadu seem to be much closer together on the map than Alice Springs and Darwin so we were a little surprised to hear that we would be comvering another 1200km in 3 days. 

The first day was devoted to doing a bit of exploring of Litchfield.   In the morning, we had a short walk through the rain-forest like terrain of this area of the Park to descend to a large swimming hole with a couple of waterfalls flowing into it, which would have been a serene and peaceful place if it wasn’t for the bus load of teenage kids who had arrived as we did!  After a short swim there and the hike up 135 steps (made more bearable by seeing the rock wallaby living in the rocks by the steps) to get back to the truck, we were taken to another swimming spot; a series of rock pools and small falls.  These were lovely, particularly as we got to get fairly close to the local water monitor lizard who was roaming the area.

After lunch, we headed on to the Mary River and, after Rich had held a python around his neck, we were all taken onto a boat for a ‘jumping croc cruise’.  We spotted our first wild estuarine or salt water crocodile sun bathing on the bank opposite and assumed we were probably going to be in for a lot of crocodile action.  And so we were.  The crocodiles here, although wild, are fully aware that the boat goes up and down the river a couple of times a day, tempting the corcodiles with meat on a string and then feeding it to them, therefore the ‘wild sightings’ are a bit contrived.  Nonetheless, to see the corcodiles approaching the boat, surfacing for breath then disappearing again as they close in on their prey, then watching them circling the meat and eventually jumping for it with their jaws open, was still a spectacular sight and it created great photo opportunities.  I’d like to say that I learnt a lot about the crocodiles from the 1 hour commentary accompanying the cruise, however, ‘Peter’, our friendly commentator, actually told us very little about the life of a crocodile.  Instead he chose to make the whole thing into a bit of a horror show, telling us repeatedly that there are 60-80000 crocs in the Northern Territory and that they are in all the local waterways; that the locals know all about them but tourists just don’t listen to the warnings; that tour guides are not telling the truth when they say that some of the water holes are safe for swimming in etc. etc.  My favourite line was “ Some people think these animals should be kept in a zoo. Well, they are in a zoo:  The Northern Territory is the zoo, and you’re in it with them.”  Talk about scare-mongering.  In fact, if this was his intention, he clearly achieved his aim as 2 of the Danish girls in our group hardly slept the following night as they did not realise that crocs really only hang around by water and were worried that one could get into their tent!

The following morning we got a lie-in (until 6am) and then continue on into Kakadu.  When we got to the first roadhouse, we were told we were going to be taking an extra passenger.  A shy Aboriginal called Abraham climbed into the cab of the truck for a lift to the nearest town as he needed a new fuel pump for his car which had broken down at the roadhouse the night before.  His mother was in the car with him and couldn’t understand why she couldn’t come too - she felt this should be her right as the matriarch, and our guide had to explain that there simply wasn’t room!  After we had dropped him off, we went for a walk of about 3km that led to a couple of swimming holes.  One of them was called the Garden of Eden and, as with the other Eden in the Red Centre, this one lacked the idyllic nature I think is necessary when naming a place so grandly… the water was murky and the place was overrun with mosquitoes.  However, the swim in the other pool there was refreshing and just what we needed on this very, very hot day (around 40 degrees).

In the afternoon we headed firstly to the cultural centre to look at the displays and watch an interesting short film about the cycle of life in Kakadu over the course of a year, then we headed over to Ubirr, an ancient Aboriginal rock art site.  This truly was the highlight of the trip.  Our guide, who had a fairly extensive knowledge of Aboriginnal culture (for a non-aboriginal) gave us detailed talks about the lifestyle of the local clan and the reasons for and the meanings behind many of the pictues.  We then hiked up to the top of a rocky lookout over the Nardab floodplain to watch a stunning sunset.

On Saturday morning, the 4WD was really brought into play as we headed a long way along a very bumpy road (luckily Rich and I had taken the fornt seats up in he cab with the driver for the day so didn’t have to suffer as much as those in the back).  Once we arrived at our desination, we were faced with a very steep climb up a rocky cliff.  This took about 20 minutes and a lot of breath to accomplish but once we reached the top we were duly rewarded with a plethora of rock pools and small waterfalls which all led into one large waterfall.  We were able to swim in all of the pools, sit under some of the small falls to get what felt like a head massage, and sit in one of the pools and look down over the large fall - it was spectacular.  And we were fairly certain, for the first time, that there was no danger of crocs as we were so high and the lazy reptiles would never bother to climb to such a height!  We weren’t quite so convinced when we headed for a swim in the pool at the bottom of the large waterfall though (the big ‘Warning, crocodiles may swim here’ signs were of grave cause for concern in spite of what the guides said).  Nevertheless, I ventured in at the clear water’s edge to wash off the mud wrap I and a few others had given ourselves from the mineral-rich mud surrounding the water.

We visited just one more swimming hole in the early afternoon before beginning the long drive back to Darwin.  Here we had drinks with Dianna and Glenn to say goodbye to them as we had been travelling with them for the past week - they had been on oth our tours and we’d been sharing a room at the hostel in Darwin for a couple of nights in between the tours, before we packed up our rucksacks once again ready to fly to Perth at the crack of dawn the following morning.

We arrived in Perth yesterday and checked in to our ‘eco-friendly’ hostel (the showers are solar-powered, there is enough space for people to hang clothes on the washing line rather than having to use a tumble-dryer etc) and then Rich called his uncle’s sister who lives nearby and who we had been told we should call if we were in the area as they’d love to meet up.  Rich then tells me we were going to meet them that afternoon - an idea that initially filled me with horror as all I wanted to do was sleep - we’d been up since 3.30 a.m. which, with the time difference between Darwin and Perth was now the equivalent to having been up since 2 a.m.   So we got ourselves ready and got the train to Midland, about 30 minutes outside Perth, where we were met by Peter and driven to their house in the hills.  The house is lovely and they have a view to die for.  We sat out on their veranda and had coffee then Peter and Rich began to talk in a foreign language, speaking of filters and spiders and various other phtographic terms I didn’t understand (Peter is a keen photographer and used to be a forensic photographer for the police).  Then we had dinner with them and exchanged travel stories - Peter and Jenny are retired and now seem to be more busy than they possibly could have been when they were working. volunteering for numerous organisations, travelling around remote areas of Australia in their 4×4 etc - and before we knew it it was gone 8 o’clock and the tiredness really hit me so we headed off home - we had raced down the hill to catch the 8.30 train but it pulled away as we got onto the platform and, rather than leaving us to stand there for another 30 minutes waiting for the next one, Peter gave us a lift all the way back to our hostel. 

We had been trying to weigh up whether to hire a car and stay in hostels or to hire a capervan for the next few days while we explore a bit of the south west.  I was worried about the cold, but Peter and Jenny have lent us their -5 degree sleeping bags (along with a load of maps and campsite details) so we’re now ready to take our campervan on the road.  This morning we went into Wicked campervans, which is conveniently situated directly opposite our hostel, and we have booked a van for the next 4 days with Dracula on the side and ‘Guess where I’ve been pierced’ written on the back.  We strangely both remember someone we met earlier in our travels telling us that they had this van and kept getting hooted at by passing cars reading the back of their van, but we can’t remember who it was - strange though, that we should end up getting this van as well.

So, tomorrow we’re heading south to Albany, exploring the National Parks down there, then we’ll head back up the coastal road at the end of the week.  Apologies for the lack of photos on this one - there seems to be a lack of decent internet cafes in Perth and we haven’t been able to upload any pictures.  We’ll get them on as soon as we can.Â

After the amazing and vivid reds, greens and blues of the Red Centre, we had a day off to catch up on some sleep before our next very early morning.  We were picked up from Annie’s Place  (a decent hostel in Alice Springs) at 5.20 am  (horrible) by our lovely guide, Natalie, who was managing to be bubbly and smiley even at that time in the morning.   She told us that this tour was more of a road trip than a tour and to prepare ourselves for spending lots of time on the bus; we had to cover a distance of over 1500km in the next 3 days.

A short way into the first day we paused briefly for a mandatory photo at the troic of cancer as we passed out of the arid into the tropics; needless to say, the change in climate and terrain was not that instantly obvious, though as we made our way up the Northern Territory, the mercury made its way up the thermometer and today it is a hot and humid 31 in Darwin and it really does feel like the tropics (in fact, we’re only a couple of hundred kilometres from Indonesia here so we’re much closer to Asia than we are to most of the inhabited areas of Australia).

We then had a brief stop for breakfast at Ti Tree; a town with a population of just 80 - though I have to wonder how even that few people manage to live there as there is quite literally nothing there other than the petrol station and roadhouse which doubles as a gallery for indigenous art and, beautiful though Aboriginal art is, I’m not sure it could engage you day in, day out!

Shortly after, we visited Barrow Creek, an original telegraph station.  Only its shell remains, along with the pub next to it.  Although there is very little here, this place is steeped in history, both distant (by Aussie standards) and more recent.  John Stuart took 3 attempts to travel through the Northern Territory to plot the ideal route for the telegraph wire that would run from South Australia to the UK, cutting communication time between the two countries from 3 months to 9 days.  As a result, the highway that runs the 3000km from Adelaide to Darwin, is named the Stuart Highway.  It is possible, however, that many of you may have heard of this place for a very different reason: the disappearance of Peter Falconio in 2001.  This is the spot where the incident allegedly took place and, on seeing the place, we did all comment on the fact that it is no wonder his girlfriend’s version of events has been questioned - the bush in which she claims to have hidden is extremely sparse and it does seem a bit difficult to believe that she was able to hide away from a hunting dog there for 3 hours without being discovered by her captor - but who are we to question the Australian Justice System?  The pub here is covered in signed money - apparently miners used to come up and work the mines in the North, stop here for a drink on their way back to the South, know that they would blow all their wages once they got home, so they would leave money pinned to the wall with their name on it so that they would definitely have enough to stop for a drink here on their way back up for their next few weeks work.  Peter Falconio’s parents have left some money on the wall for him if he should ever pass through.

 

The next stop was the somewhat impressive Devil’s marbles which got their name not because it seems as though it must be some sort of miraculous work of the devil that these massive boulders balance so precariously on each other, but because people used to stop their with their cattle and other livestock when moving them through the country and the livestock used to die shortly after their arrival there.  Initially this was thought to be the work of the devil, however, it was later established that it was actually because the livestock were eating poisonous plants at the site! 

The rest of the day was spent in the bus to Banka Banka, the campground / cattle station / home to turkeys and numerous other creatures, which is owned by the man who owns more land than any other man in the world.  Apparently he has one cattle paddock (that is one paddock; not even the whole cattle station) that is 500km squared - just inconceivable.  We got the campfire going after dinner but most of us didn’t last long before we wanted to get to our tents to recover from one early morning and to prepare our bodies for the next.

So we awoke Monday morning for another day on the road.  The stops were largely not all that memorable as they were mostly just at various roadhouses for toilet stops and snacks, though one of them was home to a couple of blue-tongue lizards and a snake that people were able to hold and photograph.  The final stop of the day, however, was the most impressive for 2 reasons.  The first reason Mataranka is special is that it is home to thermal springs which are 34C - just like getting into a luke warm bath, and we eased our aching bodies there for an hour.  While we were in the water, the guide commented on how she’d seen a massive snake here before but has just seen it crawl under a rock.  I asked if the snaked were in the water and she assured me that they weren’t.  About 15 minutes later, Anya and Frank, who were also on our tour, called us all over to see the 4 metre long olive python they had just seen emerging from the water!  It was so large you couldn’t fit the whole thing into one photo - I’m not exaggerating; it really was 4 metres long, and I think it must have been well-off for food too as it was really quite fat.  I didn’t get too close.

The second night was spent at another more remote campsite and we just played a couple of games around the fire before heading to bed.

Day 3 involved the least travelling, though we were still on the road for hours in the afternoon, the morning was spent at the beautiful Katherine Gorge.  We hiked up to a lookout to look down onto the river and were just about to descend to get into our canoes when our guide shouted ‘fucking hell, look at that crocodile; it’s fucking massive’.  And she wasn’t winding us up!  Having assured us that the river had been scanned for crocs and was considered to be croc free, there was an enormous croc in the water.  We were told by the canoe hire booth that it would only be a fresh water crocodile, therefore we didn’t need to worry about it but that they can still give a nasty bite so if we were to see one while we were on the water we shouldn’t get too close (and I’d planned to go up and pet it on the head!)  The canoeing took about 2 hours as we meandered through one section of the gorge and it was certainly a lovely way to spend a morning.

  

We then journeyed on to Edith falls where we stopped for a picnic lunch before we headed down to the water.  This place really is idyllic.  The water tumbles down from the rocks at one end of a large pool surrounded by lush greenery, then a river meanders off from the other end.  I swam the distance of the pool over to the waterfall and the force of the water there was much stronger than the size of the fall suggested it would be.  By this point, the weather had really hotted up so the cool water was exteremely refreshing.

We finally arrived in Darwin yesterday evening and we’re off to Kakadu and Litchfield National Parks in the morning for another 3 days.  We’ve used our day off today to sort out wht we’ll be doing next as, unfortunately, my allergies haven’t cleared up sufficiently for me to go on the diving trip so our final destination in Australia is going to be Perth and its surrounds.  We’ll be heading there on the morning of the 18th and will have a week there before we have to go back to Sydney for the final time.  We’ll write again once we’re there as we won’t get the chance to do so before we leave Darwin.  As ever, the photos are there for you to look at on the link.

Yes once again im an unemployed traveller and its great. Currently sat in an internet cafe in Alice Springs after returning from a three day tour of the area and it was amazing.

Tour started four days ago at the stupid hour of quarter to six in the morning when we were picked up by our tour guide Tony, who was the spitting image of one of ZZ top, with a huge long beard and cowboy hat he really did look the part.

The tour we decided on was called Wayoutback which specialised in a smaller tour and getting off the beaten track and staying away from the other tours as much as possible. So after we had picked up the rest of tour (Heather, Clare and Ros (teachers from england, cant get away from them!), Chantelle and Kym (who were in town for work), Regina and Michael (brother and sister from Germany) and Tehila (girl from Israel who had given up on Aussies getting her name right and had changed it to Tequila or Jess!) we were on our way to Uluru. The fact that we were in a small group was really good as everyone got to know each other well and meant that we were in a small 4 x 4 bus so we could really get off road.

 Now many people think that Uluru is next door to Alice Springs, eh no! Its 500km away, a huge distance and this set the scene for the tour. Lots of driving through some of the most amazing terrain I have seen. Now the outback is one of the most awe inspriring places ever. As we flew in by plane you realise the stories are true, there is nothing but hundreds of miles of the most inhospitible terrain, tough bushs, dead trees and bright orange sand as far as you can see in any direction.

We travelled for hours through the terrain stopping a few times along the way. The first time was in a camel farm. Now I have always associated camels with the Arabic countries but Australia has a huge amount of both wild and domestic camels. Chantelle and Kym went for a camel ride around the paddock and screamed alot after being told “what ever you do dont scream”. The really are massive things camels so I kept my feet on the floor, that and the fact I was starving and my stomach won out!

Now the thing about our guide was he was not the usual type of hypoactive guide but very quiet. When promted he had a huge amount of info but seemed embarrased to know it and share it. It was strange at first but over a few days I grew to like this and it made for  a relaxing tour, however I never worked out why we were late everywhere, we would go from being on time to hours late and we couldnt work out why!

Second stop before Uluru was to collect firewood. After hurtling off the road and across the outback we found oursleves in litterally the middle of knowhere. Every direction we looked was nothing and its quite a spooky feeling. There are loads of old trees that are dead and our task was to basically to rip them down and collect wood. Feeling a bit bad it was explained that while it feels destructive it actually aids as the smaller branchs are left and help hold the fragile soil together.

After another hour or so travelling we saw what we thought was Uluru, getting all excitied we flew past it and after asking were told it was mount conner, an amazing looking tabletop mountain that if it wasnt for the others would be famous but as such its relegated to relative obscuruty. Around the corner (well 80km around the corner) and we finally got our first glimpse of Uluru. Words can not really describe the place, its massive and the fact 7km of it is below the surface shows how massive a rock it really is. The colours are stunning, a rich orange starkly shown against a brilliant blue sky makes it stand out and you can see why the Aborigines belive it has a spirutal significance.

We spent the rest of the day wandering around the base, taking in the ever changing colours and shapes and exploring the nooks and crevices. Its a stunning place. After a few hours it was back on the bus and over to a sandune to see sunset. The colours change as the sun goes down and the rock burns orange before fading to black. The sunset was amazing and i have never seen such vivid colours. (check out the photo link on the side of this page) After the sunset and we had enjoyed sparkling wine and nibbles we headed back to the roaring campfire for dinner before crawling into our swags (canvas sleeping bags) and falling asleep under millions of stars. Vivs place in France is amazing for stars but this takes it to the next level.

Morning mean we jumped up and headed out to the lookout to watch the sunrise before we headed to Kata Tjuta. Kata Tjuta is a very spiritual place for the indigionous people and as such they allow no commercial photography and we had never seen it before arriving (Unlike uluru). Made of 36 sandstone domes we took a fantstic walk through the centre and it was stunning. Lins prefered it to Uluru. I think uluru is more impressive from a distance as you can take it all in, Kata Tjuta is better close up and there both really special

After our walk we headed to the cultural centre at Uluru and leant a bit about the area. The whole area is deeply religious for the Aboriginal people and it highlights why. Its still shocking how people think they have a right to climb the rock. As is said in alot of books you wouldnt jump on the alter of a church or walk through a mosque at prayer time so why is it ok to walk a sacred path that signifies entrance into manhood for a people.

 While we didnt learn enough about the people what we did learn is they have had a horrific life since the white folk got here and we should hang our heads in shame. Finally they are getting land back and getting the rights they deserve but looking at the western influence on their society and the devastating effects of oppresion, alcohol, drugs and even petrol sniffing you can not help but think to little to late.

After this visit we went on another trip towards kings canyon. Again we stopped along the way to collect firewood and saw wild kangaroos and ants that form nests with plants around the edges to stop rain entering which I thought was really clever. The camp site we stopped at on the second night was 5km from civilistaion so we all felt really isolated as we drifted off.

The final day saw us head to kings canyon. Kings canyon is a little diffrent as it wasnt really part of the culture of the people but is massivly impressive. Huge blocks of stone in amazing patterns combine with hundred metres drops and deep crevaces. The whole area is again stunning and the tour goes down as one of the most memorable we have done.

 After a massive drive back to Alice, Lins and I were glad to crawl into a none sandy bed and after a few beers with the tour group we passed out. Today was our one day to sort things about before we set off on a six day tour to darwin and kakado national park so unless we are eatten by crocs expect a blog entry in a week! Plans after that depend on Lins alergies. If their good then we will be diving again in Cairns, if there bad I think were going to try and book a cultural tour from darwin to try and understand the Aboriginal life a bit more.

Sorry its a monster updated but there are plenty of photos if you want the pictoral highlights. Hope everyone is well and its now not that long till we get back! Boooooo

Well ive finshed work, were packing up and on Tuesday were off on our travels again. I can not wait, this last couple of weeks has involved some very long hours and im in need of a nice relaxing three month miander home.

Left work yesterday and had mixed feelings, wont be sad to see the back of the job as it was a nightmare but will miss the people there. Everyone is a really good laugh and I will miss the friday beer in the office when i get back home (think England should relax and encorage it!) Before I left I got some inside knowlege from Nilesh and Luxon on New Zealand and Fiji. Not sure, try the local 58% rum in Fiji is the best advice ive ever recived but why not!

 Went out last night for mine and Jonesys leaving do and am still suffering now at twenty to nine at night. I finally crawled into bed at about three after a pub crawl down Oxford street and am feeling it really badley. Im getting old I think!

 Tuesday we head to Uluru which I cant wait for, it will be fantastic and we finally have our return to England date of the 2nd August but this may be subject to change depending on how I get on gambling our savings in Vegas!

 Can not belive that everything is moving so fast, can still remember boarding the plane to India.

It’s been another month since either of us wrote anything and Stu is nagging again (though, as he went to the trouble of setting this blog up for us and sorting out all our problems with it, I guess he has the right to moan when we don’t use it!) so I’m here to give a quick update, though there’s only so much to say…

 I finished work last Tuesday and last Friday - as I’ve been working 2 jobs I got double the thanks in speeches and double the pressies!  I really had a great experience at both schools and they will certainly stand me in good stead for the return to work in September.  That said, I’ve now got another 4 months off so I may be well out of the habit again by the time September comes around.  As you can probably tell from that, we have decided, after much deliberation, that we are going to return to Blighty in August as was originally planned and make full use of our round-the-world ticket (more on that in a minute).  I was sad to leave both jobs but it’s good to know that there’s 2 offers of work available if (when?!) we decide to return to Sydney.

As for Rich, he’s got another 3 weeks in the working world before his holidays begin again (the start of the school holidays meant that I had to finish earlier than him).  His company have also been pretty impressed with him and would like him to stay in Oz to keep working for them, but we’ve realised the whole idea of just not coming home is really rather impracticle!  He’s working extremely long hours at the moment trying to get finished the stuff he has started before we head off on the next leg our trip so I’m just hanging around Sydney on my own again like I was in January.  Still, he is paid by the hour!

I have taken the spare time as an opportunity to do something I’ve wanted to do since going on my Uncle’s boat in Canada when I was considerably younger than I am now - I’m learning to sail - Thanks to mum and dad for the lessons which they bought me as a birthday present, and yes, for the next birhday “I want a yacht, daddy!”  I had my first lesson on Saturday when the weather was beautiful.  Unfortunately, beautiful weather often isn’t accompanied by strong winds and we had to spend the morning covering theory and knots - I do a mean reef and an even better bowline, though the others now seem to have slipped my mind and will probably slip from the ropes when I attempt them again in the next lesson.  In the afternoon, after lunch on the boat, we got out on the water and started to really sail.  We were gybeing and tacking (good - these are ways to turn the boat to catch the wind) and skirting (bad - this is when the sail gets caught up) and by the end of the 6 hours, I had a fairly sound idea of what to do when manning my rope - I’m not sure how i’ll cope if they put me on a different rope though.  We also learnt to anchor and some of the directional and technical terms but I think I need to do some more reading on some of these as I was left a bit confused by the whole idea of who has right of way and why.

 Rich has continued with his photography course over the past 5 weeks and tonight is the student show so we’ll be going along to that to see everyone’s work - he seems to have really enjoyed it and continues to drive me mad with wanting to stop to take photos everywhere we go.  I’m sure this will only get worse once we hit the new sights of the Outback and New Zealand.

Which brings me on to the next part of our adventure…  We will be leaving Sydney on the 6th May and flying to Alice Springs.  From here we plan to take a short tour around Uluru - we’ve found a company that looks as though it goes the extra mile out of the way to get away from the crowds a bit in the outback as well as covering the major sites in the area.  They also seem more concerned with the Aboriginal connections to the land and include talks from the local custodians of the land at a couple of the sites we will visit.  Then we’ll take a tour up from Alice Springs to Darwin over the course of 6 days.  This includes a tour of Kakadu National Park.

 The following week is entirely dependent on my bloody allergies and whether they’ve cleared up - I have been seeing a specialist to treat the allergies and have even been to a Chinese herbalist and am drinking the foulest concoction you could possible imagine three times a day to try to deal with the trouble my lungs and sinuses are giving me - why, you may ask, am I putting myself through this and spending extortionate amounts of my travel budget on it?  Well, it’s because I still plan to dive the Great Barrier Reef before I come home.  I hope that, after all this treatment and a couple of weeks out of Sydney, my boy will have recovered sufficiently fo me to be able to dive again.  If it has, we’ll be going back to Cairns; if it hasn’t I’ll be very despondent and will either hang around in Darwin for a week or so, come back to Sydney for a bit, or head over to the West for a week - perhaps to Perth.

And that will be the end of the Aussie stint of our trip - a very scary thought - and we will be on the return leg.  We’ll be spending a month or so in New Zealand, a week or so in Fiji then whatever time we’ve got left in the States.  We’ll let you know more when we know it.  

Hopefully, like the deer the python ate on ‘Life in Cold Blood’,  this has satisfied your hunger and will keep you going for 3 weeks when we will, obviously, have far more to say and will be updating far more regularly as out lives will (hopefully) once again be filled with back to back adventures!Â

Hey everyone and happy Easter, hope your all well and yes I am doing a blog entry before I get harassed. So since the last blog entry we have really been doing more of the same, working allot and going out a bit. Really just living life in Sydney. It’s a really nice place and could happily live here. Its allot more chilled out than London and everyone is really friendly though I think that’s an Australian thing more than anything. Anyway this weekend saw Lins and I get back into the traveling vibe. As it was the long Easter weekend we decided to use this as an excuse to go and visit the blue mountains which lie about 110km outside Sydney CBD.Rather than mountains they are a series of huge impassable cliff faces and valleys covering a million hectares. They originally posed a huge problem for settlers who could not find a way across them and many died trying. If they had just listened to the Aborigines instead of trying to wipe them out they would have got across a lot sooner as they had been strolling across for hundreds of years! To get an idea how vast the Blue Mountains are, even though it’s a short journey from Sydney there are still loads of areas unvisited by humans as it’s so inhospitable.Getting up early on Saturday Lins and I took the train west to Katoomba, the heart of the Blue Mountains. It’s a small town which basically thrives off the tourist trade with an influx of cafes and hiking shops but pleasant. While the town was pleasant the weather was not. Pick up a piece of white A4 and stare at it and you get some idea of the fog and rain that greeted us when we stepped off the train!!.Not people to be defeated by the weather we checked into our hotel (think shining, I swear at one point Jack Nicholson ran past me after two twins!) which despite first looks was actually quite cozy. Then armed with a guide we booked onto a bus that tours the area stopping at all the major sites. After a lovely meal in a nice cafe we headed out to one of the walks. We decided that the cable car and train was pointless in the fog and we would give it time to clear. The walk was only about 2.5 km but really nice, despite the rain lashing down. It followed the valley and tracked past waterfalls on lookouts. On a clearer day I’m sure the view would have been amazing but below is the view that greeted us 
After an hour’s walking we caught the bus again and headed to the edge cinema which has one of the largest cinema screens in the world. Here we watched a film about the world’s rarest tree. A number of years ago a botanist had been walking in a remote area of the park and stopping realized that he was next to a tree that dated back 60 million years. Thought to be extinct, when they were around we were the equivalent of mice!! Yet here this frankly bizarre tree was, 1 hour’s helicopter flight from Sydney. Standing at 30m tall it was not subtle but so remote that it lay undiscovered for all these years. Its location is now a closely guarded secret but gets you wondering what else is out there that we have never seen!After more eating in a nice cafe (and I wonder why I’m putting on weight) we retired with fingers crossed that the next day would be better. Waking in the morning the fog had lifted a bit and showed potential for the rest of the day. We jumped on the first bus and walked to Luma falls, the waterfall is 200m straight down and spectacular despite only getting glimpses of it. Following the track round we arrived at scenic world. This place houses the world’s steepest railway, now when they say it’s steep there not kidding. 52 degrees and around 250m down it’s like riding a roller coaster, its great fun. It descends through natural valleys and rock faces and I we wanted to ride it again!!To get back out of the valley you catch a skyrail back up (short cable car), on the way up for 50 secs then fog lifted and we saw across the valley at the breathtaking views then in an instant it was gone again! After the skyrail there is another cable car that stretches all the way across the valley with a glass floor which would have been better if it had not been for the solid fog though we did catch an up close view of the falls again.Time was now running out and we were starting to get a little annoyed that all we could see was fog. We stopped in the small town of Lura which appears to be the gourmet capital of Australia, everything is gourmet which in my opinion means all the food is the same level and not gourmet at all. After eating a distinctly none gourmet chicken Turkish we made a last effort to see the famous site of the three sisters. The three sisters were apparently girls from an aboriginal tribe that were turned to stone by a witch doctor. Have to say they were very big girls! Walking down to the view point via the blue mountain chocolate shop (mmmmmm, again getting fat!) a miracle occurred, the fog had lifted and for ten minutes before the bus to the train station we got to see the stunning views across the valley.  Despite the fog and the rain we had a great time and I think we appreciated it more because we only got a glimpse. Well better go now, do not want to spend all my time on a computer on my day off! Currently planning our return date and will advise shortly!! Can not believe we have been travelling 225 days. The time is flying past at a stupid rate! Booooo

So, I’ve got your attention with that title!  Well, that is just one of the many poetic phrases I now hear on an almost daily basis.  Others include ‘You F@#%ing bitching f@#%ing c#*ting bitch’, ‘F@#% you!’, ‘Suck my cock!’, and ‘Kiss my arse!’  And that’s all before the bell goes.  It’s not personal.  Apparently!

I’m mostly working as a drama teacher but the role does vary from day to day.  A couple of weeks ago, I was asked to cover a class for the day.  The testosterone in the class of 4 boys was clearly raging and 2 of the boys began to ask what you may call ‘inappropriate questions’.  It began with ‘Miss, do you wear a bra?’, moved on swiftly to ‘But howcome your boobs are so big if you wear a bra?’ and descended from then on to ‘Were you attractive when you were younger?!’  Having answered all these one way or another, and refusing to be shocked, they then asked ‘Miss, do you finger yourself?’  I pointed out they’d gone too far.  One of the boys then spent the rest of the afternoon with his eyes fixated firmly on my chest.  He really couldn’t avert his gaze.  I told him that I needed to speak to him and explained that his behaviour could be construed as sexual harassment and that he really ought to be careful in the future (using far less complex vocabulary than that, of course).  He seemed suitably chastised and settled to do some work.  A few minutes later he said ‘Miss, I know you said we wouldn’t speak about it any more because you’ve dealt with it but how is it harassment if I’m not touching - I thought it was only if you touched someone.’  Again, I duly gave an explanation.  This was shortly followed by ‘Miss, I know we’re not meant to keep talking about it, but it’s just that we think you’re attractive’!  I pointed out that, although it was very nice of him to say so, as he is half my age (he had found out earlier that day that I was not the 19 years old he thought I was), and as I’m his teacher and he’s my pupil, it really isn’t appropriate.  Aaaah, bless.  And so the day ended…

Not personal though!

Yesterday I got punched in the hands twice.  Today I got punched in the arm and spat at.  Also not personal.  Apparently!

Actually, it genuinely isn’t personal.  The principals of both schools generally receive the same torrent of abuse and questioning as us mere mortal class teachers.  Some of these kids just have no idea of what’s appropriate and what’s not; others behave like that for effect.  Of course, after a few days and the realisation that this is just the norm in schools for kids with emotional disturbances, behavioural difficulties and mild intellectual disbilities, all impact of these words has become completely lost on me and, therefore, those who are using them for effect are, in fact, having completely the opposite effect from the one they’re aiming for. 

 That said, I am enjoying the work, believe it or not!  I have spent a lot of time in Croydon working with kids who struggle to control their emotions and this bunch are just a few rungs up the ladder.  They are certainly challenging but most of them do have a much more endearing side and the breakthroughs, when they come, are all the more rewarding as a result.  The staff at both schools are generally very supportive and I have met some great people who are also putting themselves voluntarily through the same daily routine. 

And, I finish ridiculously early every day.  The other day, one of the permanent staff saw me doing some work after school and said ‘Are you still here?’

‘Yes,’ I replied. ‘It’s only 3.20.’

‘But you’re only a casual.’

‘Yes,’ I said once again, ‘But it’s only twenty past three.’

He was genuinely surprised that I was still in the building 20 minutes after the bell had gone.  Crazy. 

 Other than work, I don’t have very much to write about.  We’ve had a few good nights out and it’s been great to see people as they’ve been passing through Sydney - Mel, who we met in India was here for a few short days and Emma Newton managed to get a trip here for a one night stop-over with work and it’s been great catching up with people.  We’ve also had to say quite  a few goodbyes over the past couple of weeks as nearly everyone we met here during our time in the hostels in Sydney in October and January have now, unfortunately, moved on to pastures new. 

Oh, and I bought a keyboard - impulse buy when we popped into a music shop.  I began to play the $22,000 digital grand in the showroom, but settled for a significantly cheaper Yamaha 5 octave keyboard!  With all this extra time on my hands from coming home from work so early, I thought I could use it to spend my time a bit more constructively than watching the myriad of reality TV shows on Australian telly.  I plan to have mastered the moonlight sonata by the time I leave Sydney - though there aren’t quite enough keys on the keyboard for me to play the whole piece acurately!

Well, we’re sorry we haven’t been updating things very regularly but, as you can see, we’re pretty much leading the same lives as we would if we were home - working by day, TV, DVDs and a few nights out in the evenings and at weekends - we’re just doing it on the other side of the world.  Hope you’re all well.  xxx

Hi all, once again I’m getting stick and have been harangued into updating the blog. Yes we are rubbish! Well what the hell have you been doing when you disappear without a trace for weeks? Well in a word working. I’m currently putting in around 50hrs+ a week with my job and really enjoying being there. Work is good and there is a really good social scene and some good people there. Lins is currently as mentioned before, working in two challenging schools with some very difficult kids. I kind of imagine it like dangerous minds. Every day she gets sworn at, spat at or asked some inappropriate question. One of my favorites to date is “miss, were you attractive when you were younger”. Charming little souls aren’t they! Despite that she seems to be getting on really well and sounds like she has made some good friends but ill harass her to write a blog entry which does justice to the challenges of the delightful little rapscallions! Since our last blog update we have been out quite a lot. Sydney has a great night life and we have been making the most of it. We have met up with loads of people that we have met travelling and the other week finally managed to get round to meeting up with Katie Shepherd. They sound like there having a great time as well, especially as they have been knocking back lemon bitters and not realizing there alcoholic! We have managed to go diving once since the New Year to a place called bare island which is where they filmed the ending to mission impossible II. Think I’ve been spoilt with the Great Barrier Reef because it’s a bit murky and a little bit lacking in fish life on the two dives we did. We did have one huge grouper follow us for the dive. Apparently they wait for divers to pick up sea urchins so they can attack the underneath and devour them. Did not actually do this as felt a bit like it’s unfair on the poor urchin! The day we picked to go diving was lashing it down with rain. Very funny scene when wet already from the first dive we sat in the pouring rain and ate a picnic in our wetsuits! The Other night I was roped into taking part in an 11 aside football match (or soccer as they wrongly insist on calling it out here). Now anyone who remotely knows me knows I’m awful at football. I told them this at work but would they listen Noooooooooooooooooooooo.The day came and the boots I was promised did not turn up, did this get me out of it, nope. I was bought a cheap pair and the game was on! Now I have not had to wear football boots since school the fact I didn’t get my studs caught and break my ankle in the warm up was a good sign. I wisely was started on the bench.Just a brief aside about football in Australia, the half time beverages were light beer. No water, no Gatorade but light beer because full strength would be bad for us! It was a high class affair. Our team had some good players and after the first third (3 x 30mins) we were 3-0 to the good but had lost one guy to an ankle injury. (Did my physio bit sprinting on with a bag of ice, taken from the esky full of bottle tops!)  Start of the second period on I went on the left wing. Now don’t get me wrong I was awful but I was not as bad as I feared. First touch I went in for a ball on the edge of our box and with a slight nudge (read thundering shoulder barge) sent him sprawling across the ground whilst reliving him of the ball. I wont repeat what he said to me but it would have made a sailor blush! They managed to get two goals back in this period (think I did have an impact on the game!!) so it set up a tense third!The third section was a defensive battle, we all got stuck in with lots of tracking back and one great sliding tackle by me (I think its the best feeling in the world when it comes off) and we hung on for a tight win! Think Coventry could have learnt a lot.  Have to say football is as exhausting as I remember it, its a killer! Got another game in two weeks and may have ago again! To keep ourselves entertained in the evenings Lins has bought herself a cheap keyboard and is frantically playing piano now. She will be as good as Joules in no time. I have signed up for another photography course so I’m busy practicing with the camera and trying to be artistic! Check out flickr link on our blog to see the results! Anyway, better go. I’m having a DVD night tonight after I drank way to much last night and Lins is off to her friend’s house for a party.  I will get Lins to write an update tomorrow, hope everyone is well and speak to you all soon

Hi everyone. As it has been pointed out by a few people that we are being rubbish at the moment with keeping the blog up to date, to appease everyone, thought I’d better spend this lovely sunny Sydney afternoon sat in front of a computer screen so, here goes!

 Since new year things  have become more settled for myself and Lins. Gone are the days of randomly doing what we want when we want and the ugly word “job” has reared its head! Before we came away we decided that part of this trip we would work abroad to get a bit of experience. Lins especially was keen to experience working in schools to appreciate the differences.

 After speaking to recruitment agents (one of my favorite pastimes….bit of sarcasm there for you, those that have missed my humour) I managed to get two interviews which somehow, after five months of not using my brain ,I managed to do ok in and got two offers. One company was a developer and the other a main contractor. I quickly realised I’m not up to being a PQS (don’t own a tweed jacket with leather arm patches for a start!) so I took the job with the main contractor. It’s in the delightful suburb known as Blacktown where the company is renovating an old 70s style shopping centre.

 To get a picture of Blacktown, picture this. At the moment there are adverts for a programme on Australian TV called the Biggest Loser where overweight people compete to turn around there lives and the one who loses the most weight wins. As part of these they keep reporting that 49% of Australians are overweight. Now, after living in Sydney for a while and visiting Bondi and Coogee beaches, it has become apparent that everyone seems to be toned and tanned. The other day in a pub we discussed where they were, this 49%. I can happily report that I located them in Blacktown shopping centre food court. I have never seen so many chronically obese people in my life. Not just slighty let themselves go, we’re talking massive. I shared the lift with one fellow who was so massive that he had to turn sideways to get out the doors.

 Its hardly suprising that people are so large as the food court is entirely made up of Macdonalds, KFC and other junk chains. People there are really friendly but it’s quite a poor place and a stark contrast to the beauty of the CBD and the beaches.

 Work wise, the job is great. I work with a real mix of  people at work and everyone is friendly and good fun. Long hours are expected but as I get paid by the hour it suits me well! (lots of beer money and travelling fund can be topped back up!) Currently im working 7.15 to 6 with 15 min lunch break but after months of traveling its nice to use my brain again and get stuck into a challenge. However my body is not used to getting thrown out of bed at six so I’m like a walking zombie in the evenings. As the days have gone on it’s getting easier! There is also a thriving social life after work and everyone is up for a few beers on a Friday which is cool.

One thing I have noticed is that Australians hate commuting. I have a short hop of 40mins in the morning which, after years of working in London is a breeze, but Australians think this is a nightmare and everyone who I tell how far I come is shocked I have a job so far away!

Enough about me anyway. Lins has also had luck in the job hunting front. After attending one interview she got a job running drama in a small school for children with behavioural problems, emotional problems (e.g little terrors) or mild intellectual disabilities. There are about 50 kids in the whole school and the day starts at nine and finshes at 2.15. There are 2 brand new buildings, plenty of free periods, support in every class, classes of 4-5 pupils, an adapted curriculum etc. She cannot wait. This job is for three days a week, so having settled for temping for the other two, out the blue, another school phoned her on the recommendation of the first interviewer and offered her a job for the other two days without even meeting her! So fingers crossed she has fallen on her feet and starts on Tuesday so she will no doubt update everyone as to how it’s going then.

In the interim we have got ourselves a flat to stay in. Located 4 mins walk from the main station it’s a lovely place where we have a big room and en suite bathroom and share the whole flat with four other people who all seem really friendly. The place has its own gym and a swimming pool so Lins did really well sorting that out while I was working. I spent one day flat hunting on a weekend and was ready to go to the pub after 10mins!

Before the jobs started we filled our time in a number of ways. Lins has finally been able to take and pass her advanced open water diving course, diving around Sydney so she’s really happy and shes keen to take things further and is looking to do her rescue diver course next - but she keeps getting colds and having to postpone dives so she’s struggling to make up the number of dives necessary - give it time though - she’s determined to do it before leaving Sydney. That’s too much swimming for my liking!!

While Lins was diving, I took a photography course for a couple of days to keep myself busy. Was run by a guy called Andrew who was a great tutor. He’s really artistic but chaotic and I learnt loads about portrait photography and using a camera properly. As such I have treated myself to a digital SLR camera so check out flickr in the comming months to see how I’m getting on with that!

Last week we went to see a performance at the Opera House - we decided against opera as Lins really doesn’t like the music and, even though we both thought it’s something we should probably make the effort to see at the Opera House, we figured it could be a big waste of money if we found ourselves hating it after a few minutes so, instead we went with Mags (the Northerner we met in India) to see Le Grand Cirque -  I haven’t see Cirque de Soleil, but I think it’s of a similar vein.  It was truly spectacular.  Lins commented that she had never said ‘Bloody Hell’ as many times in such a short space of time, Mags said the same of ‘Fucking Hell’ but had to try to refrain from continuing to do so as we had a little kid in front of us, but there was good reason for all the swearing.  The acts that these performers were displaying were just jaw-dropping.  There was a group of lads who climbed poles that must have been 10 metres high, turned themselves upside-down, gripped with their feet, let go, slid down the pole in less than 2 seconds flat and managed to grip again to stop themselves once their head was just a few centimetres from the stage floor: incredible.  There were also a number of acts displaying flexibility that absolutely defies the nature of human movement and there was plenty of comedy to boot.  There were also a couple of sharp intakes of breath during the finale as one man, blindfolded, on top of a wheel spinning 15 metres in the air, came very close to falling off - and it clearly wasn’t staged to make it appear more dangerous than it was - he looked really shaken up and the host came running on the stage as if to have to rescue him!  Fortunately, he managed to recover his footing just in the nick of time and whip off the blindfold so he could stabilise himself.

The other day we went out to test my new photographic purchase at the botanical gardens and saw the weirdest thing I have ever seen. Turning a corner Lins noticed a huntsman spider sitting on a leaf apparently after a wasp. We stood to watch and quickly realised it was the other way around. The tiny little red wasp (called a spider wasp) shot in and stung the spider, approximately four times its size and it plummeted to the ground. The wasp then dragegd it off and apparently will lay eggs on the still alive body for its young to eat when they hatch. Amazing to watch but nature at it most brutal. Anyway I managed to capture some photos so check this out!

On a more light hearted note, yesterday was Australia Day here (and I suppose everywhere else for Aussies!). After working in the morning (yes saturday, shocking!) we walked up to the harbour with Mags and Jason (a guy from Korea we shared a room with before the flat) and watched a tall ship race which was great - huge old boats with flowing sails racing accross the harbour. Lins nearly dropped her camera in the harbour when one of the ship fired its cannons! Really entertaining.

After that we wandered around the various free music events in the rocks (sort of like Brighton Lanes type area). Saw a couple of great acts, one was Ashley Mannix who had an amazing voice and deserves to do really well (look her up) and a band called Old Man River who were also excellent. The atmosphere was amazing with everyone wrapped in flags having a great time. Even as a pom I really enjoyed it.

 After the music we headed to Darling Harbour where we had a ride on a big ferris wheel which gave good views over the city. Here we met up with Scott and Emma who are another couple from Gurnsey we’d shared our last dorm room with, and went to watch the main event. Now I’m prepared for a bit of gushing sentiment on days like this about how good the place is but my god, it went on and on and got more sickly and cheesy as it went on. It was a relief at nine oclock when they stopped with the rubbish and the music started up. Then (as they’re particuarly good at in Australia)  a massive fireworks display commenced, set to music. It was brilliant and more than made up for the half an hour of torturous messages we had sat through before hand. Unlike new year the display was a lot more low key (i.e no massive rockets) but the choreographed smaller rocket and bursts of colour were amazing and made the evening.

 So that brings us up to date. From now on we are going to make more of an effort to update the blog at least every other week to let everyone know how city living in sydney is and our various adventures, but in the meantime carry on checking out our photos page to see my new hobby (which is driving Lins mad already! She’s just jealous because my camera keeps blocking her photo oppertunities because she’s little!). Hope this finds everyone well, take care and do not get too cold in the English winter. If it makes you feel better its only 29 here today!

As the title says, happy new year all, had a busy last week or so with Christmas, my birthday and new year (yep all over for another year!).

After returning to Sydney yet again (spend half our life flying into this place ). Christmas has been a proper family affair with my Mum, Lins’ parents and her brother and his  girlfriend all making it out to Sydney. Made for a great time and really good to see everyone again and we have done loads.

Christmas was spent over in the apartment they rented out. Viv made a sterling effort with Chritsmas dinner and we were all stuffed.  We had briefly entertained the idea of a BBQ on the beach but with Sydney weather as changable as ours we opted for a safer dinner inside and a walk from Bondi to Bronte - we made sure we all stepped on to the sand at Bronte bech just so we could say we had been on the beach on Christmas day! Just as well we went for the roast dinner option as it turned out to be the coldest Christmas in Sydney for a decade - there were a few grumbles from the parents that this was meant to be their Summer holiday but it has been significantly warmer since so neither we nor they can really complain.

 On our previous visits to Sydney we had decided against covering the tourist trail as we knew we would be doing most of the main sights when the parents got here, so the last week has been spent seeing much of what Sydney has to offer its tourists.   We visited the Sydney Aquarium which was great with huge walk through tunnels with seals and sharks (not together!!)  Lindsey was able to enjoy seeing the fish she’d missed out on on the Great Barrier Reef!  We also went up the Sky Tower - the tallest building in Sydney, that gives spectaculat views of every bit of the city from its 360 degree viewing platform.  Other visits included the Opera House tour - it really is an amazing building but the architect sounded like an absolute arse, asking people to work more slowly when polishing concrete to make sure the finish is just right!  Our guide, Neville, kept referring to the architect as a “visionary…inspirational… a poet.”  Rich, on the other hand, couldn’t believe that the man had won awards for a building that took 13 years longer than it should have done to build and whose costs were never ending.  Carol (Richie’s mum) discovered that the wildlife photographer of the year exhibition was on at the natural history museum - Rich and I have been every year for the past few years and my parents have been going annually for as long as I can remember - we all thought that we were going to miss it this year so this was a really good find for us all.  As usual, the exhibition was outstanding - the pictures these photographers capture of animals and their behaviours are absolutely awesome. My parents, Rich and his mum all went to Wildlife World for an afternoon after the exhibition but I decided I’d had enough of wildlife parks that offered to touch a koala, feed a kangaroo etc. so I gave that one a miss.  However, they did also have a display of the dangerous spiders at this place so Rich is now in a position to recognise when a red back or funnelweb are approaching him on a killer attack and I remain blissfully ignorant!

You may have worked out by now that Rich started this entry and Lins ahs taken over - not, as some of you might think, because I am bossy and controlling and like to edit the work for correct grammar and spelling (though those things are all true) but because Rich said that he couldn’t find anything to say that was interesting - he must have forgotten that we saw the new year in with one of the most spectacular fireworks displays in the world.  We got up bright and early on New Year’s Eve to get over to the city in time to have breakfast and head over to the Botanical Gardens to find ourselves a spot for the display.  We had been warned that it was necessary to get there early so we headed along to Mrs Macquarie’s Chair (A peninsular of Sydney Harbour and part of the gardens) at 11.30.  We trudged to the back of a very long queue and began our waiting.  In fact, the queue moved very quickly but we still didn’t enter the gardens until 1 o’clock.  There was just one shady spot left which we jumped into pretty quickly as there were still a good 7 hours of blazing sunshine hours to get through before sunset and 11 hours to kill in total before the big event.  Unfortunately, the spot didn’t stay shady for long as the sun moved around the tree and so we figured, if we were going to get hot and bothered anyway we may as well move to a spot where the view of the bridge was better.  This we did, and conveniently, it was close to an extremely shady area with a breeze that nobody had noticed as it was behind the toilet cubicles so we were able to take turns wandering off there when we got too hot. 

There are 2 displays in Sydney - one at 9 o’clock for the kids and another at midnight.  The scale of these displays is simply unimaginable.  The organisers have co-ordinated things in such a way that the same fireworks are exploding all along the waterline from various harbours around the city. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a great view of any of the 3 sites we could see though as we had positioned ourselves so that we could see the bridge, which wasn’t used during this display. Still, we watched the colours and patterns we could see with wonder.

Then, 3 hours more of waiting were in store. There was a boat display to help kill the time and, while Mags and I were wandering to get a better view of the boats, we noticed that the perfect spot for viewing the midnight display had been vacated so we quickly summoned the others to come and join us. We were on a gradient, therefore, we were above much of the crowd so our height didn’t matter. To top it all off, we had a view of the whole of the bridge and the opera house, framed by the branches of the tree we were under. You could feel the excitement mounting as the hour approached as the corwd began to sing and the noise level generally rose a decibel or two. The giant light egg timer on the bridge was counting the time in 5 minute intervals and as the final ‘grain of sand’ dropped the bridge exploded into an array of colour. The next 12 minutes were just breath-taking. The bridge formed the centre-piece of the display and, once again, there were simulatneous skyline displays all along the horizon in every direction. The noises and colours were beyond description. The final minute or so saw the bridge showering white light into the river below and saw it shooting rockets off into the sky in all directions. Just incredible. Absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt, it was worth the 13 hour wait!

So, that’s about everything up to date once again. Since New Year, we have largely been looking into work and accommodation for the next few months so nothing of any real interest to anyone else - we just have to hope we can actually get jobs now - there’s not much happening on the teaching front as it’s the holidays so it’s hard to judge how much work I’m likely to get. Rich, on the other hand, has had a couple of promising conversations with recruitment consultants but the building industry is also on holiday until Monday so we’ll have to see after that.