G’Day. We have finally finished teaching! No more work for 7 months! We have actually had a really good time teaching and we have learnt a lot. We worked for 8 weeks in total. Lins had 3 weeks at one primary school, 2 at another (lovely), 1 at a different school (same school that Dave was at for 6 weeks) and 2 weeks doing odd days at schools. Dave had 6 weeks at one school and 2 weeks at different schools each day. The blocks of work were at primary schools. It has been a great experience teaching abroad and also seeing what the primary aged kids get up to. All our schools (mainly slightly west of central Sydney) were very multicultural; the vast majority of the pupils (usually over 90%) were Korean, Chinese, SE Asian, Kiwi, Middle Eastern or ‘islanders’ (Cook Islands, Fiji etc). We did one day of child care in the school holidays, not our best experience.
Teaching in Oz has not differed too much to that in the UK. One main difference is that most of the primary schools teach split classes (e.g. Years 5 and 6 together). Also, most of the schools do not seem to care much what ‘casual’ teachers do. Often if we asked whether any work had been set or what topics or textbooks we could follow on with for continuity for the kids, the other teachers looked at us as if we were mad, and just said ‘do whatever’! We think that this was mainly a primary thing though. However, it has been interesting to use other school systems and curriculums. Another variation we have noticed in terms of the syllabuses is how much they teach their kids about state and federal governments and the environment in primary schools. They seem to do this really well; perhaps this, along with singing the National Anthem every week in assembly, is one of the reasons that most Aussie’s are so country proud. We were also quite surprised that the sport in public schools does not see that great compared to that in the UK. Perhaps we were expecting too much. One of the best things about teaching in primary schools was the free time they get on occasions, where we could play Monopoly and other games with the kids, not bad for a hard days work!
Most of the kids also use those ridiculously big bags, like you see on Home and Away. Quite different to our senior school kids that use handbags that can barley fit a pen and pencil in along with their make up. The kids themselves do not seem to be that dissimilar to those in the UK, the main difference is simply that a lot of them do not speak English very well.
The schools are more informal than those in the UK, for example, the dress code (or lack of one). A lot of teachers wear jeans, trainers and no ties, and the women often look as if they are going out on the town (really low tops, extremely tight jeans and high boots!). Quite strange.
In the school that Lins taught at for three weeks, 90% of the children were from China, Korea, or India. She got called Mr Chee Man by a little Vietnamese boy for a week until he finally clicked on what her name was. She also taught Michael Jackson for three weeks! It amazed us how some of the kids would speak half Chinese, half Korean and half rubbish, yet the other kids would somehow still understand most of what they said and be able to translate it to us! Lins did not like it very much at this school, they had really strange policies, such as parents being allowed to come into school at break and lunch and spoon-feed their children their food, literally. Lins also taught at a lovely private boys prep school for a day, really sweet kids that REALLY wanted to learn!
Here are some quotes from the lovely primary school that Lins was at for 2 weeks, which you would not usually hear in a typical secondary school in the UK: “Teacher, please can we have peace and quiet’, “Miss, please can we do some more learning”, “Miss, please can you tell my friend to stop talking to me so that I can work”! This was definitely the exception to the rule though.
At the primary school that Dave taught at for 6 weeks, the staff were really sound and the kids were not far off mini versions of Quilley kids! He was really sad to leave. They had a really good Aussie Rules football team and were crowned the AFL champions of all primary schools in NSW at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).
Whilst we were in Sydney, the kids were on holidays for 2 weeks, so we did loads of sightseeing. We loved Sydney so much. We did: the Oz tower (great views over the city; we had a really good view of the tower from the end of our road), climbed the harbour bridge at dusk and had a really great sunset when we were at the top, toured the Opera House and saw Burt Bacharach one evening on his farewell tour. We cruised around the harbour on a coffee cruise with lots of scrumptious blueberry muffins (now Lins’ favourite ahead of chocolate!), did a whale-watching trip (where 75% of the passengers were violently sick 30 minutes into the trip for the next 3 ½ hours; we were not sick thank goodness as we had learned our lesson form last time). We also went on a day trip to the Blue Mountains and did some beautiful walks, went to Star City, saw 2 short 3D films at the IMAX cinema (the largest screen in the world), saw some AFL and NRL (rugby league) games, comedy nights, watched Oz defeat S Africa at the Telstra Dome in the Tri Nations (unfortunately). We checked out all the markets, sunbathed and swum at Bondi beach and walked to Coogee beach, went to Manly and the Northern beaches (Freshwater and Curl Curl), Palm Beach (where they film Home and Away), went to Sydney aquarium and saw the Kaiser Chiefs play in concert for our third year wedding anniversary. We think our favourite place was probably Darling Harbour, we went there many times for a drink (Boost Juice, YUM!) and to sit and relax, looking at the water and boats; it’s so clean and pretty. We have also done loads of reading, which has been great; we usually don’t get that much time in the UK. Lins is now a Potterholic (having not succumbed to the pressure of reading the first 5 books, silly mistake), and is desperately trying to find out the ending before someone spoils it for her!
Watching sport over here is not what we were expecting at all. They do not seem to be as passionate as the UK. From our experience it seems more like a social thing to do rather than watch your team play. At the Oz v S Africa game, the crowd was so quiet, it was almost ghost like. The only time any noise was made was when the Aussie's booed the SA's when they were going forward or taking a penalty kick. They also do very little singing and chanting, and the songs that they do know are unoriginal to say the least. We have been supporting the Roosters in the NRL and the Swans in AFL. AFL is a bizarre sport, it goes on for about 2 ½ hours including all the breaks, never starts on time (but what does over here?!) and has really annoying referee’s. Every game of sport we have watched over here, live or on the TV, has had some type of brawl, whether it be full on punches or handbags.
It was great living in the city and being able to get to things whenever we wanted. We were 2 minutes walk from the supermarket (surprisingly expensive over here), gym, restaurants, bars, train station etc. We were members of Fitness First whilst living in Sydney. There were amazing views of the Sydney harbour bridge and the opera house whilst we were working out! We also had the best Thai restaurant round the corner from us; the food was divine and the portions were big enough that Lins could make two meals out of it (Dave could not), and it was really cheap. We have also seen quite a few films in our spare time; we had a really cheap DVD hire shop round the corner from us and a Greater Union cinema, which had a cheap movie deal on.
For our first two weeks in Sydney there was heavy rain and flooding. We were not expecting it to get that wet and cold in Australia and it was a bit of a shock at first. After that we had a mixture of cold and hot days but it was nearly always a sunny day. The average was about 17 – 19 degrees, not bad for winter. For the last two weeks the weather has been markedly better, reaching 26 degrees on a couple of occasions! Dave actually got burnt one day, which he is quite impressed about considering the season.
We have both loved our time in Sydney and it will be sad to leave, however we are looking forward to getting back in the sun again. We begin heading up the coast as far as Port Douglas and Cape Tribulation tomorrow. Can't wait to get back to some proper sun and relaxation!
Friday, August 17, 2007
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Tasmania - Melbourne- Canberra - Sydney
For our duration in Tasmania we hired a "Devil Campervan". It was our third campervan and by far the nicest. We had a fridge, microwave, 2 gas stoves, 20L water tank, pop top and an external power source. Having an external power source meant that at night time we stayed in a powered camp site and plugged a cable into a power socket outside, and then we could use all our electrical goods inside. Very exciting!
All the campsites and rest areas that we have used throughout Australia have had amazing views; many were by the lakes, cliffs and beaches, often with only one or two other vans at the same site. They have varied from having no facilities to just having horrible outside toilets (spiders!) to having hot power showers with washing facilities.
We both loved Tasmania so much and we think it will definitely be one of the nicest places we visit this year. The scenery is incredibly beautiful. Every corner we turned we saw amazing beaches, mountains, cliffs, rainforests, gorges, lakes and waterfalls. The roads are extremely windy and hilly, at times making us feel like we had been on a big dipper rollercoaster all day, and quite sick.
On our first day in Tas, we got our priorities right and headed straight for the Cadbury's factory in Hobart. We took full advantage of the free chocolate and stuffed ourselves silly until we both felt extremely sick. We rolled ourselves through the factory tour like Umpa Lumpa men. It was good fun and nice to get some free chocolate seeing that you have to take out a mortgage to get it over here. Oz chocolate is no-where near as nice as that in the UK, we told our guide this but she was Tassie through and through and couldn't bear to believe us.
After seeing the sights of Hobart, including the view from the top of Mt Wellington over the city, we drove SE to Port Arthur, which has a lot of history for the Australians. It was surprisingly really interesting and the grounds were pretty. We did a ghost tour of the jail and other old buildings at night time, which was really good fun. We all walked round in the pitch black and our guide told us about ghost sightings and tried to scare us along the way. We also did a history tour of the buildings in the day time. After Port Arthur, we went to a Tasmanian Devil Wildlife sanctuary! It was brilliant. We saw them feeding, which was a very aggressive and noisy affair. They are actually really sweet and they have lovely shiny fur coats. Afterwards the girls curled up together to go to sleep like cats, but they wouldn't let the male near them! He had to sleep on his own in the cold! The girls only go near the boys in mating season, which is only for a couple of weeks in a year! It was also amazing to hear their voices change from sounding like a dog, to roaring loudly like a lion. We both loved them as they are really sweet and fun.
We then headed up the East coast, stopping at Wineglass Bay, Bay of Fires and many other small beaches. We loved Wineglass Bay; we did a hike to see the amazing view and then walked along the beach. It came second in some recent poll of the world's best beaches and we could see why. It was surrounded by mountains and the sand was white. The tough hike there makes it all the more special.
At The Bay of Fires beaches, we had a gorgeous sunset.We then travelled across the northern part of Tas, seeing St Columbia Falls, Ralph Falls, Launceston, Stanley, Cradle Mountain & Dove Lake, Lake St Clair and Nelson and Russell Falls. We did lots of beautiful walks and saw lots more animals. We both love the animals over here and we have been really lucky to see lots of wildlife wondering around. We have noticed that the animals get more furry the further south you go in Oz!
Every evening we played poker, rummy and black jack with a mug of hot chocolate and some marshmallows. The places we were staying at in our vanwere in the middle of no-where, often freezing and there was nothing to do, but we both enjoyed cards! We were lucky with the weather during the day. It was really warm for Hobart and the East coast. For the rest of the time it was quite warm and we only had two days of rain, we were expecting a lot more.
It was good to see that Tasmanian's keep up the tradition over here of having equally as bad road signs as the rest of Oz. Signs, when rarely present, are very unclear and at extremely late notice. For example, a sign for a major highway will usually be at the turning, very occasionally with prior notice. We have only seen a handful of signs pre-warning you about a junction, and even then the distances are wrong (e.g. if the sign says turn in 300m, the actual turning will most likely be in 50m!). Anyway, enough of the road rage (don't get us started on Australian drivers!!). We did another 4,500km of driving in Tas so we feel like we got to know the roads pretty well.
After 12 days in Tas, we returned to stay with our friend Lee from uni. It was so good staying at his, not only because it was lovely to have some great company, but also because he has an amazing flat on the waterfront in St Kilda, which includes a bath (something Lins really misses form the UK). We did all the city highlights in Melbourne including the Eureka tower (great views over the city), tour of the MCG, the Crown Complex, the museums, the Botanical Gardens, visited Ramsay Street on the Neighbours tour, met the 'stars' at the Neighbours quiz night, and we joined a gym for 3 days! We also drove to the Dandedong Mountains (30k from the city) and got a really nice view of the city. We went to two AFL games (ok game, silly referees and very annoying men in luminous yellow running all over the pitch the whole time), one at the MCG and one at the Telstra Dome. We also went to a comedy night with Lee - we were quite worried about being picked on for being Pomes, but we were ok in the end!
After Melbourne we got the Greyhound bus to Canberra. We had 1 1/2 days there, which was plenty of time to see everything on offer. We went to the Australian Institute of Sport, which we both thought was good but we were expecting it to be a bit better, and all the main buildings and tours. We hired a bike, which was amusing! We both really liked Canberra for the time we there, the buildings looked lovely in the sun.
From Canberra we took the Greyhound bus to Sydney, and we stayed in a really grotty and noisy hostel for three days. We got a lot done though: registered with a teaching agency for work, spent hours looking for a flat and joined a gym. After two days we were finally successful in the flat hunting and we have got a really nice studio apartment in Darlinghurst (7 minute train / tube ride to central Sydney and 8 minutes to the brilliant shops at Bondi Junction). It is on the top floor of a block of flats in a quiet cul de sac; it has wooden floors, is nicely decorated and is very clean. We were keen on living near the beach, but we need to base ourselves in the city where the work is. We are only a 15 minute train ride from Bondi Beach, although we certainly won't be sunbathing while we are here as it's a bit chilly! It will be really nice to have a decent place all to ourselves for the next 9-10 weeks and unpack our things....what a luxury! We have everything we need literally 90 seconds from our flat, so it really is a great location.
We started work doing supply teaching on Thursday….in a place called Liverpool (we were at the same school)! We both had good days, although the kids were quite tough. It was a nightmare journey (2 hours door to door), so I don’t think we will be going there again unless there is no work anywhere else. They thought our accents were hilarious; quite a few kids thought we were from Scotland and most of the others couldn’t really understand the concept of an accent, frequently asking us if we thought they sounded different to English people. Bless the little darlings. On Friday Dave worked at a tough all boys school, similar to Quilley! Lins was at a primary school teaching Years 5 and 6 (although this is the same as UK Years 6 and 7). In their assembly, everyone stood to sing the national anthem at the end. Everyone got well into it, including the teachers. I couldn't help but grin. They are very patriotic here. Again, we both had good days, although it’s quite tiring when the kids keep trying it on all day (but we didn’t let them get away with much!). It was nice as we both got asked to go back to the schools on Monday so we must have done something right. We will tell you more stories when we have finished all our work, we are sure there will be lots. It will all be great experience. There is a lot of supply work around, which is good for us; if none is available then we will definitely get childcare work, which should be good fun (?!).
Most of you will be pleased to hear that we have had really bad weather over here. There have been storms and lots of heavy rain in NSW; some of their reservoirs are overflowing (unheard of over here). Parts of The Pacific Highway have also collapsed. It has also been quite chilly at night and Lins has had to buy a hot water bottle! It should clear up by the end of this week. Typical.
All the campsites and rest areas that we have used throughout Australia have had amazing views; many were by the lakes, cliffs and beaches, often with only one or two other vans at the same site. They have varied from having no facilities to just having horrible outside toilets (spiders!) to having hot power showers with washing facilities.
We both loved Tasmania so much and we think it will definitely be one of the nicest places we visit this year. The scenery is incredibly beautiful. Every corner we turned we saw amazing beaches, mountains, cliffs, rainforests, gorges, lakes and waterfalls. The roads are extremely windy and hilly, at times making us feel like we had been on a big dipper rollercoaster all day, and quite sick.
On our first day in Tas, we got our priorities right and headed straight for the Cadbury's factory in Hobart. We took full advantage of the free chocolate and stuffed ourselves silly until we both felt extremely sick. We rolled ourselves through the factory tour like Umpa Lumpa men. It was good fun and nice to get some free chocolate seeing that you have to take out a mortgage to get it over here. Oz chocolate is no-where near as nice as that in the UK, we told our guide this but she was Tassie through and through and couldn't bear to believe us.
After seeing the sights of Hobart, including the view from the top of Mt Wellington over the city, we drove SE to Port Arthur, which has a lot of history for the Australians. It was surprisingly really interesting and the grounds were pretty. We did a ghost tour of the jail and other old buildings at night time, which was really good fun. We all walked round in the pitch black and our guide told us about ghost sightings and tried to scare us along the way. We also did a history tour of the buildings in the day time. After Port Arthur, we went to a Tasmanian Devil Wildlife sanctuary! It was brilliant. We saw them feeding, which was a very aggressive and noisy affair. They are actually really sweet and they have lovely shiny fur coats. Afterwards the girls curled up together to go to sleep like cats, but they wouldn't let the male near them! He had to sleep on his own in the cold! The girls only go near the boys in mating season, which is only for a couple of weeks in a year! It was also amazing to hear their voices change from sounding like a dog, to roaring loudly like a lion. We both loved them as they are really sweet and fun.
We then headed up the East coast, stopping at Wineglass Bay, Bay of Fires and many other small beaches. We loved Wineglass Bay; we did a hike to see the amazing view and then walked along the beach. It came second in some recent poll of the world's best beaches and we could see why. It was surrounded by mountains and the sand was white. The tough hike there makes it all the more special.
At The Bay of Fires beaches, we had a gorgeous sunset.We then travelled across the northern part of Tas, seeing St Columbia Falls, Ralph Falls, Launceston, Stanley, Cradle Mountain & Dove Lake, Lake St Clair and Nelson and Russell Falls. We did lots of beautiful walks and saw lots more animals. We both love the animals over here and we have been really lucky to see lots of wildlife wondering around. We have noticed that the animals get more furry the further south you go in Oz!
Every evening we played poker, rummy and black jack with a mug of hot chocolate and some marshmallows. The places we were staying at in our vanwere in the middle of no-where, often freezing and there was nothing to do, but we both enjoyed cards! We were lucky with the weather during the day. It was really warm for Hobart and the East coast. For the rest of the time it was quite warm and we only had two days of rain, we were expecting a lot more.
It was good to see that Tasmanian's keep up the tradition over here of having equally as bad road signs as the rest of Oz. Signs, when rarely present, are very unclear and at extremely late notice. For example, a sign for a major highway will usually be at the turning, very occasionally with prior notice. We have only seen a handful of signs pre-warning you about a junction, and even then the distances are wrong (e.g. if the sign says turn in 300m, the actual turning will most likely be in 50m!). Anyway, enough of the road rage (don't get us started on Australian drivers!!). We did another 4,500km of driving in Tas so we feel like we got to know the roads pretty well.
After 12 days in Tas, we returned to stay with our friend Lee from uni. It was so good staying at his, not only because it was lovely to have some great company, but also because he has an amazing flat on the waterfront in St Kilda, which includes a bath (something Lins really misses form the UK). We did all the city highlights in Melbourne including the Eureka tower (great views over the city), tour of the MCG, the Crown Complex, the museums, the Botanical Gardens, visited Ramsay Street on the Neighbours tour, met the 'stars' at the Neighbours quiz night, and we joined a gym for 3 days! We also drove to the Dandedong Mountains (30k from the city) and got a really nice view of the city. We went to two AFL games (ok game, silly referees and very annoying men in luminous yellow running all over the pitch the whole time), one at the MCG and one at the Telstra Dome. We also went to a comedy night with Lee - we were quite worried about being picked on for being Pomes, but we were ok in the end!
After Melbourne we got the Greyhound bus to Canberra. We had 1 1/2 days there, which was plenty of time to see everything on offer. We went to the Australian Institute of Sport, which we both thought was good but we were expecting it to be a bit better, and all the main buildings and tours. We hired a bike, which was amusing! We both really liked Canberra for the time we there, the buildings looked lovely in the sun.
From Canberra we took the Greyhound bus to Sydney, and we stayed in a really grotty and noisy hostel for three days. We got a lot done though: registered with a teaching agency for work, spent hours looking for a flat and joined a gym. After two days we were finally successful in the flat hunting and we have got a really nice studio apartment in Darlinghurst (7 minute train / tube ride to central Sydney and 8 minutes to the brilliant shops at Bondi Junction). It is on the top floor of a block of flats in a quiet cul de sac; it has wooden floors, is nicely decorated and is very clean. We were keen on living near the beach, but we need to base ourselves in the city where the work is. We are only a 15 minute train ride from Bondi Beach, although we certainly won't be sunbathing while we are here as it's a bit chilly! It will be really nice to have a decent place all to ourselves for the next 9-10 weeks and unpack our things....what a luxury! We have everything we need literally 90 seconds from our flat, so it really is a great location.
We started work doing supply teaching on Thursday….in a place called Liverpool (we were at the same school)! We both had good days, although the kids were quite tough. It was a nightmare journey (2 hours door to door), so I don’t think we will be going there again unless there is no work anywhere else. They thought our accents were hilarious; quite a few kids thought we were from Scotland and most of the others couldn’t really understand the concept of an accent, frequently asking us if we thought they sounded different to English people. Bless the little darlings. On Friday Dave worked at a tough all boys school, similar to Quilley! Lins was at a primary school teaching Years 5 and 6 (although this is the same as UK Years 6 and 7). In their assembly, everyone stood to sing the national anthem at the end. Everyone got well into it, including the teachers. I couldn't help but grin. They are very patriotic here. Again, we both had good days, although it’s quite tiring when the kids keep trying it on all day (but we didn’t let them get away with much!). It was nice as we both got asked to go back to the schools on Monday so we must have done something right. We will tell you more stories when we have finished all our work, we are sure there will be lots. It will all be great experience. There is a lot of supply work around, which is good for us; if none is available then we will definitely get childcare work, which should be good fun (?!).
Most of you will be pleased to hear that we have had really bad weather over here. There have been storms and lots of heavy rain in NSW; some of their reservoirs are overflowing (unheard of over here). Parts of The Pacific Highway have also collapsed. It has also been quite chilly at night and Lins has had to buy a hot water bottle! It should clear up by the end of this week. Typical.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Uluru - Alice Springs - Adelaide - Great Ocean Road - Melbourne
After we left the NW of WA, we did the long journey back down to Perth in our 'Wicked' campervan. At Coral Bay, we snorkeled with green turtles! We were really fortunate as we were going to pay for a tour to try and find them, but we saw them when they were just swimming along below us. Dave spotted them both times!
On my birthday we went to Caversham Wildlife Park and spent the day in the company of some lovely fury friends. We fed some kangaroo's, which was quality, stroked some koala's and saw some crazy tasmanian devils running all over the place, amongst many over things. We also saw the Perth skyline at night, which was lovely.
After a month in WA, we flew to Uluru to do a 3 day tour. On the night that we arrived at our hostel we did the Sounds of Silence evening, which was so amazing; one of our best bits so far. We had sparkling wine whilst watching the sunset at Uluru and the Olgas, a fabulous meal, as much drink as we wanted and a star talk. We saw Venus, Saturn and Jupiter and some shooting stars. We were really lucky to have a sound table (there were 8 of us). We all got on really well and had a really good laugh all night.
Our 3 day tour was really good. There were 21 people on the tour as well as 10 million flies and everyone got on really well. We made especially good friends with a Dutch couple, Jos and Sonja (see the photo with the Elvis van). We did The Valley of the Winds walk at The Olgas, sunrise and sunset at Uluru as well as the base walk, and hiked round the rim at Kings Canyon. On our last night we all went out for a meal and some drinks. We had half a day in Alice Springs the next day and we bought a didgeridoo! It sounds quality! We also went to a Joey rescue centre and cuddled baby kangaroo's in pillow cases for 20 mins. There are lots of Joey (baby kangaroo) centre's in Oz. When the mum's are hit by cars on the road, often the Joey survives in the poutch. The volunteers go up and down the roads checking to see if they can find any Joey's, take them to the rescue centre, look after them for a few months (but they don't hand feed them to make it as natural as possible), and then release them in to the wild when the Joey's can easily bounce around and look after themselves. We were told to hold them for at least 10 minutes and the Joey's like it as it is supposedly a similar feeling to being in the mother's poutch. It was so amazing, and if we didn't have a plane to catch, I would have stayed there all day!
We flew to Adelaide on the same flight as our Dutch friends. We had a couple of days doing the city sights and Adelaide Hills, which were very picturesque. We hired a 'Wicked' campervan again and got an 'Elvis' one. It was quite grotty but nice to have some wheels again. We drove down to Cape Jervis and then did a day trip to Kangaroo Island, which was such good fun and we had a really good guide.
When we got to Kingston (2 hours west of Mt Gambier and the SA / Vic border), our van broke down...it was cooked. Elvis is officially dead! To cut a long story short, 'Wicked' were useless and gave us no help and simply left us where we broke down. Luckily the pick up guy was nice and gave us a lift to the bus station and we went to Mt Gambier late that night. We are still in dispute with 'Wicked' about our refund...nightmare. That night, we spent the night in Jail...a hostel that was used as a jail until 1995 and has been converted to sleep backpackers. Well, it has not really been converted as such. We slept in a cell and the beds were rock hard, but it was all good fun.
We then had to hire a car the next day, and had to stay in hostels for the next few nights. We had a good car and it was nice to feel safe on the road and travel in a bit more style. We did Mt Gambier and the amazing blue lake, and all the stops along The Great Ocean Road until we reached Melbourne. We loved every one of the sights along the way. Near The 12 Apostles we did a 16 minute helicopter ride over the Great Ocean Road. We were the only 2 people in it, along with the pilot of course, and it was so good! We got some brilliant photo's and video footage and it was such a brilliant experience.
So far we have been really fortunate with the weather.....it has been a lot hotter than we were expecting in Adelaide and along the Great Ocean Road. I think we might get a bit of a shock when we get to Tasmania!
We arrived in Melbourne on Tuesday evening, and our friend Lee from uni has very kindly offered to put us up. We fly to Tasmania on Thursday for 12 days, and then return to Melbourne.
On my birthday we went to Caversham Wildlife Park and spent the day in the company of some lovely fury friends. We fed some kangaroo's, which was quality, stroked some koala's and saw some crazy tasmanian devils running all over the place, amongst many over things. We also saw the Perth skyline at night, which was lovely.
After a month in WA, we flew to Uluru to do a 3 day tour. On the night that we arrived at our hostel we did the Sounds of Silence evening, which was so amazing; one of our best bits so far. We had sparkling wine whilst watching the sunset at Uluru and the Olgas, a fabulous meal, as much drink as we wanted and a star talk. We saw Venus, Saturn and Jupiter and some shooting stars. We were really lucky to have a sound table (there were 8 of us). We all got on really well and had a really good laugh all night.
Our 3 day tour was really good. There were 21 people on the tour as well as 10 million flies and everyone got on really well. We made especially good friends with a Dutch couple, Jos and Sonja (see the photo with the Elvis van). We did The Valley of the Winds walk at The Olgas, sunrise and sunset at Uluru as well as the base walk, and hiked round the rim at Kings Canyon. On our last night we all went out for a meal and some drinks. We had half a day in Alice Springs the next day and we bought a didgeridoo! It sounds quality! We also went to a Joey rescue centre and cuddled baby kangaroo's in pillow cases for 20 mins. There are lots of Joey (baby kangaroo) centre's in Oz. When the mum's are hit by cars on the road, often the Joey survives in the poutch. The volunteers go up and down the roads checking to see if they can find any Joey's, take them to the rescue centre, look after them for a few months (but they don't hand feed them to make it as natural as possible), and then release them in to the wild when the Joey's can easily bounce around and look after themselves. We were told to hold them for at least 10 minutes and the Joey's like it as it is supposedly a similar feeling to being in the mother's poutch. It was so amazing, and if we didn't have a plane to catch, I would have stayed there all day!
We flew to Adelaide on the same flight as our Dutch friends. We had a couple of days doing the city sights and Adelaide Hills, which were very picturesque. We hired a 'Wicked' campervan again and got an 'Elvis' one. It was quite grotty but nice to have some wheels again. We drove down to Cape Jervis and then did a day trip to Kangaroo Island, which was such good fun and we had a really good guide.
When we got to Kingston (2 hours west of Mt Gambier and the SA / Vic border), our van broke down...it was cooked. Elvis is officially dead! To cut a long story short, 'Wicked' were useless and gave us no help and simply left us where we broke down. Luckily the pick up guy was nice and gave us a lift to the bus station and we went to Mt Gambier late that night. We are still in dispute with 'Wicked' about our refund...nightmare. That night, we spent the night in Jail...a hostel that was used as a jail until 1995 and has been converted to sleep backpackers. Well, it has not really been converted as such. We slept in a cell and the beds were rock hard, but it was all good fun.
We then had to hire a car the next day, and had to stay in hostels for the next few nights. We had a good car and it was nice to feel safe on the road and travel in a bit more style. We did Mt Gambier and the amazing blue lake, and all the stops along The Great Ocean Road until we reached Melbourne. We loved every one of the sights along the way. Near The 12 Apostles we did a 16 minute helicopter ride over the Great Ocean Road. We were the only 2 people in it, along with the pilot of course, and it was so good! We got some brilliant photo's and video footage and it was such a brilliant experience.
So far we have been really fortunate with the weather.....it has been a lot hotter than we were expecting in Adelaide and along the Great Ocean Road. I think we might get a bit of a shock when we get to Tasmania!
We arrived in Melbourne on Tuesday evening, and our friend Lee from uni has very kindly offered to put us up. We fly to Tasmania on Thursday for 12 days, and then return to Melbourne.
Western Australia
Greetings! Hope you are all well. We are currently in Exmouth (the NW of WA) and it is chucking it down with rain! It only rains 3 days a year here on average, so we have done well.
We are loving it out here, but we are both quite surprised at how tired we are. We started off in Perth and spent a week doing the city and local beaches. We really enjoyed Perth - it's really clean and pretty but we were surpirsed at how much beer and chocolate costs! As it was the Easter period when we arrived, a lot of the hostels were fully booked, and we were lucky to get one in the city centre. We also stayed in 2 really nice hostels right by the beach. We then hired a 'Wicked' Campervan, which we have been in for almost 2 weeks. It drives well and is lots of fun. The back of the van converts into a double bed and we also have a sink, cool box (eski!), gas stove and cooking equipment. Dave does most of the driving (and cooking! I am actually not that great a camper yet).
First we headed south to do the Southern Curl, a 1,500 Km road trip from Perth to Albany return. Unlike in England it gets colder the further South you travel; so lets put that into context, it goes from 30 degrees to about 24. Highlights were: amazing beaches and bays, cliff top views, giant trees and widlife. Dave's become very good at dodging kangaroos at night time in the van! The big ones look fairly intimadating when they stand in the middle of the road on their hind legs with their fists up in the dark (Donnie Darko). We also climbed the Gloucester Tree (61m); Dave climbed it twice, first to test the safety of the rungs for me!
After five days we headed up North (30 degrees plus) from Perth to Exmouth another 3,500 Km return. We did the Pinnacles Desert (strange rocks in the middle of the desert); saw some huge gorges, National Parks, Monkey Mia, Coral Bay and Exmouth (Ningaloo Reef). We loved Monkey Mia - we saw ten dolphins, literally a metre away from us; we were ankle-deep in the water with them. We also saw green turtles and dugongs (manatees with a fin tale) on a boat cruise on a catamaran. On Saturday, Dave's birthday, we are going on a snorkel cruise to see whale and reef sharks; we really hope the whale sharks appear, should be a highlight of the entire trip. On Tuesday we return our van to Perth and on Wednesday we fly to Ulura (Ayres Rock) for 4 days.
Our next update will be from Victoria in a few weeks.
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