Oh no!

Oh no! Deb lost her anorak. But haha that wasn't what I meant. We are off to a cattle farm today - yee ha! How funny, but oh no as we just found out we probably wont have internet for five days!!! What are a group of girls to do. Hopefully we will have phone signal to text at least! Just when we took a wicked picture of the fittest surf dude ever this morning too, our guide for sea kayaking. That was fun - will post soon - well in about five days so will be a long one!

I love all your comments too so keep them up, they are great reading. Sue G I am guessing that last one was from you, Stace said she was doing well updating it this last week too haha. I am just used to updating it as I did it at home for my craft work anyway. Hol Stace is next to me and is good too!

And we have amazing sunshine today too - just in time for kayaking, yea! Dad - lots of love.

Jenxxxxx

A bumpy ride

So we headed off onto Fraser Island for a two day four wheel drive around the island - the world's largest sand island apparently for those that care! No phone signal or internet haha, we coped just about. It is a lovely island but sadly apart from the first morning we just had rain, rain, rain - what's that about?!? We didn't pay to come here for rain, we could of stayed at home for that! But we had a lovely sunny morning by a lake so that was gorgeous.

We got a ferry over to the island then we drove along the coast for the first day, stopping at different points. Lots of jelly fish everywhere! You aren't allowed to swim in the ocean here as there are sharks, so just in the lakes. It was such a bumpy ride for the two days, it felt like the bus was going to tip over half of the time!

We stopped at Lake Wabby which was just stunning, and about a 40 min trek in from the coast. It was so nice to have the sun at this point and go for a good swim in the warm water. Lots of the guys were mucking away running right from the top of the sand dunes, pelting into the water. Crazy!

But stunning. Then we did a walk up 'Indian Head' which also had stunning views, though it was raining by now. We stopped at some other various points too. Our accomodation for the night was really quite nice actually. Some of the girls saw a dingo (like wild dogs) on their way to bed (we had different rooms) and remembering what the instructor said about standing still, staring them in the eye and staying calm, Deb and Kate bolted for the bedroom like lightning! good job they got there before the dingo decided he was interested in chasing them!

Our next stop was a walk through Eli Creek, in the rain, did I already mention that it was raining?!? Us five with our waterproof jackets on was not the sort of look we were aiming for haha.

Wet? Bothered. We walked through the creek anyway and it was good fun, it wasn't that cold actually and we had quite a laugh, until someone said snake and Katie wanted to bolt!!! Oh, then Derek, or Derk, (we aren't quite sure!) the German guy in our group dropped his camera directly into the water - ouch!! Julie and I just stared at each other in disbelief. I think I would have cried if that was me.

We slept well that night and after lots of nice buffet foods and more rain, rain, rain, we started a little walk through the rainforest (bit like the jungle in Thailand Nic - you would have loved it!!).

I think we are making our own amusement though and we have lots of funny characters on our bus. Not our guide though, I think the girls are going to smack him one any day soon! On our walk we stopped to try the fresh drinking water, it was very sweet actually. No I'm not blowing a kiss here or washing my face - I am actually trying to drink while the girls got a picture haha!

Next stop was an early lunch as it was raining, er, we really weren't hungry at 11am! But still, then onto the most beautiful lake, Wanggoolba. It was such a shame it wasn't sunny as it was beautiful even in the rain. Some of the group went for a swim anyway but it was a bit too cold for me. Stunning colours of the water though.

Then eventually we returned back to where we stayed the other night, on the coast of Rainbow Beach. We have been taking such funny and random photos but they are usually on everyone else's cameras so wont post too many. You can probably see half of them on facebook though. Tomorrow we are off at 6am for sea kayaking - should be amusing. In the rain most likely! Then we move off from here. Oh and we saw a dolphin today - well, the fin anyway!

I'm having a great time and it is so different being away with most of the girls on a long trip like this. Though I was very sad to hear that Great Uncle Alf passed away the other day. He had been very poorly but it is really sad, especially that I was not at home. But we had spent a lot of good time together so that is what counts.

More photos and stories to come soon, lots of love to everyone and I will reply to my email soon too.

Jenx

Just a quick one as don't have much to report really. We have moved on up to Rainbow Beach, we are staying here right now...

Here

We were supposed to go kayaking but the weather has been terrible for the last couple of days, raining alot, and there was a mix up with our booking so half went today, and the other half can go Friday. Needless to say, we weren't slow in volunteering to go Friday as we thought we might get better weather haha! So nothing to report really, having a chilled night playing pool and a few drinks in the bar here. Tomorrow we are off to Fraser Island for a two day four wheel drive tour, should be fun - hopefully the sun will come out or we are going to come back as milk bottles the way we are going!

Riding the waves

As promised, here is the photo that we got of us climbing Sydney harbour bridge. It already seems a long time ago and it is just a photo of a photo so sorry it is blurry, although we aren't looking too hot so we kinda like the fact you can't see it properly haha!

It was a long day Sunday sitting on our bus all day, with a funny driver named Simo. I think he forgets that he had already told us things though and is repeating everything at least five times. Enough already!!! But it was straight up to Arrawarra for us to Surf Camp, possibly one of my favourite, funniest moments of the trip so far. Can you imagine us five trying to surf?!? And distracted by lots of blonde surfers with nice bodies haha.

But before we surfed, we had the actual camp to entertain us. We arrived and had these hilarious little "log cabins' - well oh my goodness, we have not giggled so much in ages looking at the beds and working out who would sleep where, I mean, were all these beds made just for mice?!?! Seeing Julie try to clamber up this little ladder onto the top top bunk had me in hysterics, and them too. Ever seen a triple bunk before? This was the practice run before any alcohol!


Then we were called for our camp dinner which was yummy fahitas, maybe they knew we were coming! The sky was really lovely at dinner time too (this one's for you Dave Poole!).


And then we had a sit round the camp fire getting to know our bus. The fire then moved to the beach and we sat there for a long time, while one of the surf dude instructions whipped out his guitar and sang songs. Except only the first song was a real song, the rest he made up - including a song dedicated to Stace, Julie and me! Was so funny that I videod some of it, but probably a good job I can't upload the videos to here as it wasn't too appropriate haha.

So a bang on the door at 6.30am, after a wonderful nights sleep in the beds made for mice, and there we were back eating our breakfast. Then onto the delights of slipping into those snug, clean and flattering wetsuits of ours! how we laughed. We were all really looking forward to surfing though and after a little bit of theory and practice on the sand we headed into the water.

Well we all managed to stand up! (Except Julie, but we won't go there, eh Jules!). She much prefers skiing... I, on the other hand, am thinking I'm more of a surfer than a skiier - except at least in skiing you don't get wacked over the head with a ten tonne board every few minutes!!!

I loved it. I think we all did. But boy, did I get battered by the ocean. Or was it the board? The instructor helped us to get our balance as some of the waves came, other times we did it by ourselves, and we managed to stand up, it was so much fun. But the waves got stronger and higher as the morning wore on (nothing to do with us getting more tired either!) so it took so much energy to get out there past the big waves just to ride one back that it was exhausting. I got battered on the head (did I already say that?!? Surely not!) quite a few times by my board and scratched my face on it too plus Katie really hurt her finger and Deb hurt her foot but we all really enjoyed it. For more piccies see the girls blog as they are large files (http://www.thegirlsareaway.blogspot.com/ or Julie's - http://www.burnettisbackpacking.blogspot.com/)

So then it was back on the bus and we have headed up the coast to Brisbane, via Byron Bay. Stopped at a lighthouse on the way, nice but not so thrilling, so now just catching up on our only night here before we head off for another early start tomorrow morning. Sea kayaking I think it is we do next! Look our ocean. (oh here is a piccy of the view from the lighthouse - just for you Dad!)

-

Til next time,

Jenx

(Susan - was that enough to keep your fix going? haha)

(PS Sue G - Katie was singing with her nun outfit on, I dont think it was one of those songs but I'm sure she would love to star in the sing along show!)

Oh, happy day!

We went out to a karaoke pub yesterday with David, the friend of Katie and Grahams who we met up with at the start of the week. It was such an old mans pub, but pretty funny. Oh the way home we had a right giggle singing choir songs and mucking about with our matching white and black cardigans - two of each made fantastic nun outfits! Don't you think it suits Katie???

We hadn't done much in the day yesterday as it was raining so we didn't go for the organised walk to Bondi beach as we had planned. Just went for a walk around some of the city that we hadnt seen before and Stace rested in bed as she was really poorly. She is feeling much better today though!

This morning we got the bus over to Kings Cross area of Sydney to meet Stacey's friend for breakfast in a very hip and trendy eaterie, check us out getting with the locals. It was gorgeous food and drink! Then we had a bit of a wander and came back to the hostel to get ready for our next adventure of the evening...

Climbing Sydney harbour bridge! It was really good fun but nowhere near as daunting or scary as I thought, it was quite a timid walk really. The weather brightened up for us too which was great, shame we look awful in our photo but we got it anyway haha, will post it sometime soon. See the ant like creatures walking over the bridge? Thats what we did today!

Off up the east coast early tomorrow...

We are going to the zoo....zoo.....zoo....

We have crammed quite a lot into a few days in Sydney so far so I'm pretty tired still, am going to blame that on the jet lag the whole way through I think! Though I haven't had another episode where I nearly fell asleep in my dinner, yet. (Nic - you would be laughing at me like in Eygpt, any bus travel time is sleep time again!)

Someone recommended the zoo to us so we had a little trip there on Wednesday. We had to go to the harbour and get a ferry across which was fun, the views of Sydney harbour are amazing. It was a good zoo and had alot to look at so we were pretty tired by the end at the first half of the day was pretty hot.

That evening we had a lovely night out on Stacey's work so thanks to them! Stacey had a voucher for a gorgeous bar that overlooked Bondi Beach so we did it in true classy backpacker style, dressed ourselves up, had a pot noodle for dinner and then got the bus there haha! But our bus driver forgot to tell us where to get off so there we were, all sitting at the back of the bus in the suburbs somewhere chatting to the driver while he had his necessary ten minute driving break, before he drove back like a nutter feeling guilty that he had forgotten to tell us to get off! The bar was lovely and we had some champagne too, and our friend Wendy came with us who is sharing our room.

The next day was another tiring one but really good fun. We went to Blue Mountains which was about an hour out on the bus, but we were on an organised tour for that one. First stop was a little area where we saw Kangeroos.

Our guide, Bill, was very funny and took us on some great walks and the views were stunning. (Dad you would have loved the views!). He got us to have a go with some war paint on our faces and drawing a little story onto bark, which Katie won for the best story and got a free ice cream! Hoorah. That was my little bit of creativity to top me up for a while. We had walked down so then got the steepest train in the world, apparently, back up to the top.

It was fairly late when we got back and so we got ready and met a friend of Julie's for some drinks last night which was nice. Stace has another cold so is feeling a bit rough but we are hoping we won't all keep passing it between us. Our hostel is pretty good, it is a huge city one and we have a room of 6 so fairly small with a shared bathroom for the whole floor I think, but it is clean which is all that matters! We have been good and although eaten out a bit have been shopping today to get more soup and pasta for some cheap lunches and dinner so its all good. We were supposed to do a beach walk with our hostel today but it is raining too much so we have given that a miss.

That's about it for now, will add some more photos on here but the video files are far too large to get onto a blog so you will have to wait til we are home for those, sorry! Hope everyone is good anyway.

Jenx

Sydney Day One

I can't quite work out where my head is, one minute it feels completely mad that I am in Sydney with the girls and that I flew out here on my own, and another minute it feels so completely normal to be with these guys that it just feels like we have gone out for the day. Mad! Just feels too normal.

I wasn't feeling too jet lagged really, I was fine as when I arrived it was late evening so we went down to the bar to have a quick drink as we were making too much noise in the corridor squealing (no surprise there!) then luckily it was time for bed. I woke up really early the next day as I just couldn't sleep but I felt fine all day until last night really. We went for a free Sydney tour with our hostel so we walked the sights in about 3/4 hours but it was so, so hot that it just drained us. The harbour and everything else is amazing though and we will go back to do all of it properly. Got a few of my first photos of us all too, madness.

Then last night we went out with Katie and Graham's friend who lives here and he took us to a pub then we ended up in Chinatown, no complaining from me there! But the glass or two of wine really pushed me over the edge and the jet lag set in, so much that I almost fell asleep at the table! We headed back and I literally just flopped into bed and didnt know anything else til this morning.

I'm enjoying being away with the girls but as I said, just feels so normal. The first morning I woke up (i was on top bunk) I just kept looking over to see if the others were awake and waving haha.

More soon... still can't upload those videos they are far too large! But I will keep trying as they are brilliant. Will add photos when I can work out how on this computer...

xx

The best surprise ever!

Well I think turning up in Sydney has to be the best surprise I have ever kept and the girls were truly stunned. And they made it so easy for me!

I'm trying to load up the video clips on the girls blog but it is taking ages, http://www.thegirlsareaway.blogspot.com/. See if they are there when you read this and comment if you think it's funny!

They made it so easy for me. I flew all the way from London to Sydney with just an hour inbetween in Singapore, then got a shuttle bus to the hostel. When I got out I thought I would get to reception then get my camera out just incase. Well I walked in reception, saw the internet computers and they were only sitting there all three of them (Katie, Stace and Deb) all in a row! It couldn't have been more perfect. So I quickly hid behind a post, got my camera out then walked over to them and said 'What do I have to do to get a hug around here?' Well, they turned around and Deb nearly fell off her chair, the others just kept shrieking 'on my god' and they all just sat there not knowing what to do! It was so, so funny they were totally stunned and it took a while before Stace got up to hug me haha. Hilarious, I really hope the videos load up as they are brilliant.

After we settled down a bit, they logged off their internet and I checked in then we went upstairs to surprise Julie. She was on the phone to James in the corridor and I got my camera ready while the others were chatting to her then I walked round the corner filming her. She absolutely screamed her head off! So loudly. It was great. She kept screaming then just hugging me for ages.

Definitely the best surprise I have ever kept! We then went down to the bar for a couple of drinks as we were making too much noise and all too excited. Then thankfully it was nightime so straight to bed! Today we are doing a Sydney orientation walk and the weather is lovely.

Will write more soon, the girls will be updating their blog with their version of events including Julie's arrival.

Jenx

No going back...

Aahh!!!! So it's all booked.... an around the world ticket to....

• LA
• Fiji
• New Zealand
• Australia
• Singapore
• Home

Aahh!!!!!!!!!!!