SYDNEY

12/12/10
First day in Sydney! Lets see, we did the walk up George Street, shopping in Victoria Shopping Mall and Pitt St= very veru cool! loving all the cute underground shopping malls here too. FUN! we then took the FREE bus to the pier where 'are you ready?' 'are you ready?'-charlotte! We saw the bright white shiny and big, too big, in our face, weren't expeciting it to be that close BIG! Opera House! HAHAHA!!! you always see pictures of it in the distance with the sea surrounding it and the bridge- never do u see it with all the pavement around it!! no no no!! this wasnt right! we took a few photos and jumped on the first ferry outta here to Manly Island- lol it wasn't that bad- in fact it was bloody fantastic!!! :D

I would upload more photos but it isn't working- check out my flikr http://www.flickr.com/photos/ellyball/ for more pics of Syndey.

Manly was uber cool- typical auzzie seaside town, lots of surfer dudes and dudettes, busy busy beach also full of many red brits! hahaha!! it had a pretty awesome vibe though, some nice bars and cafes, a market and people playing volleyball on the beach! all u need eh?

Canberra-Sydney11/12/10

Our final day on tour! And we're in Australia's capital. We did the whole parliement tour thingy and wow these buildings are pretty cool! very swanky! :P Us girlys had a bit of fun too :D

After our tour we went for a picnic/ bbq near the two lakes. It was a tad windy though.

Soon enough we were back on the road headed straight for the big city.
SYDNEY BABY!!!!

Sydney is awesome! only been here 5 mintues and already love it! The atmostphere is really good. Me, Charlotte and Emma stayed at Wake Up! and Nicki at Base. Both were rather snazy! haha!
We got settled and got ready for a girls night out! woo hoo! excited!
Us three went for a cocktail in the nearby backpackers bar SCUBAR!!
Then we walked up George Street to Base to meet Nicki and go to Scary Canary! OH YES!! hah!!

Mount Kosciuszko-10/12/10

WOW! what a coolio mountian! SO very bizzare to be in a ski lodge in winter- yet im in australia and its summer!!! Quite an experience! haha! So we left Lakes Entrance at 6.30am - ventured through some cool towns, some of which were like ski towns, Freders was one of them! I counldn't tell you the long name as Australians shorten every word!!
Mount Kosciuszko is named after some polish dude I believe, and it is situated in the town of Thredbo! Nice little town. We arrived around lunch time- and after some munch when straight up this beast. Took the ski lift and everything. It was super windy up there. BUT lots of fun!! Got some nice pictures :D

And guess what we found??
SNOW!!!! it is christmas after all! whoop whoop!!:D :D :D :D

Me and Emma walked back together- and boy oh boy was it fun! we went rock climbing and everything! Once we were back at the lodge- Charlotte was in bed watching some crime movie! This is awesome! The lodge had tv, soap, shampoo and conditioner and most importantly TEA in the room!!!!!!!! We were in Heaven! haha! We watched a couple of movies and lazed around until dinner time! And wait for it, after dinner us four girlys got in the hot tub!!! OH YES!! Living the Dream!! HAH!!

Australia is an extension of the UK

So I reckon!! You drive on the left hand side, road signs are green, motorway- blue, tourist- brown! Its just bigger and there are some funky animals but all in all it just feels like im in the UK but with more to see. Maybe it would be different if it wasn't raining all the time!!!!!!
AND there is always British and American TV on all the time!!

OK SO- MELBOURNE
8th December 2010
Im staying in St Kilda- Its pretty awesome here- loving the trams, and the funky shops, bars and cafes remind me of Brighton. This area inparticular feels quite hippie/bohemien which is awesome!

Had a walk around St Kilda, sun set on the beach and saw the cute penquins on the Pier! :)
As I was leaving the next day I didnt have time to go into Melbourne itself which is a bummer- BUT theres always next time!

Wednesday 9th December
Melbourne - Lakes Entrance= amazing!
Oz experience pick up at 7am and we meet our tour guide Guido! Super cool guy- very entertaining and full of energy- DID not stop talking! which is good and bad! LOL!!
There was 7 of us on the bus- small group

Through Victoria- lots of telly tubby hills!
Into Willsons Promontory National Park
Such gorgeous green rolling hills here- like Scotland! reminds me of the road from Stonehaven to Banchory!!
And then we came to Squeaky Beach- WOW!! Perfect white sand- better than Fiji!!!! haha!and turqoise waters....I wish I could stay longer!!!

I was in my element- took A LOT of photos!! soo happy! wish it didnt feel so rushed though.

We met at the other side, near Tidal River- after our 1 and a half hour walk. BBQ time!! woo hoo!
We cooked up a storm on the barbie- Guido even did bubble and squeak! no fricking salad cream though! lol!
After lunch we hopped back on the bus!!!
2/3 hours later we arrived at an EXTREME slide called THE WORM!!!!! Guido was banging on about this slide for the past hour- but in the end it turned out to be a kids bumpy tunnel slide! pretty extreme!! LOL! it was a nice break though- and we played around for a bit!! haha!!!
We arrived at Lakes Entrance at 7ish- just in time for some fish and chips! And then a romantic walk on the beach for sun set!!! awww....

-For more photos see http://www.flickr.com/photos/ellyball/

Fly to Brisbane

Thursday 2nd December 2010
8.15am Depart Fiji
9.15am Arrive Brisbane, Australia

Train to Varsity Lakes when my cousin Jodie is coming to pick me up- YIIIPPEE!! Very excited to be here, although it is chucking it down! Isn't it SUMMER???
It's wierd how you picture a place and it is completely different in reality. I did not expect Australia to be tropical- I suppose I thought it would just be hot and dry. But its really humid and there are lots of tropical birds and plants- palm trees :D very cool!
Jodie's house is soo lovely- finally got to meet her kids Jake and Brooklyn and her hubby Mick. My Aunty Sue came over later as well- soo good to see family.

Friday 3rd- Finally saw Harry Potter- WOW I cannot wait for the next one
Saturday 4th- Jodie took me to work with her and I got a free facial and pedicure. WINNER! :P haha!
Walked around the area of Burleigh Heads- nice beach and you can see Surfers cityscape from there. It would have been doubly cool if the sun was out and I could take some pictures, but NO it was still chucking it down. Its like monsoon weather here! mental! The bad weather keeps following me I swear.
Later we all went out for dinner- I finally met with my uncle (that sounds funny doesn't it?) Uncle Keith- and we all went for a mexican in Coolangatta.
Sunday 5th- shopping :D
Tuesday7th- Aunty Sue picked me and Jake up and we went to her housee! DOUBLE WOW!!! the back of her house looks out over the most amazing view! I will take some photographs when the rain stops I promise! But WOW OH WOW!!! There were parrots and cockatoos flying about as well! I did take some photos in the end, but seem to have misplaced my uploader wire thingy!
Its crazy- Sue lives over the boarder into New South Wales and there is an hour time difference here! How mental is that? I was scared I was going to miss my flight the following morning.
Wednesday 8th- Fly to Melbourne to start my Oz Experience adventure!!

It's Christmas!!- so Eilidh thinks!

1st December 2010
Last night we arrived on South Sea Island, the sun was setting and it was soo cute! the smallest island ever- we walked around it in about 7 minutes! haha!! We had a yummo-ish dinner and purchased a bottle of red!
At midnight Eilidh whispers to me- It's Christmas!!! eeeee....

Today- it is SOOO HOT!!! like too hot it's amazing! Heard our first christmas tune of the year on Fiji radio- very cool! out to the sun loungers at 9am! :P
We had an awesome fun filled day- lots of activities including a submarine ride, snorkling with more jellyfish stings DOH! some tribal entertainment from the Fijians, sarong tying, bracelet buying, you could even plant coral cos it was eco day! how funny! we didn't do that though! ooo and we both got a hair braid and matching Fiji bracelets :D

submarine fun!!

We finally said goodbye to South Sea Island and headed back to Nadi Bay Resort for our last night in Fiji.

Port Denarau-and the Yesawa Flyer (yellow boat)

Goodbye Fiji! It's been fun! :P

Scott's Birthday!

So its the 30th November in Fiji today so HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCOTT BAXTER!!!!!! hehe!! love you!
Todays forecast- SUNSHINE!! hello! i've bloody well missed you! haha!

I woke up at 6am- saw that it was sunny and got straight to the beach with my camera. haha!

bit squint- need a wee bit of photoshoppy i think! haha! :P

Such a gorgeous walk along the beach and no one around! :) happy days! I even had to sit down and take it all in- AWESOME!
After breakfast me and eils went straight back to the beach and set up our sun loungers for the day! I got my goggles out- (no need for $20 to borrow snorkle gear when i can wear my ever so trendy gogs that were a 5er and let water in-LOL)
The fish were amazing out on the reef though- i felt like i was one of them swimming about- finally felt like a mermaid! HAHA! or something from finding nemo- i was super happy! the fish were so colourful- didnt see any nemos though- that was pretty upsetting. i saw a couple of HUGE bright blue starfish though- they were the best- it was funny to see them all curled round bit of coral or just flat oot on the sea bed! I couldnt help myself and think of finding nemo quotes the whole time- thought of jill and i just couldnt stop laughing bubbles under the water to myself! hahaha! idiot!

To dry off I took another walk by my lonesome- well i had my wee buddy d90! he's so cool! although should have thought about taking the lens cap as poor lens got a bit mucky from all the salty water windyness! heres a few snaps from my walkabout Mantaray Island-

I liked photographing the rocks over the beach- the sand wasnt white like i thought fiji sand would be- instead it was pretty corally- sore on ones feet!! :O

had to be done :S
now back to my rocks-

not very good photographer am i? bloody squint photos- haha! Andy would not be happy! :P but i was sooo snap happy i just wanted to take lots and lots of photos and didnt get all perfectionist about them! hmm- will sort this out on a later date!

Later....after luncheon we were off on the boat to go to another island, however...we were waiting in the smaller boat for over an hour. Some of us decided to go and jump in to cool off- it was bloody hot and we were all burning i tell you!! it was definately a good idea to begin with- we were all happily swimming- just keep swimming, just keep swimming- you know how it goes! AND THEN....JELLOFISH!! I mean jellyfish- i just got excited and carried away just then!! Yep first i heard it, then i felt it. little nips on my skin. we all swam as quickly as we could and get back on the boat! Although I felt the stings- i didnt have much of a mark- little ones on my knee. RUBBISH! i wanted some war wounds to tell the grandkids one day! LOL! --NAH!
Anyways- goodbye Mantaray Island. (WAVE)

Dutch girl- who (not so much here) i think looks identical to the girl in parent trap. NO not lindsay lohan- the old parent trap!! doesnt she? yes!!! me- looking all fresh from the salty waters and jellofish stings, and brazillian guy. All three of us were having a good chat about our cameras at this point :P two thumbs up, fine holiday fun! i think i've said this before! doh!