Have you ever, ever felt like this?

For most people the best moment of the Great Ocean Road Tour is seeing the remaining eight of the Twelve Apostles, the main reason people go on the tour. But, for me it was seeing an icon from a tv show from my youth. Some of you may remember the kids aussie programme "Round the Twist", a ridiculously bizarre show that was a bit crap but I always watched it whenever it was on.  The tour took us past the lighthouse where the programme was set and me being me just had to get a pic in front of it. Unfortunately I was a bit late getting the camera out as we drove past it so had to settle for a long distance shot from a beach further up the coast. Luckily I asked a fellow SLR user who was able to manipulate the camera but as you can see even good photographers are not miracle workers! 

Melbourne

(Written on 29th June)

Today I fly back to Sydney to catch an early morning flight to Kuala Lumpur. I'm ready to leave the western world behind me for a couple of months and experience something new and different but that's not to say that I haven't enjoyed my time in Australia. 

Sydney is a great cosmopolitan city with lots to do and great beaches but I felt more of an affinty to Melbourne. It's a very relaxed city and much more compact than Sydney. In fact I've been thinking about getting a 1 year work-travel visa and coming back to Melbourne in the UK autumn, just in time for Aussie summer, and making sure I'm here for the Australian F1 Grand Prix in April :)  

One of the highlights was the Tim Burton exhibition at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image. An amazing exhibition espcially of you like Tim Burton's stuff and really helps you understand how he thinks and where he comes up with his weird and wonderful movies.

I loved walking around the city which is small enough to be able to navigate after just one day and the free tourist shuttles help too!  One walk took me down little cobbled streets and alley ways filled with quirky shops, bars and cafe's that I wouldn't have known about otherwise. 

I'm also getting back into experimenting with photography after a break of a few months. The Sydney Opera House was the first in what I hope will be an exciting few months of digital memories. Melbourne doesn't have the famous landmarks Sydney does but you can still get pretty great views from the southbank and I've had fun trying to take some self portraits - one downside of travelling alone is that there's never anyone around to take a picture of you in front of the big attractions so instead you look like a bit of a schmuck setting the timer and running in front of the camera in time for an out of focus, half-in snap shot.  Makes for some of the funnier memories though :)  

Sydney

(This was written on 18th June, just didn't get around to uploading it!)

Today I'm taking a train to the Blue Mountains just outside of Sydney for what I'm told are some pretty great photo ops.  But I've already been up to quite a bit since I arrived a week ago.

It makes me laugh when I see Aussie's walking around in hats, gloves and scarfs and it's nearly 20 degrees outside but I guess when you're used to 30+ temperatures most of the year it's not such a strange thing. One thing about the nice winter weather is that the beach is always beautiful and great for a day out. I've been to Manly beach and walked the 6km cliff trail from Coogee Beach to Bondi Beach. All the guide books tell you to do it the other way around but a friend of mine with local insider knowledge advised me to do it starting at Coogee with the reward being the immense crescent of Bondi, and boy was she right! - Thanks Joanne :). Both days were warm enough to sit on the beach and watch the surfers and many people were out in their bikinis sun bathing. It definitely makes me want to come back during the summer months where I'm sure there will be a completely different vibe.

I checked out the fish market the other day and was a little disappointed as I expected it to be hugh and packed with young guys throwing fish over peoples heads and and people bartering with one another for the best price but it was small and very tame, more a tourist attraction than anything else. The most disappointing part of all was the actual fish and chips, chips were frozen and the fish was over cooked. Maybe I've been spoiled growing up near Whitby who have some of the best f&c's in, what I now know to be, the world!

Now that I'm nearly half way through my trip I'm realising the all western cities are pretty much the same - a Maccy D's on every corner, nice skyline view and a tower where you can see the city from a birds point of view.  I'm starting to feel like I'm just joining the rat race and I'm itching to get to Asia to experience something different!  Just 12 more days in Oz then off to Malaysia :)

Days 1 - 31

So, here is my first entry from abroad.  I'm writing this on my first morning in Sydney in bed at 5.30am, wide awake from jet lag!

Here are a few highlights from my time in North America:

1. Completed a 10K AIDS walk in New York and raised money for charity.
2. Hung out with friends on a rooftop bar in the W Hotel in D.C.

3. Went to a red carpet birthday party on an army base making carting the dress and shoes half way around the world worth it! Shame there weren't more soldiers to ogle though!
4. Went to the Univer-soul Circus, an all black circus complete with pooing elephants! Damn, those guys got rhythm (the guys, not the elephants!).
5. Ate curry from three white guys riding around DC in a strange but funky van, wearing turbans and generally just spreading the lurve!
6. Got a little merry on a Redwoods and Sonoma Wine Country tour in San Francisco.
7. Had a gourmet meal in the Observatory Restaurant atop Grouse Mountain with my Dad and amazing views of, well, fog...but we got some pretty great photos on the way up and saw some bear cubs.



8. And finally, took a trip to Whistler Village for Lunch and got some great views of Blackcomb and Whistler ski runs still with snow - unfortunately, not enough to actually ski on :o(  Some serious mountain bikers were making good use of them though! 

Now, after my first day in Sydney, been out drinking with my roommates to try to combat jet lag by staying up as late as possible (managed about 11pm) - not sure that worked - and have plans to watch England kick arse with USA in their first World Cup match of 2010.  Just hope I can stay up to 4.30am to get to Darling Harbour to see it on the floating screens??!!

(Check out some more photo's on my facebook page.)

Getting ready for the off

I've just finished a two year graduate training programme and like many other 26 year olds, I don't quite know what to do with the rest of my life. So, the next 4 months or so will be spent travelling the globe visiting friends and exploring new countries.

My route: Manchester - New York - Washington, D.C. - San Francisco - Vancouver - Sydney - Melbourne - Kuala Lumpur - Cambodia - Thailand - India - Kenya - Manchester.

I leave three weeks today and will be spending those three weeks firstly getting rid of this cold, and then getting all of the basic essentials needed for my trip.  The most important of course being the backpack! 

Basic planning will be done but mostly I just want to wait and see what happens along the way and who I meet to dictate what I do rather than having a prescriptive itinerary to stick to - those things never fit in with my personality!

So, watch this space - hopefully there will be a few interesting, maybe scandalous (?) tales to tell!