Australia part 2 29th Feb...Melbourne and the home of Neigbours..

Well here I am back in Aus, where the sun shines, where any and every animal or insect  wants to rip you limb from limb or just plain wants to kill you.....but I love it, just have to remember not to go off into the bushes for a call of nature like you could in NZ. No going paddling..or anywhere upto the waters edge in general..or 'a salty will git ya'...this could also apply to snakes/spiders/jellyfish/trees/scorpions, or a Koala whos not had his eucalyptus intake for the day. Im in Melbourne, the capital of Victoria. There's a bitter rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne...hence Canberra was made the capital as the two argued so much over who was to be capital that they built a whole new city just to keep the peace, (and im sure they had a barbie after to celebrate..;-))....This is all back in the day, Melbourne tired of paying taxes to Sydney wanted to be its own state, a group of envoys made the 3 month trip back to England to meet with the Queen (Queen Victoria ) asked her to give them their own state. All this was behind Sydneys back...with the promise to call the new state after her. The queen couldnt refuse, much to the annoyance of Sydney. This was made even more infuriating for Sydney when, low an behold Melbourne had declared its found a large gold deposit (the third largest in the world infact) just a week after being granted the request from Queen Victoria.... So the rivarly continues to this day....even the bridge over the Melbourne river was made one meter higher than its Sydney rivals bridge...just to rub it in...

I got to Melbourne after a good flight, it was a long day and by the time I reached the arrivals it was gone 10pm so i was pretty knackered anyway. The flight was great, even got a free meal, it was a big ol China air. 777 and packed. Most of them sitting there in surgical masks....(hope my organs are still in there when we land..;-)).. once we landed in Melbourne (thankfully with all my bits) the selfie takers would be off back to Taiwan.....I booked my hostel already in NZ (inbetween running and holding onto a post between earthquakes)..not really..;-)...., and I knew there was a bus that ran 24hrs from the airport into town. Going through immigrations was a breeze, all done electronically, I just walked through into the Aussi outside world. Caught my bus and was dropped off at the bus station only a few minutes walk from the hostel...I made a cuppa and crashed out for the night.

Next day I was up early, and out for an explore. Its a nice city Melbourne, modern, easy to get around with the trams and buses...I went to a street where its graffiti art....a polite way to say the buildings were all daubed in paint. I like it, its colourful, i took some photos, they come out nice. Its a busy city compared to NZ. It has been voted the most livable city five years in a row.  I booked a tour as well for the next day along the great ocean road, its reputed to be the most beautiful scenic road in the world with its ocean views....ill have abit of that. But I was content today to just wander about...mainly lost..and explore Melbourne. 

The trip to the great Ocean rd started at 7am, i was up and ready...I was actually on the reverse ocean road tour, this one goes to the furthest point and works back, this way avoiding all the other tours..(you do not drive in reverse the whole tour...i checked....not another Aussie extreme sport...;-)) The mini bus was full, French, Germans, Argentinian, Japanese a couple of Aussi's and me. The first stretch was a long 2 hrs drive through not so scenic views...but nice enough. Then eventually we hit the coast. The views were lovely, high cliffs with big surf below, lovely sunshine...(.yes sunshine! Hear that NZ..) ..The highlight was the "twelve apostles" a famous rock formation off the coast. Now its advertised as the twelve apostles, but theres only actually eight rocks...impressive non the less but only eight! Not sure if this is due to cutbacks or what but definatly not the full quota. The place was busy with tourists, It must get even busier if we had done the non reverse way...It was impressive. We also went to a bay where a ship wreck happened a hundred odd years ago....cant remember the exact era...(have trouble remembering what day of the week im on, or where i am for that matter). Its old anyway, there was just two survivors a 19 year old girl who couldnt swim ( how ironic is that) and a 19 year old lad.....kind of an "Aussi Titanic"...its a wonder the films not been made. Anyway they "sheltered" in these caves and was rescued next day, but its become a tourist hotspot now. The beach is completely walled in with great sheer cliffs apart from a small opening...You could have made the film "The beach" here....no fear of stoned hippies moon dancing, walking into camera shot. The road snaked onwards along the coast, you can see why its so popular it is gorgeous. We stopped at a river in a rainforest....thankfully there was no rain (dont forget my poncho comitted suicide in New Zealand)...The forest was hundreds of thousands of years old...there was trees there, 700 years old...it looked like jurassic park, an amazing place, but alas no wildlife, apart from our group. 

Ive been in Australia for a month already, (this is counting the both times) and I havent seen a koala yet, today that changed. I saw my first hairy ball of fur munching away in the tree, they are cute theres no denying. These were wild ones, but sat there on the branches happily munching away....They only eat eucalyptus leaves nothing else, theres several different variaties but these are such fussy eaters that they will stick to one tree and eat it bare...smelling each leaf to make sure its their favorite type, even though they havent moved off the tree in months. They also have clymidia...where that came from who knows? But I wont be cuddling one of these balls of fur knowing that now...We passed the scenes of destruction caused by wildfires Christmas just gone, homes and forest destroyed, but its all coming back to life again now. Even stopped at a famous surf beach...it was a lovely day. Once back in the city we were dropped off. So ended my great ocean road trip. It was a long day and ive got a stinking cold so decided to take a few days more here in Melbourne to chill out. There is other trips you can do,  penguin island, or to see "Ramsey street", you know 'Neigbours', i didnt even know it was still going? I remember Kylie and Jason in it but not seen it since...ill give it a miss though, but it costs A$55 if you want to see it yourself, and you get to meet one cast member ...;-). So here I sit in the hostel, I went shopping and got a kangaroo steak and jacket tatty for tea, a box of tea bags, but Im not doing alot of walking about, I need to shake this cold off. 

Still in Melbourne.....4th March...

Feeling abit better, the rest has done me good, my little bluetooth keyboard I bought to write my blog has sadly died though....its been playing up since I left Bali, having to hold it up and pinch it to use the keys on the right side...then in NZ the 'E' and the 'F' stopped working...then last night just before it was mysteriously thrown against the wall the delete key just kept deleting.....My phone then came out in sympathy, because that just gave up and died to. I spent a whole day going around town trying to get it fixed. Can you imagine being the other side other world without a phone? It was like I was adrift in lifes life boat...alright abit dramatic...but better than writing "peed off"...first my poncho...then my keyboard, now my phone! I didnt get any joy getting it fixed.... (hope Kim invades the bloody HTC factory in Korea!..) I did buy a new phone in the end. Ill write my blog like normal people without a keyboard...so back to normal. On a plus side I have discovered you can video call with facebook messenger....how cool is that, so spoke to my mom and dad last night...then Clare and the kids. It was so lovely and cheered me right up. The other side of the world and I can see and chat like I was next to them....bless. Ill end this blog here and post it as its been a while since I did one....so here it is ....😆  

Melbourne to Sydney.......

I got to see fair bit of Melbourne with its old historical Cathedrals and stations, I loved the way the metro zipped over head and the old trams coast between the traffic.  You can see why its voted the best city to live. People love food here, everywhere you go theres some bar or restaurant, (except sunday roasts but the less said about that the better )..takeaways...a whole street in some cases like a mini Cambden market, only much warmer...much much warmer!..I saw more graffiti streets. After having spent another few days of doing nothing but walking around aimlessly I decided to go back to Sydney, dont get me wrong Melbournes a lovely place, but Ill get to see abit more of Aus before I head home, yes Ive decided to come back, its been 9 months; I've had an amazing adventure but I need to rest my weary legs and find work now.......until the next travel at least..;-). 

 Now the bus will take me to Sydney for A$100 will take over 12 hours and it runs at night. All that springs to mind is freezing aircon, no sleep, caffine fueled bus drivers with a death wish, and a numb arse!... my poor 'arsenal' is still battered and bruised from months of travel. Or, I can catch a flight which takes 1 hour and costs A$30 less!. No contest really. I booked the ticket online, Tiger air next day at 4pm. Im going back to Sydney. 

Back to Sydney. 8th March. 

Now Tiger air is like the 'Ryan air' of Australasia...cheap no thrills budget airline. I self checked in, which meant I saw no one but a machine. I walked up to the check in area, entered my details on the screen, and out popped my ticket and luggage tag..once I read the instructions on how to attach the tag to my bag ...(think it must be the class of people they expect..;-)) I proceeded to the bag conveyer, after placing it on I had to check the boxes asking if Id packed it myself, have no flammables, and no bombs. I resisted the urge to see what would happen if i ticked the bomb box....The bag weighed just over 20 kgs..but it let me off and off my bag went. That was it, I was checked in with no human interaction, apart from the security check....I had to get my camera bag and body swabbed for bomb residue...maybe they saw me loitering on the "did you pack a bomb" button on check in??. I was all clear anyway...phew..Once in the departure lounge I found a spot and surfed the web, read my book, people watched.....the time soon came to board. As we queued a bloke was weighing carry on bags, 'gulp'( your only alowed 6 kgs) mine was just over 10kgs, all my cameras and equipment..doh....I used the 'jedi mind trick'....if your not familiar...you control the minds of others, I kept saying..(in my head of course) "you dont need to weigh my bag...you dont need to weigh my bag"... It worked! He just said "its only a small bag no problem", and went on to the next person....now im not saying im a Jedi master or anything like that ;-) guess im just a lucky get, or nan and grandads up there looking after me. I boarded and we soon took off. Only a short flight to Sydney, barely enough time to read all the inflight safety instructions....which also includes what to do it a 'salty gits ya'....'a shark attack' or 'snake bite'......not really. 

Im back in Sydney, I got the metro back to central station and checked into the hostel I stayed before, I booked until Sunday and may venture up the East coast for a bit, see how it goes. The staff recognised me even after being away nearly 2 months...guess im just unforgetable. ;-) I made up my bunk and went to the supermarket for some bits. Its nice being familiar with a place. I decided to go to Bondi beach next day and catch some sun, it will be a relaxing day, nothing strenuous. Then the next day i would stay local. The new phone ive got has this little app called fitbit..I didnt know at first but it counts your steps...every now and then I would get a chime and a notification come up that ive acheived my target of 6000 steps for today...(didnt even know i had a target) a pretty cool app...my record so far in the week ive had the phone is 22000 steps...17.4klm...owz that! Sad that was the day I stayed in the hotel and it was counting my toilet runs.....really should stop drinking so much tea!! ;-)... not really but I did do 22000 steps...im averaging 10klms a day...not bad for a trainee cocoon huh. 

Bondi beach was great, the sun was shining, found a good spot, didnt take long as its not a big beach as you recall my previous dissapointment, it wasnt busy but enough people. I had my longji, my baywatch trunks and layed there soaking in the sun. I did plan going swimming but a helicopter kept circling, which can only mean theres a big bloody shark out there waiting for a snack. So I stayed on terra firma....After a while I got bored, I cant sit there and baist like the old days...I listened to my 'Mumford and sons'....thanks Clare ..:-)..abit of Moby, (great travel music)...Avicii......I dont have alot of music now since my phone died, but these albums thankfully backed up...I watched the surfers...the girls I was going to marry...;-)...all 162 of them...I love Bondi beach...:-). Then decided to head back, a great day...but think I got burnt. The next day I walked around Sydney harbour, the Queen Mary 2 was in port, it made a good backdrop. Im still abit tender from the beach yesterday so stayed in the shade as much as possible while walking around. One thing I have noticed is there's alot of beggers here in Sydney, the stations have there fair share of nutcases and loons but its not a city you feel threatened in. Im quite happy to walk around with my camera, in Cambodia or London I put it away in a scruffy looking bag until I need to take a pic. Ive been lucky so far. I still love this place, despite the hazards of the local wildlife, and Manly beach is where Id live....come on euro millions!!!

After a good day of walking about, I need to get back to the hostel before the kitchens become an arena....it seems everyone eats around the 7pm mark, to cook anything during this time you have to stand behind our asian friends while they chop....then take a selfie...chop chop chop......selfie selfie selfie....selfie...selfie selfie selfie......you get the idea! This goes on, and on....so ive learnt to eat around five or risk being imprisoned...and quite frankly the smell of rice and noodles cooking will send me over the edge!

Time to go home...21st March. 

Ive been looking online for tickets home now, trying to piece together a cheap route that wasnt over 24hrs and not via China....lets face it you think they would let me back in after what ive been saying?  I wanted to surprise my bruv in Dubai but it was far more expensive and having to spend 20hrs in Turkey decided against it. Sorry bruv.  I looked at Malaysia air too, a kind of magical mystery tour...cheap as chips but we know why. Clare talked me out of it. Ive now booked my flight on Qatar air, its a new route, cheap and I lived in Doha for 5 years so a nice little reminice....just hope they dont remember me ...;-) its only an hour stop over to change planes so cant go and explore my old haunts, it would have been lovely to catch up with everyone. In total its over 24hrs travelling...I will be like a zombie...😆 

The past few days the weather hasn't been all sunshine, It rains here in Sydney too, ( I wasnt going to tell you that..) I think it's followed me. I haven't got wet through though this time and was able to get out and about between showers. I've even managed to get back to Manly beach and spent the day on there...( sun was out that day) Today I did my laundry, got rid of some old stuff and bought a few bits. I've packed my bag which will be the last time ....(until next time 😊) I've lived out of this bag for 9 months stayed in some right dives and travelled thousands of miles across the globe...the bag is part of me. I'm looking forward to going home, I'm tired now and yet sad it seems to have come around so fast. I set out with the world at my feet, and looking back it has been an epic experience, Ive learnt alot about myself, I survived 'the bear' on the trans Siberian, not forgetting their cuisine.   I've endured near starvation in China, and developed 'Chinese food tourette's'.....nearly blown up in Bangkok, nearly eaten by countless wild animals, and near shaken to death in New Zealand. The worst experience by far was the running out of teabags incident in Vietnam, two days without a brew....two days!!! How I survived I'll never know. I've met some great new friends on the way and have memories that will curl your toes. Would I do it all again?... In a heartbeat! Tomorrow. Ive ticked off so many things on my bucket list, looking back at my photos I just think how lucky I am, 'was that really me?' ...and now for the next adventure. :-)

 My flights at 10:20pm tonight. I've a few hours to kill but this is for now at least my final blog. Thank you for following, until next time....it's been emotional.😀

March 21st 2016.....Sydney Australia.