Day 22 - Botany Bay

Today was Chaggie's first day to explore the local area we are staying in! Before heading off into the big city, Jodi had suggested that we use today to see some of the local areas that are very historic and significant to Australian history, that of course being Botany Bay - where the famous Captain Cook first landed in Australia.

Jodi (who works with her brother Matt) had been given the day off by Matt who manages her hours so that she could drive us around and show us the area. We got up about 10.00 and after having a quick breakfast we set off to Botany Bay with Jodi. Sadly, the weather was shocking. Rain was not something we were hoping to see whilst here, although I suppose we are more than capable of dealing with it! We arrived at the Visitors Centre at Botany Bay, a place which Jodi haden't even seen herself yet, so it was a usful trip for her too! We learnt an awful lot about Captain Cook and his team who had discovered the East Coast of Australia (he wasn't the first to discover Aus, the flippin' Dutch got there first, well the West Coast at least). Such facts as, he only spent 8 Days in Australia before leaving.. never to return! Instead he chose to return to this part of the world, but to go to New Zealand! One of his men, Joseph Banks, initially got all the public aclaim for discovering the East Coast, after he was the first to tell the King of England about the discovery and put his own little twist on the story! I doubt Cook was amused. Ironically, it would be Banks who would take the most interest in Australia, however he never returned either! Although he was the man who recommended European settlement in Australia. So it was a pretty interesting place!

After seeing Botany Bay, we headed into the local town to meet up with Matt and go for lunch at a fast food diner, perfect. Afterwhich we headed back to the house, stopping off at the Whale watching point on the way back. We didn't see any. After getting back to the house, Chaggie spent a solid 2 hours in the pool, which wasn't exactly warm but fun all the same! After that, we chilled out before Matt returned from work and challenged us to backgarden cricket - in the front garden. Chaggie felt sorry for him as the English were beating Australia enough in the cricket recently, so we let him win. Honestly. After that we decided to get take away Pizza and watch 'The Day After Tomorrow' with Jodi also.

A good first full day in Sydney, with many thanks to Jodi for driving us about! We are off into Sydney tomorrow! Lets hope the weather is decent!

Chaggie x

Day 21 - Sydney Arrival (Mon 29th Nov)

Our earliest wake up call yet, this morning we woke up at 04:30. Was a difficult start but after making sure everything was packed, we got our luggage into the car and set off to the airport at 05:30ish. We were once again fortunate to get a lift by Graeme which we are both very grateful for. Our time at Brisbane was fantastic and what Graeme and Lorraine have done for us is much appreciated. The fact they both managed to put up with us two was amazing.

We arrived at the airport for 06:00 and checked in, our flight was at 07:00, Virgin Blue only delayed us about 15 minutes this time so their getting better! Once again Chino managed to sleep the whole flight to Sydney, we arrived at 09:30 local time (Sydney is 1 hour ahead of Brisbane time, 11 hours ahead of English time). So only an hour and a half flight! We were picked up by our very good friend's Aunty (Rosie Bellisio's Aunty), Kathryn who gave a very friendly welcoming to Sydney. This morning Phill and Chino's luggage were both quickly reclaimed, managed to leave the airport around 10:00. Due to traffic it took Kathryn longer to get home, unfortunately the weather was pretty rough too. We arrived at Kathryn's home in Illawong and what a house! A really nice place with a nice sized pool and slide, Chaggie still can't believe how lucky they've been in finding such great people to take us in.

We were allowed to make ourselves at home and had breakfast once we got in, we were showed to our room where we dumped our stuff after. Kathryn had work today as well as her Son and Daughter. Kathryn's Son; Matthew and Daughter; Jodi chatted with Chino on the phone, they were eager to help us out with advice on what to do and see during our stay which was really good of them. They had work till 17:00ish so until they got home Chaggie tested the pool temperature and found it was perfect for a good couple of hours! We managed to get lunch at the local shops and check out the neighbourhood.

We met Matt and Jodi once they had finished work which was great, exactly like our friend Rosie, they're both friendly and easy to talk to. We chucked a rugby ball about outside for a bit before heading to the local pub with them around 18:30. The local pub was doing steaks and schnitzel's (chicken fillets) for $9 this evening, Chaggie and Matt managed to get through a few beers and a schnitzel whilst Jodi went off to Football training. Later this evening, we headed back home to a few more beers and a few games of Pool (yes they have a pool table as well!). So lucky to have found such friendly people to stay with in the one place we hadn't planned anything beforehand. Certainly going to be a good week!

Chaggie x

Day 20 - Boat Trip (Sun 28th Nov)

This morning was chilled out for Chaggie, no rushing to get anywhere, in fact we had a pretty chilled out day planned! Chaggie were up, dressed and eating outside with Graeme, Graeme and Lorraine by 07:30 this morning, really good weather to be outside today, not too hot and not too cold. Our plan today was to go out on Graeme's boat for the day!

After checking the weather forecast and seeing that for most of the day it was dry, we set off around 09:00 to the Marina where the boat had its own lock-up. Once we managed to tow it out with a Tractor, we got it to the wash bay where Graeme was able to fix what he found was wrong with it yesterday. All up and raring to get on the water, we were towed in shortly after. Lorraine stayed at home as she had a lot of stuff to get on with which meant today was a day for the lads. We set off to an island about half an hour from the marina and anchored close by. The boat was perfect size for the 4 of us, is certainly a beaut! This morning once we had anchored we could swim, chill out and drink a few bevvies before a lunch packed by Lorraine. After lunch we checked out the Island where Staggie managed to spot a couple of Wallabies!

This afternoon we rose the anchor at about 16:00 and headed back to the Marina. Got it cleaned and locked back up before heading home. Arriving back at 18:00 we got showered and prepared for a superb bbq with Graeme and Lorraine's family coming over.

Chino managed to get hold of his Dad, Russ this evening before everyone arrived. Was a fantastic evening and was great for Staggie and his Dad, Graeme to catch up with the family whilst Chino was able to meet them for the first time. The bbq was cooked by the Skipper himself (the other Graeme) who prepared a huge feast with the help of Lorraine. Was well prepared with Christmas decorations too. Was really nice to spend the evening with everyone before Chaggie's trip to Sydney.

Everyone had left by 21:00 after all our farewells, Chaggie had a lot of packing to get started with!!

Chaggie x

Day 19 - The Ashes

Day 19 started with optimism, mainly for Staggie. Chaggie was off to go and see Day 3 of the First Ashes Test between Australia and England at 'The GABBA'. (A very impressive stadium)

The Aussies started the day trailing England by about 40 runs with 5 wickets in hand, England needed to keep them to below 300, idealy but this is England we are talking about, nothing is that easy. The two Aussie batsmen (Brad Haddin and Michael Hussey) at the crease at the start of the day, shared a 300 run partnership (staggering) before Haddin was dismissed at around 15.30. Yes, we sat there from 09.30 to 15.30 before we saw a wicket fall. It was a ridiculous partnership! The longest 6 hours Chaggie had ever spent that frustrated! Oh well, as much as it pains me to say it, fair play to the Aussies.

In between those horrible 6 hours, Chaggie had enjoyed a lovely lunch break, we both had chicken and chips - $9.90 however! - but at that point food seemed the only thing that would keep us sane! During the 6 hours of torture, the most entertaining thing that was going on in the stadium wasn't the cricket, it was the fans! Generally when you mix English and Aussie fans, with plenty of beer, you are going to get some funny stuff to see, such as beach balls being thrown around the ground, mexican waves, paper aeroplanes, amusing chants and the odd fan making a fool of themselves. So the 6 hours could have been worse.. well maybe.

After Haddin was dismissed for an impressive 136, the rest of the Aussie team quickly fell after him. His partner in crime, Mike Hussey went for a magnificent 195, 5 short of a double ton (poor guy). Our spirits were raised slightly as England started to perform better. Australia were finally bowled out for 480 odd, and England had a tough hour or so to bat out and try not to lose any wickets. They didn't and ended on 19-0, so lets hope England can find something special to save the game!

Even though the cricket didn't turn out as we'd hoped, we still very much enjoyed our day, even though it sounds as if we didn't! After the cricket we came back to Graeme and Lorraine's to enjoy a wonderful Lasagne, cooked by Lorraine, superb, before settling down to watch television. Now waiting for the England vs South Africa rugby game later tonight! Hopefully something to cheer!

Hopefully the weather is lovely again tomorrow and we can go on Graeme's magnificent boat! Fingers crossed!

Chaggie x

Day 18 - Back to Brisbane

With Chaggie's flight time being at 16:35 this meant that Chaggie had basically the whole morning/afternoon to find something to do. Not easy in a place that doesn't have much to offer unless you are going out to the reef or to the rainforest. However, there was a certain cricket match going on which was fine for Staggie, Chino wasn't quite as excited though, fair enough.

We rose at 09:00 as we had to check out of our room by 10.00. We left our bags in the lock up and went to the Internet place to watch the Morning session. Very boring if your an England fan and even more boring if you don't like cricket! Oh well, Staggie wasn't too bothered but Chino was by now wishing Cairns had something more to offer.

At about 12 we decided to go and have lunch. We decided on a chinese takeaway. Sadly Chino didn't enjoy his, whereas Staggie did! After finishing our lunch, we then set off (after using all the credit on our internet card) to find a pub on The Esplanade that was showing the cricket. There was one, full of Aussies. Staggie bought half a pint to make sure they couldn't chuck us out and sat down for the afternoon session. A much better session for England as they fought their way back into the game to make it even more interesting for when we are there tomorrow!

At 14.00 we jumped into a Taxi and set off for the airport! It was a relief to finally say goodbye to our extremely basic hostel and look forward to getting back to Graeme and Lorraine's wonderful house and company where Staggie's Dad was also! Our flight left at around 16.50 and the flight would take around about 2 hours. Chino slept through the WHOLE flight! We landed at around 19.00 in warm Brisbane. Greeted by Staggie's Dad and Graeme, we set off back to Daisy Hill where Lorraine had cooked a lovely spag bol!

We are currently watching Indiana Jones before heading off to bed before the 3rd Day of the Ashes tomorrow!! Lovely.

Chaggie x

Day 17 - Staggie's Day - The Ashes

Before I say anything, this will be no where near as interesting a read as Chino's but here goes... (unless you agree with my choice to stay and watch the cricket)

After deciding that I would choose to watch the first day of the Ashes over going Whitewater Rafting, this meant I had a nice little sleep in, till about 09.30. After showering, I made my way through Cairns looking for cafe's that were showing the game, but I couldn't find any! A little concerning, however I then decided to see what the internet had to offer.

After finding out that the Aussie broadcasting company wasn't streaming the cricket on their website, I resorted to BBC Test Match Special (radio), and then realised I couldn't sit and listen to it all day! So I went on MyP2P (a website that streams live sport) to see if they were offering the game on their site. They were!!! So I started watching Sky Sports' coverage of the game untill the Lunch break, when I then went back to the hostel to get lunch for myself (the rest of the lunch Chino and I had purchesed yesterday). Whilst walking back I saw that one of the Food Courts in Cairns was showing the cricket too! So I decided to have lunch there. I sat there for the entire afternoon session (2 hours), England were crusing along at this point after a shaky start, lovely.

After the afternoon session, I went for a little swim in the Lagoon in Cairns. It was pretty dull doing it alone so only did so for about 10 minutes. Afterwhich I then decided to head back to the internet Cafe, as I didn't want to watch the cricket with the Aussie commentators being usually biased about their side, so Sky Sports seemed more attractive.

However, this was to be an eventfull session to say the least. A small matter of Peter Siddle (the jammy git) smashing through the England batsmen, picking up a Hattrick and 6 wickets in the proccess as England tumbled to 260 all out. Brilliant. That kind of made the day seem a bit pointless, meh never mind.

Now go and read Chino's post, its much more interesting. Trust :)

Here's to a better Day 2 for England, and Day 3 when we are THERE!

Staggie x

Day 17 - Chino's Day - Whitewater Rafting

Just when I thought I had seen everything Cairns had to offer, 'River Tulley' in the 'Misty Mountains' of Cairns' amazing rainforest offered stunning scenery as we struck grade 4 rapids.

It was an early start today waking up at 05:30! Was difficult especially having Staggie snoring away, oh how I envied him. At 06:30 the bus came and picked me up just outside the hostel and took the rest of the pick ups and I to their base in Cairns town centre. There we had to switch buses and on jumped one of the raft guides; 'Marty', a hench aussie preparing us for a day of getting wet and wild.

It was a 2 hour journey heading to south of Cairns. We made a breakfast stop at one of their companies own cafes where I pumped myself up by stuffing myself with a sausage roll. On the bus trip we were given groups and a briefing on safety and what to do in the raft at certian times. We got off at the top of River Tulley which had perfect water level today, so we were told. The weather today did start off pretty miserable yet was perfect weather for a good rafting session. As soon as we jumped off the bus we got into our groups and met our raft guide for the day, mine was a Kiwi from Queenstown named 'Ben', an experienced rafter who was in charge of the whole day. Being on the same raft as Ben was fantastic as he really gave us our money's worth putting us through the most extreme rapids (once he found we were all decent at it). Luckily I found myself in a good group full of Poms, all got on well and worked pretty well in the raft.

We jumped into our raft once we were all geared up and were given another briefing by Ben. We set off down Tulley at around 10ish. With names such as 'Double Waterfall' and 'Wet and Moisty', we were certainly tested but found it pretty easy keeping in the raft with lessons on how to keep balanced using our feet. The first set of rapids we were put through is named 'Alarm Clock' just to make sure we've woken up by this stage, it certainly managed to get us into it fast.

We had a good 2 hour rafting session this morning before stopping at a lunch stop just off the river. A set up BBQ, by this point Ben had already named us the 'A Team', splashing others with our paddles and showing them up over the rapids going the most extreme way each time.

After lunch we set off to complete the rest of our journey down with another 3 hour session. Facing rapids called 'Dissapearing Falls' and 'Flipper Wilson', half way through we stopped off at a 5 metre tall rock which we could jump off, the other guys in my team and I thought to somersault off, I can still feel the pain on my ass as I crashed against the water . After most rapids today we were able to jump off during a calm spot and have a swim with our life jackets still on. Was fun being able to drift off to the current. Only flipping over our raft once due to Ben having a laugh and teaching us what to do if we were put in the position again, the 'A Team' mastered River Tulley safely.

We finished about 15:00 and hit a traditional aussie pub. Had a pint with the team whilst looking at the pictures taken for the day.

This evening I got back at 18:00 and joined Staggie. Have showered and are now both ready to eat.

Overall an amazing experience, river Tulley is set right in the middle of the rainforest and is the only place to see all the amazing creeks, waterfalls and views around it. Rafting was exciting and was made into such an entertaining sport. Met some great people again and enjoyed every second.

Chino x

Day 16 - Chilling out in Cairns

Today Chaggie were supposed to be going White Water Rafting down the Russell River, with 'Foaming Fury', however, the huge amounts of rain in and around Cairns had meant that the river had flooded and meant that it would be too dangerous to raft. So today was a day for Chaggie to recover after a lot of early starts and busy full day trips for the last 3 days.

However, we still ended up waking at 08.00 to go and retrieve our refund from Foaming Fury after the cancellation. This only took around quarter of an hour, so Chaggie decided to head back to bed. We finally rose at 10.30, showered and went to check out Cairns and the area around our hostel (not much to see in Cairns itself, its all about the Reef and Rainforest).

At around 12.00 Chaggie went to the ironically named 'Woolworths', to buy cheap lunch, to last the last few days. We then got some more stamps, then proceeded to eat lunch at the Lagoon.
This afternoon consisted of chilling out in our tiny room, Chino made a trip to go on the internet to look at any rafting trips for tomorrow, Staggie then joined him in the internet cafe before Chino left to book a full days rafting. Staggie has decided to stay in Cairns to watch the start of the Ashes, obviously, not long until we are there ourselves!

Now off to go and get dinner! After a long and busy day... Not.

Chaggie x

Day 15 - Captain Matty's Barefoot Tour (Tue 23rd Nov)

Yesterday was our day trip around the 'Atherton Tablelands' visiting 5 lakes/waterfalls in one day! We started our morning at 06:30 again and were ready and waiting for our pickup at 07:30. Captain Matty himself was driving the tour bus, 'Captain Matty's Barefoot Tours' is an independent company owned by Matty himself; he's the tour guide, the driver and feeds us all day alone. A kiwi who certainly deserves his recognition of now being top of the attractions list in Cairns.

Our first stop this morning was to see a 500 year old strangler fig tree. A huge, historical tree looking exactly like the one in 'Avatar'. After taking pictures, we made our way to 'Lake Eacham', a volcanic crater lake formed 12,000 years ago. Out of the lakes/waterfalls visited, we got to swim in 3 of them! Lake Eacham was crystal clear and refreshing being formed from only rainwater, we had a good swim before breakfast provided by Matty.

The next stop was Dinner Falls, an amazing waterfall that again we could swim in. Next door to this waterfall was a 138m deep crater, of course chucking sticks and whatever we could find into this was a must do. After our swim we had lunch and a pint at a traditional Aussi pub in 'Milla Milla', Chaggie of course had the 'Pie and Chips' available, what Brits we are.

After lunch we weren't too far away from the 'Milla Milla Falls', the most popular and photographed waterfall in Australia (the one in Peter Andre's 'Mysterious Girl' video). A popular waterfall that once again we managed to swim in, this one was very cold, we were able to swim behind the waterfall and climb up the rocks giving us quite an amazing view.

Zilla Falls and Elinjaa Falls were next on the list, both picturesque waterfalls surrounded by rainforest and wildlife, these couldn't be swam in though due to time as well as strong rapids which could lead to death, so fair enough.


We stopped off at 'Josephine Falls' today, only to look at though due to flooding, the wet season has struck hard this year in OZ. This was where we stopped for another quick time to eat food provided by Matty.

It was after our stop this evening that Chino found a Leech sucking away at his ankle, only took a touch till he dropped off. Would have been on for a good couple of hours without Chino realising, so a pretty full leech.

We got a lift home and arrived at 19:00. Todays tour had great people on it from Austria, Germany and America. We met some great people including the Captain himself, who even managed to jump in the lakes/waterfalls with us today.

Before our drive back, Chino caught his eye on a piece of road kill! A good spot as it was a dead 'Cane Toad' which are poisonous toads hated by the Aussies.

Plenty of swimming done today in some of the most picturesque and crystal clear places we've been to and seen.

Chaggie x

Day 14 - Cape Tribulation

An early start at 06:30 this morning, Chaggie are surprisingly getting used to waking up at this time now, our 11am starts to the day are certainly over for good reason. Today was our day trip to Cape Tribulation, the oldest rainforest on the planet (140 million years old compared to the Amazon which is only 7 million years of age - Wow). It is the main rainforest in North Queensland.

We got picked up at 07:40 and were re-united with a tour guide we previously had for the River Tubing. His name is 'Roddy' and is a hilarious character and very knowledgeable of the area due to it being his homeland. Chino (due to his name being the same as one of Australia's solo artists, Alex Lloyd) was well remembered and picked on by Roddy with his sense of humour. Roddy certainly made the trip fun and interesting, an all round quality bloke.

We had a 2 hour drive roughly up to Cape Tribulation stopping at Port Douglas for breakfast and a Croc boat ride across the 'Daintree River', As we got to the end of our boat trip, we had set foot on Cape Tribulation territory and made our way for lunch at 'PK's Jungle Village'.

The day consisted of boardwalks through the rainforest, learning about weird creatures such as the 'Cassowary' and the 'Taipan' snake (the most deadliest snake in the world). As well as creatures we learned about the Trees you can find including the 'Walking Tree' and 'Strangling Tree' as well as the aboriginal culture with rumours of haunted lakes.

We got back from our trip at around 18:00 after passing through 'Mossman Gorge' and 'Port Douglas', will hopefully catch Roddy again on another day trip before we leave.

So far in Cairns, each night we have eaten at the same restaurant 'Cocoa Amour' making it 3 nights in a row so far. Well then... We better go make it 4 as we're starving.

Chaggie x

Day 13 - The Great Barrier Reef

Chaggie had to get up from their dump nice and early this morning to be ready and waiting at the dock gate. Today was our trip to the Great Barrier Reef. So we got up, brushed our teeth without having to get out of bed due to the sink being right next to it, got dressed and left to Cairns Harbour just 5 minute walk from us. Todays trip was with 'Deep Sea Divers Den', lunch included for the day and time to snorkel and dive.

The boat left at 08:30ish and we arrived at 10:00ish. Today Staggie had booked himself for the Snorkelling as Chino picked up his 2nd lesson in Scuba Diving. All sorts of tropical fish were seen today, a brilliant day with lots of photos and video thanks to a hired camera for only $50. All pictures put to disc so photos hope to be up soon!

Chino went down 12 metres this morning, had a half hour lesson. Again was tough getting down due to his ears and the equalizing but once down it was so worth it. Managing to get in photos with Nemo and the gang as well as testing a clamp fishes reactions, today was definately a great experience. Once lunch was over, Chino had his lesson and joined Staggie in Snorkelling around 'Turtle Bay', just one part of a reef we explored. Unfortunately today a Turtle wasn't seen, yet still so much life was arms length from us.

Overall a great day, unfortunately it wasn't as colourful today as it can be, the weather wasn't perfect but still enough to fulfill our expectations. We arrived back to Cairns at 16:30, got back to our dump and have now found a cheap internet place with cheap calls also.

Now to go and find somewhere cheap to eat.

Chaggie x

Day 12 - River Tubing! (Saturday 20th November)

Chaggie rose in their very drab room at about 08.40 and their immediate task was to try and find something to do during the day, to avoid total boredom. We went down to the travel agents not far from our digs, and, after receiving leaflets the night before on things to do, Chaggie had a much better outlook and plan on what they were going to do for the week. The lady in the travel agents suggested, as it was too late to do a full day activity, the River Tubing on River Mangrove, which was a 14.00 pick up outside our hostel.

River tubing is basically sitting in a big blow up doughnut, then letting the rapids in the river take you down the river, whilst also trying to avoid quite big rocks in the water. It's not quite as extreme as White Water Rafting, but if you didn't have your whits about you, you could find yourself either underwater, or on a rock.

Chaggie thoroughly enjoyed their time River Tubing, although the weather wasn't great, this wasn't really an issue when the beauty of the rain forest surrounding us was enough of a sight.

The tour guide was a laugh, we got to the bottom of the river and were allowed to go back halfway and go over again.

Chaggie got back to Cairns at about 18.30, and after showering, had a well earned dinner and an early night ready for their Scuba/Snorkeling adventure on the Great Barrier Reef the next day! This could be the highlight of the whole trip so far!

Chaggie x

Day 11 - Off to Cairns! (Friday 19th November)

Chaggie woke up at around 07:00, and started to pack their clothes as they got ready for the trip up to Cairns!

Spirits where high after ensuring everything was packed up. Chaggie, after having no food left what so ever eating our $40 bargain of weekly food then had to settle for a MacDonalds breakfast, which as always is so good!

The day before Staggie had sorted out a Taxi service that would take us to Robina train station, it included a ticket for a train from Robina to Brisbane Domestic Airport Station as well. This would cost Chaggie $45 each. Not bad. Chaggie got to the Airport at around 12.00pm and waited for the Chauffeur to ask for payment, Chaggie found themselves watching him drive off without asking. Excellent! Got away with that one (shows how crap the reception were who organised this transport and just forgot to ask for payment themselves). We arrived at the Airport at 12:00 giving us loads of time before our 13.40 flight to Cairns. However our flight was delayed till 14.35 which was irritating.

We got to Cairns at about 18.00, and after a long long wait for our bags, we arrived at our hostel, in the middle of a busy restaurant/hostel street on The Esplanade. Off we went up to our room, to find it consisted of a bunk bed and a sink. That.. was.. it. A bit of a shock, but we just had to make sure that we were busy most days and not stuck in our room!

After dinner, Chaggie went to bed at about 11pm after all the noise had stopped in the Common room in our hostel. Hoping to make friends with the rest of the Backpackers within the hostel, we soon found out that it would be difficult seeing as we are the only Brits and english speaking travellers. Lots of Korean and Chinese all staying within their groups. Not very approachable. Spirits were not quite as high now, but it could only improve, SURELY?!

Chaggie x

Cairns Internet Issues!

Since we have arrived in Cairns at our very basic youth hostel, we thought we'd buy an internet card belonging to the company; 'Global Gossip'. Having paid $50 for internet within the hostel for the week, we found where ever you go in the hostel the signal for the internet is awful. You either end up waiting 10 minutes for it to connect before losing connection, or not being able to connect at all and the hostel doesn't do re-funds. Brilliant!

It's taken us since Friday till now to find an internet place belonging to 'Global Gossip' where we can now use our card. So with fast internet our daily updates will continue, as well as writing about what we have done so far. It's now Sunday 21st November as I write this.

Chaggie x

Day 10 - Rainforest Adventure

Today saw Chaggie have a rather late start in getting out the apartment, yet an early one for rising from bed. Staggie woke up at 05:00 to watch the England vs France football match live. It was a poor 2-1 defeat, yet Staggie was pleased with Newcastle player Andy Carroll' debut England performance. He was joined by Chino at 08:00.

After breakfast Chaggie had packing to do in preparation for tomorrows flight to 'Cairns'. We packed our bags, started some washing and cleared up the place a bit. We then had to work out our way of getting to the airport. After having to wait again for the receptionist to get off her lunch break we worked out a cheap way costing $45 each in getting there, by shuttle bus and then train.

Today was overcast all day with patches of rain throughout, it took us untill 15:00 to finally get out of our appartment after a morning stuck indoors. We hit the indoor pool which already had a family using it. Thinking we could get in and put pressure on them to get out the pool, we soon found we lost by giving up and leaving ourselves. It was too cold for the beach and the outdoor pool got cold quick so us girls retreated back indoors.

Once showered we had to get out again, we couldn't see ourselves looking back on the day with only going in the indoor pool for an hour. So a stroll across the beach it was. We walked a couple of kilometres getting to the Burleigh Head National Park. Thinking it would be a short walk through a small forest, we were wrong. It turned out to be a 1 hour long walk through a rainforest, getting lost on the way. As it soon got dark we found ourselves getting out into civilization again at 19:00. We were a little anxious to get out, so it was a relief to do so, although not exiting from the same place we entered the rainforset from, but we found the beach we came from, thankfully.

Now looking back on our afternoon we're pretty glad to just be under a shelter for the evening. Will be an early start tomorrow, after dinner tonight we're going to have no food left so a healthy McDonalds breakfast it shall be before a 10:10 pickup.

Anyway back to our tinnies.

Chaggie x

Day 9 - Surfers Paradise

This morning was an early start at Gold Coast, Chino got up at 06:00 and managed to get through to a few people on skype now that we finally have internet! Staggie rose at 08:00, breakfast was sorted and Chaggie were ready by 10:00 to catch a bus to 'Surfer's Paradise'. Taking only half an hour to get there roughly we got straight to it and headed for QDeck, the World's tallest residential building at 78 floors.

We bought our tickets at the desk and went through to the lift which also had World recognition of being the fastest lift reaching floor 77 from level 1 in 43 seconds approximately.

As we quickly reached the top we found ourselves outnumbered by a huge amount of Chinese tourists, as well as this there was a lot of fantastic views! The building has been made to show 360 views of Gold Coast. Chaggie made sure they took advantage taking lots of pictures.

After a while we were pretty certain we had seen enough of Gold Coast, we headed on down to the Beach. We got back to our appartment this afternoon at around 14:00ish, had lunch here to save some cents.

This afternoon Chaggie went to the hotels inclusive gym before hitting Burleigh Beach. Was getting late at this point, the sun had gone down so was pretty cold. Afterwards, both feeling very small, we thought we'd test the temperature in the outside pool, was nothing in comparison to the beach. We later hit the indoor pool at 38 degrees and the jacuzzi with a VB in hand.

This evening we have found ourselves with plenty of beer and only one day left, considering that we have to wake up early on friday morning it should be a heavy night tonight. So pretty annoyed that we've found our new oven doesn't work now that we've changed rooms, we're cracking open the VB and frying some sausages.

Chaggie x

Day 8 - Beach Time!

Day 8 started with optimism. Chaggie rose at 08:00 and started to clear the appartment in the hope there would be a room change to one with Internet. Staggie went down to reception at around 09:30 to ask if it was possible. It was! And the new room would be room 302 which was directly below our old room, 402. The receptionist told us we had to wait till about 12:00pm for the room to be cleaned, we would be rung when it was ready. Chino decided to use the time before our move to use the gym in the hotel whilst Staggie caught up on the weekends football (good old fox). Chaggie waited, waited and waited. It got to 13:30 and Staggie decided to go down to reception to ask if the room was ready. Asking why there hadn't been a phone call, the receptionist thought we would have come down at 12pm, even though she was the one who said she would call us?! How annoying. However, Chaggie moved all their stuff down to 302 and after settling in, had lunch (tomatoe soup), before finally getting to the BEACH!

The weather wasn't as hot as it was yesterday, however, it was still warm enough to ride the massive waves that the Gold Coast has to offer! After taking plenty of photos and videos of Chaggie enjoying the waves, we then went back to the hotel at around 17.00 to jump in the pool before returning to 302 for showers, before uploading photos and preparing dinner. Staggie again cooked pasta for dinner, which was a huge success (of course).

After dinner Chaggie sat down to watch Fawlty Towers and The Vicar of Dibley. A frustrating start to the day was ended with a cheerful ending! Thank goodness we have the internet back!!





Chaggie x

Day 7 - Internet Issues Continue! (Mon 15th Nov)

A week in to our downunder adventures, and the ongoing internet issues were starting to irritate Chaggie. We found out we had to ring an outside company who supplied the internet but they never answered their phones. The Receptionists had no idea what to suggest, apart from the fact we could go to MacDonalds and use the internet there instead of paying for it in our appartment! Brilliant, however, MacDonalds didn't have power sockets in their internet areas. This was a real problem for Chaggie as their laptop batteries lasted about 10 minutes, when fully charged. With the internet people promising to call back, Chaggie then decided to check out the outdoor pool facility. It was freezing.

A strong point for the day was going out and of course making sure we were fully stocked on beer for the week. VB (Victoria Beer) was our decision, a strong tasting beer said to be Australia's best.

Finally at about 12:00pm, we finally got through to the internet people ('Allegro' -watch out for them). They said all we needed was a Modem, which typically our room didn't have. We asked reception if we could have one, they supplied us with one (after a couple of hours (we had to wait for the i.t guy to get off his lunch break)), but then after ringing up Allegro again, we found out our room wasn't able to have internet! Why couldn't the resort tell us this before!!??

In between getting through to Allegro and getting our Modem, Chaggie had enjoyed their first visit to the famous Gold Coast beach. A very enjoyable few hours, which were spent sun bathing, then enjoying the huge waves that regularly crashed into the shore. Things were looking up!

After finding out we couldnt use the modem in our room, we asked reception if it was possible to move to a room with internet access, however we had to wait till this morning (16th Nov) to find out if we could.

We decided to then chill out and watch an epic film - Seven Pounds - before having dinner which was Chicken Wings with Chips! After dinner we watched G.I Joe.

Chaggie x

Day 6 - Welcomed to Gold Coast (Sun 14th Nov)

An early start on Sunday waking up at 06:00 having to pack in preparation for our travels to Gold Coast. Chaggie managed to get a good few games of Pool in after breakfast before our trip, it is still currently very tight at 6-6 (that's 12 very long games as we're both crap).

At 11:30ish we were once again very lucky to get a lift from Graeme and Lorraine to Gold Coast. On the way we stopped at Mount Tamborine where we had lunch at a place with great views of Gold Coast, both Phill and I had a burger and chips. After our stop in Mount Tamborine, we carried on our journey to Gold Coast getting a good look at 'Surfers Paradise' and 'Broadbeach', both places we hope to visit during our stay. We got to Gold Coast around 15:30 finding our hotel resort with Graeme's sat-nav. Here's some pictures of our room:

Graeme and Lorraine left soon after, both Phill and I would like to give another huge thankyou for everything you both did for us last week!

This afternoon, once settled in Chaggie went for their first food shop! Spending 1 hour and 20 dollars each we certainly managed to get enough to last us till Friday! (It's presently Tuesday and we still have loads).

We got back to our appartment and cooked dinner around 18:00, spaghetti carbonara, Phill's volunteered as chef whilst Chino has picked the short straw to do washing and drying up. Both were looking forward to the beach (on our doorstep) the next day!

Chaggie x