Melbourne to Noosa (Australia)

We arrived in Sydney in the morning and it was a mission to get from the airport to the hostel. It was really badly signposted. We ended up having to get a really expensive shuttle bus. The day was spent just taking a glance at Sydney. We walked to the harbour and Emily was amazed by the Opera house. That evening we met up with Emily's brother (Adam) who lives in Sydney. It was good to see him as Emily hasn't seen him for two years or more. We all went out for something to eat together.

The next monring we got the bus to Coogie beach and walked to Bondi beach. It took us over an hour as it was so hot. Needless to say we got our ice creams upon arrival! The waves in Bondi were fantastic. They were so big. We had so much fun jumping them and body surfing.

This blog is going to be all about beach stories because this part of travelling is a hoilday to be honest and beaches are what the East coast of Australia is known for. The following day we got a ferry to Manly. Again the waves were brilliant even better than Bondi. The place were really cute as well. Once we got back we went to check out the Opera house up close as Emily was obssessed by it!!

The blue mountains national park was the next stop. It took two hours by train to get there and a big walk once we got the the station. It was 36 degrees so we were roasting. We looked up at the three sisters (three talls pieces of rock) and then decided to walk down the steps and see if we could get up close.

We left Sydney and flew down to Melbourne. We saw all the burning bush fires from the plane. It was awful so many people had lost their homes. We were lucky that it didn't effect us as we stayed in the city and didn't have to venture out into the bush. Our time in Melbourne consisted of meeting up with Bindiya (Tonys friend from work) and doing the great ocean road together. Bindiya's husband Amit drove. It was great and it was so shocking to see how amazingly similar Bindiya was to Emily. An indian version of her. Bindiya was a chocoholic like Emily, She was a feminist and extremely organised so much so she occasionaly got OCD just like Emily. Emily loved her company so much. For lunch we ate Kangeroo and then Binidya took us all to the chocolate shop and her husband treated us which was really nice.

We also stayed with Tony's friend Elaine and she was so accommodating. We chatted to her before we headed down to the botanical garden. The garden was so peaceful that Emily fell asleep on the grass only to be woken up by a thousand Japanese tourists. We had a look at Melbourne central (the cathedral, muesum etc) and then we headed back to Elaine's house where we sat up drinking and eating pizza.

We also did Ramsey Street (neighbours) or Pin Oak which is the real name of the street. It was so tiny. I can't believe they can make it look so big! They offer a tour by night where you got down the pub and meet all the actors. However we didn't do this as we didn't know many of them. We also heard that Harold Bishop and Toadfish are banned from such events because they take advantage of the girls and end up taking them home!! Yuk who would!! Harold bishop!!! Toadfish!! Gross.

We trotted off after to get a coffee and Tony's card got rejected. It was mega embarassing. We had no cash and the manager had to come out and talk to us. Luckily he took our card details and told us he would process it at a later date. Phew! We went for a more successful coffee later that evening with Bindiya and Amit.

We got the coach back up to Sydney. We arrived quite late so we went out for a meal. What a treat from cooking! We decided to go out for a Chinese which was all good until the stupid cook gave us duck in sweet and sour sauce instead of plum sauce instead of admiting the mistake and apologising where we would have accepted it and ate it anyway they lied and tried to make out it was plum sauce. Emily was so mad. She hates people that lie. Clearly the two sauces are completely different even in colour! They refused to gave a discount claiming that plum sauce changes colour when cooked and tastes like sweet and sour so Emily shouted over at the English couple that had just sat down and told them not to eat here because they don't give you the right food. They walked off so fast they almost broke into a run. Thats what they get!! After we went to Adam's house to say goodbye.

Our final day in Sydney consisted of walking the habour bridge and then onto the aquarium. Unfortunately the aquarium was too expensive so we went to the muesum instead. We saw all the animals located in Australia and were a bit scared about all the creepy spiders and stuff.

It was a great day to travel to Port Macquarie as it was raining so bad!! We arrived at the hostel and went to our dorm only to be told by the two people already in there that we shouldn't be in there as they were told by reception that nobody would be in the room. Tony went to the reception with the guy and Emily waited behind to hear the girl huffing really loudly. Upon return Tony told Emily the obvious - that the reception had told the guy that he had checked into a dorm - what can he expect from a dorm. It's not a private room!! Therefore we were safe and moved into our dorm. We went out shopping later and when we got back they had gone!! ha

The next day was valentines day and Tony surprised Emily with a card. She thought they weren't going to bother. Tony had sneaked out while Emily was still asleep and ran to the shop. It was such a nice thing to do considering she wasn't expecting anything. It was pouring down with rain but we braved it in our waterproofs and went to the Koala hospital. They were so cute. It was sad to hear how the poor little things had been caught in the bush fires and were badly burnt.

We attempted the beach walk but it was too rainy so we went back to the hostel and then Emily phoned her mum to wish her a happy 60th birthday! That evening we met two dutch guys called Mark and Jeffry and we sat up talking to them.

Again it was raining so we went to the cinema as they were not much else we could do. After the cinema the rain had ceased so we had a BBQ! Then we walked by the sea and up to the rocks. We got splashed by a massive wave. Tony laughed so much! That evening we sat up with Mark and Jeffry again.

We left Port Macquarie and headed to Bryon Bay. The coach journey seemed so long plus we were next to the toliet which stunk so bad!! When we arrived at the hostel we were wondering what we had let ourselves in for! The guy at reception took us to our six bed dorm and it was packed with people. It turned out there were four Australia guys in there who were on their holidays from Sydney. They had offered free alcohol and invited everyone into our room. We were a bit concerned that we would end up getting no sleep however Tony was happy that he got free goon (boxed wine). In the end the guys were so considerate. Their parties only went on until midnight where they would go out to the town and they were always so quiet when they got back.

Of course the next day we headed straight to the beach! Emily got trashed by a massive wave. Tony laughed so hard as he watched her come back up with her hair all over her face desperately searching for her sunglasses with a boob hanging out! Unfortunately she had to buy new sunglasses. That night we attempted to go to Cheeky Monkeys (the local nightclub - a complete meat market) thankfully they wouldn't let us in because we didn't bring our ID out!!!


The following day it was raining so bad and we were due to go surfing. Fortunately the weather changed as soon as we got to the beach. We stood in a circle as we were given the safety talk and then shown how to get on our boards. We couldn't wait to hit the water. Tony took to it straight away and he was really good. Emily was trying to get on her board to quickly so she keep falling off. However once she took her time she got up and really loved it. To get up on a surf board you have to get up into a press up position and then bring your knees in and get up keeping one hand on the board until you are balanced. It was great fun and the time went so quickly.


While at Bryon we went for a walk to the lighthouse but it was so hot and Emily's foot was hurting. She gathered it was from the surfing the previous day. We carried on and walked to the most eastern part of Australia mainland and looked right out into sea. The ocean is beautiful! We went back to the hostel in the evening and Emily saw Mark (the Dutchman we met in Port Macquarie). She shouted at him and he saw her. Then he took us to his dorm where Jeffry was. We ended up all going out to Cheeky Monkeys with this stupid American dude who was just so full of shit. Luckily that didn't effect our night too much. Tony had a great time as they were holding a wet T shirt competition!

The next day the American guy tried to make out he took a girl home - yeah right! We left him at breakfast and went to the beach with Mark and Jeffry. They let us use their body boards. We were at the beach for most of the day until it started raining a little bit. We all went out to the beach hotel bar in the evening to say goodbye! They told us we were welcome to stay with them if we ever go to Amsterdam - We are so up for it!!!!!!!


We were so sad to leave Bryon Bay, it was such a quirky little town but now we were on our way to Surfers Paradise. We went out and played three rounds of mini golf but it ended in a draw - rubbish. We looked around the town and then went to drink in the hostel. We met a really annoying guy from Bristol. Emily couldn't stand it so she went to bed early.


We went into town and went shopping the next day. In the evening we ended up in a strip bar!


Brisbane was the next stop and Emily's foot was still very painful! We were meant to go to the Koala park but because of the foot situation Tony insisted that Emily did nothing and relaxed the foot. Therefore we stayed by the pool in the hostel all day. Emily got really bored! In the evening we met some Irish girls. Tony ended staying up really late with them but he couldn't keep up. The Irish can drink!


We went to Australia Zoo and Tony had a really bad hangover! The guy driving us used to work at the zoo and told us stories on the way there about how great Steve Irwin was. Apparently he always wanted to improve the zoo so he used to dress up with fake teeth in and a wig and go around the zoo and ask visitors how the zoo could be improved. On occasions he would ask them what they thought of Steve Irwin and didn't always get the response he hoped for!!


The zoo was great and on arrival we headed straight for the crocosuem to see the bird, snake and croc show. That was really good as we wouldn't want to be teasing them crocodiles!! It was quite educational as well! Throughout the day we went and stroked the Koalas as well as feeding the kangeroos. I think that was the best bit, the Kangeroos were great. They were so friendly. We went to a tiger show as well which was really funny. The keepers were in the enclosures trying to make the tigers jump into the water and they did on numerous occasions but at one point one of the tigers jumped onto the zoo keeper and knockered her over!!

We saw the otters get fed and then saw a snake eating a rabbit. They were two men putting the food in. One stopped and had a chat with us. On the way home the driver put on Steve Irwin videos and there was a clip about an injured snake and Steve Irwin talking about his best mate he had known since he was six sorting it out. We were shocked to see there was the guy on TV that we have just been talking to by the snake feeding. It was Steve Irwin's best mate!!

By night we had a quiet one and played cards with Vicky and John - our room mates. Vicky had been travelling with her boyfriend that we have met a few nights before called Graham. However they had broken up so he had left for Noosa. She had work in Brisbane so was staying put for now.

The next day we travelling for Noosa. Emily spotted Vicky on the bus and asked what she was doing. The poor girls was in a bad way. She had resigned at work and wanted to go and see Graham. She was speaking to him on the phone begging him to meet her in Noosa but he was telling her to go back to Brisbane - What a tosser! Emily sat next to Vicky to make sure she was ok. She wasn't! The poor girl was so scared of travelling on her own. It was the first time she had been away from home and Graham had ditched her as soon as they come out. He was so horrible to her on the phone. Emily tryed to convince her to forget him because he just sounded really nasty but it didn't work. The poor girl turned up in Noosa and he didn't show and had left her on her own so she travelled back to Brisbane (three hour journey).

We checked into Noosa and went into our dorm. Could you believe it - There was Graham. Emily was trying hard not to even look at him. Tony was forced to make conversion. Graham was all over this ugly German girl - no wonder he didn't want Vicky coming down. We made our excuses and went out. We bumped into the Irish girls and ended up going out for more drinks with them!

The next day we got a surfboard and went surfing. The locals were awful! As far as they were concerned they were professionals and it was their waves!! We used the shallow end and when Emily got up on her board a surfer come all the way in from the deep end. The boards hit slightly but it was no problem. The surfer had a go at Tony and Tony shouted back telling him that we were in the shallow end when they were coming all the way in from the deep end! He could steer to avoid us!!! The surfer was silenced and went back out. Emily's foot really started hurting shortly after so she gave up to go sun bathing for a while.

Tony ended up making some massive sand pyramids with a dutchman from our hostel.

On our last day in Noosa we went on a forest walk and a massive lizzard jumped out at Tony - He shit himself!! Then we went to the launga lookout which was beautiful. The rest of the day was spent on the beach!