Airlie Beach 9 November to 20 November

The flight and transfer up the Airlie was easy and pain free despite having to juggle my luggage for the flight as I was a tiny bit over when checking in 2 bags. The hostel was pretty basic but had nice staff and clean rooms. I had a quick swim in the pool then headed into town in the late afternoon for an explore. The town has grown massively in the last ten years so it's almost unrecognisable. Lots of fast food places including Dominos for $5 pizzas and high street shops like Jay Jays and cotton on.  I grabbed a salad and schooner of cider for $15 for dinner then headed back to the hostel for an early night. 

Monday and Tuesday were spent by the lagoon in town working on my tan after $3 breakfasts at the hostel and diners of salad and cider in town. On Tuesday I met an English girl in one of the bars and went to a club with her for a few hours but left by 12 as I felt incredibly old compared to everyone else in there.

On Wednesday I went out for the day on one of the Ocean Rafting trips. We had two snorkel stops in the morning before heading to tongue bay on Whitsunday island and Whitehaven beach for lunch and a chill out. Was really good fun, I paid extra for a 'media pack' so got lots of pictures from the Go Pro (inspiring me I buy my own later in the week). 

In the evening I felt it was time to be sociable so joined in the evening quiz at the hostel. I was paired up with two Irish girls and we did pretty well. Spent the evening chatting with them and an English couple who were sat at our table.

Thursday I went out for breakfast and had the most amazing pancakes at the cafe where I needed to collect my media pack from the day before. I spent the day at the lagoon and had a salad at about 4 ( this would later be the cause of a v drunk night as salad is not a good stomach liner). Met up with Emma and Rosin (the Irish girls) at the hostel in the evening, they had been on ocean rafting that day and had loved it. We did the quiz along with a girl from London called Lucy and got full marks so won the bottle of 'champagne'. I then proceeded to drink almost 2 bottles of wine so didn't even make it out to meet up with becky and jake (the English couple). Had a terrible night with lots of throwing up and generally feeling shit.

Thursday I eventually to up at 10, I just about managed a bacon and avocado sandwich. I bought myself a go pro and booked  myself onto a 2 night sailing trip for the following week. I found some shade at the lagoon and in a hungover funk sorted out a room in a motel for a few nights for the following week and flights an accommodation for magnetic island. Ran into Emma and Rosin who were having a BBQ with Emma, jake, Lucy and a Dutch couple whose names I never got. They invited me to join them and I found out that everyone who had made it out felt as rough as me. Homemade burgers and chicken kebabs made me feel a lot better. Spent the rest of the afternoon at the lagoon before heading back to the hostel for a v sober quiz and an early night.

On sat most people left which was sad as I'd made a nice little group for myself. Becky and I went to the market in town where she bought some jewellery and I got some gifts for home and massive breakfast of tacos. I spent the afternoon at the lagoon and joined a few people in the evening (including the worlds most boring Canadian) for the quiz. No winning but at least I was sociable.

Sunday I moved down to a motel for 2 nights and having my own bathroom was an utter delight, I also had a chance to totally unpack and have a sort of my gear. I binned off some shape wear pants as it's just too hot for them and a pair of sandals that had a broken strap. Spent the next two days at the lagoon and relishing a double bed and ensuite.

On Tuesday I headed for Abel Point Marina and my 2 night boat trip. Was a v mixed group- an older Spanish couple, an older Swiss couple, a young ish British couple who had moved to aus this year and her patents plus me and another British girl a few years older than me. We were show our cabins- me and Katie the English girl in basically a cupboard with bunk beds then almost immediately left the harbour and put the sails up. Felt a bit sea sick for an hour or so until I had got my sea legs. We moored up at about 7, had dinner then an early night as breakfast was at 6am the next day. After a shower i sat out for a bit to admire the stars. Wednesday was an early start so we could set off to a secluded bay for some paddle boarding, I did ok didn't manage to stand up due to my awful balance but paddle from the beach to the boat. We then headed to tounge bay for a few hours at Whitehaven beach which was full of massive massive rays. Had lunch on the boat then found our first snorkel stop of the trip, lots of lovely fishes but sadly no turtles. We sailed into the sunset for a quite bay to moor for the evening. Thursday was a slightly later start- only 7am for breakfast before moving about 500m to our next snorkel stop. Lots an lots of turtles this time and some huge fishes. We had lunch as we sailed back to airlie for 2pm.

I spent the afternoon at the lagoon after having had a refreshing shower at the motel. Met up with Katie for dinner and some drinks before going back to my motel for a massive repack and sort (including abandoning my faithful straw hat that had lost all show and was pretty grim on the inside from sweat). 

Brisbane 5 November to 8 November

Being back is Brisbane and with family was lovely after 10 days in the desert. Wednesday was spent chilling out at Carlyle Road, doing several loads of washing and helping with dinner as Ollie had an induction day for his new job. Jack had a dungeons and dragons night and after having explained the rules to me invited me to join in, I declined as most of it was way over my head. 

Thursday I posted a parcel of gifts to mum and dad and got the train into the city centre. I spent the morning at Roma road public gardens which were beautiful and had a delicious lunch of roasted root veggie salad an goats cheese. In the afternoon I popped into the shops and picked up some lightweight shorts from cotton on before heading for the botanic gardens. I had planned a trip to GOMA but the weather was so lovely I stayed I'm the gardens. In the evening I walked over to Tom's to meet Ollie and Trish for dinner there. Got there just at the right time as a massive storm broke over dinner with amazing purple lightening over the city. Had great views from tom's apartment over to the cbd which had been lit up for the G20 so looked extra impressive with the lightening. 

Friday was another chilled out day at the house, I had a snooze on the wonderful day bed outside, read my book and totally relaxed. Me and jack had sushi for dinner while the others had fish and chips then Jack, Ollie and I headed to the cinema to watch Interstellar. I thought it was good until the last half hour, fun for a Friday night. Ollie thought it was utter rubbish and jack enjoyed so overall not too bad.

Saturday was breakfast at the market, where I got a groovy henna design on my hand. Then we headed off to the most magical place in the world- Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. I cuddled a koala, fed wallabies, kangaroos and lorikeets and generally had an amazing day. I took about 100 pictures including lots of a koala who looked like he was trying to drive a tree. I loved every second of it.

In the evening we went out for dinner as a thank you from me to the Landsbergers for being such  lovely hosts. I had a gorgeous piece of beef on a beetroot risotto followed by chocolate done 3 ways- a tart, ganache and sauce. Got back home to a couple of glasses of wine before an early night as I had a 9 am flight on Sunday.

Alice Springs 31st October to 4th November

31st October

Made myself the most hated person in my dorm by forgetting to turn off my 4am alarm so had a frantic scramble for that while receiving death stares from everyone else.

Eventually got up at a more sensible time and headed for page 27 a cafe everyone had said was amazing. Had one of the biggest breakfasts I've ever eaten and spent the morning shopping for gifts for mum and dad and a kangaroo leather hat for myself. The afternoon was spent reading and snoozing by the pool before I headed for Montes again. Met Lucy and Amelia who had been on the quiz team the night before and ended up getting horribly drunk on cider with them. Got a cab back to the hostel at about 1 am and  was the last one to bed in the dorm.

1st November

Woke up with a rotten hangover and eventually dragged myself out of bed at 10am in search of food. One of the cafes was serving breakfast burritos which was a godsend so I stuffed myself on that before dragging myself to woolworths for 'healthy' hangover food- whole grain baked crisps and avocado dip. Still felt grotty so treated myself to a gel manicure before going back to the pool.

Met up with Steph and Emma to get dinner which was slightly interrupted by a very awkward moment with an aborigine lady asking for our food,we then went to a local production of a musical that steph's supervisor was in. Was good fun and a bit different to what I would have done instead.

2nd November

Early start to see the Olive Pink botanical gardens, very pretty and lots of nice wildlife as well and plants. Had breakfast in the cafe that took absolutely ages so didn't leave to do the 4km walk to the Telegraph Station until 11. 

Decided to walk along the dry river bed in my flip flops which was a very very bad idea as I got lost and had to climb some rocks to find the path I was meant to be in, took about 1 hour to do the walk in the heat and I was v thankful for all the water I'd packed.

Telegraph station was ok, bit disappointed by the glossing over of the stolen generation period, got a cab back to town and spent some time at the pool before meeting Steph for the local Indian society's Diwali night.

Was really good fun with performances from local kids who were great and a massive veggie buffet. Again really fun to do something different.

1st November

Early start to get the bus to the desert nature park. Amazing morning learning about dingoes, kangaroos and other Aussie animals. Finished the morning with a fascinating talk from one of the aborigine guides about how the tribes lived in the desert. 

Did some final bits of shopping in town and had some more pool time before meeting up with Steph and Emma for a last drink and to say goodbye. It's been lovely meeting some 'local' ish people who can show me what's going on that isn't just drinking.

2nd November

Utter weirdos in my dorm last night so got up early and escaped to page 27 for a v indulgent breakfast of French toast with peaches, pistachios and marscapone. 

Pretty easy transfer to the airport then spent most of both flights asleep. Got into Brisbane just as Ollie was getting to the airport do was able to meet him at the pick up point avoiding extortionate parking charges. Had dinner then and early ish night in a nice big double bed, having to just share my room with George the cat who gave me lots of welcome back snuggles. 

Uluru Trip

Tuesday 28th October

Not having anyone else in the dorm made the half five start much easier as I was able to turn on all the lights and get myself sorted without worrying about disturbing anyone else. The bus picked me up at 6 and I was a little worried as the only other people on board were a German couple (him in socks and sandals!!!) his sister and her English husband - all in their late 50s and an Indian girl who was a similar age to me. We were told we would be picking more people up at Yalara (the resort at Uluru) so fingers crossed there would be more young people there.
We drove for about an hour to the camel farm which was a bit disappointing as the only camel rides available were round a very small paddock for about 5 minutes, I decided to not give it ago as I didn't want to spoil the memories of the camel ride I did in Tunisia which was far more exciting.
We  had a couple more hours drive to Yalara (great opportunity to catch up on sleep after the early start) and picked up three Aussie girls who were a similar age to me and two Japanese guys who barley said 5 words the whole time they were there.
Lunch was at the camp-site before heading off to Kata-Tjuta for a very hot afternoon walk through the Valley of the Winds. The views at the end were worth the sweaty scramble over the rocks. When we got back to the bus we drove to the sunset lookout over Uluru and watched the spectacular natural light show on the rocks with a few glasses of wine.

It was then back to camp for camel sausages, kangaroo meat and beef steak dinner. We were told that the next day's start was 4am to allow us to walk as much of the base walk as possible before the sun got too hot so everyone opted for a fairly early night

Wednesday 29th November
Loathe to admit it the 4 am start was worth it, we got to Uluru just before 6 and had a wonderful breeze to cool us down as we waked around. I we as surprised at how lush some of the areas around the base were

We saw an area that showed the story of the rainbow serpent and it was amazing how you could see the whole story progress in the rock face.

At 8:30 we did a Mala walk with an Aboriginal guide who explained some of the significance of Uluru to his people and showed us some of the areas that are still used by the tribes as teaching areas for the younger boys and girls. Really interesting talk and fascinating to learn more about the Aborigine culture

 

We went back to camp for camel burgers and then set off on a 4 hour drive down to Kings Canyon. We were lucky enough to arrive at the camp-site early so could have a quick swim in the pool (so refreshing after a long hot day) before dinner and another early night. I opted (along with everyone else apart from the Germans) to sleep out in a swag and it was amazing to see all the star so clearly. Would definitely do it again and I didn't get too many bug bites either.

Thursday 30th October

Another very early start as we headed for Kings Canyon, it was pretty over cast this morning so not much of a sunrise which was a blessing really. The start of the walk was a climb up over 1000 steps to the top of the canyon- had to stop a few times to avoid a heart attack but luckily so did a couple of others so I wasn't the only unfit one. It was worth the struggle up as the views were amazing. We saw an area where the marks of a prehistoric sea were still visible in the rocks ( as we were in the middle of the desert this was pretty cool)

We also saw some of the places where Priscilla Queen of the Desert was filmed

We walked to the Valley of Eden which would have been very tranquil if there  hadn't been another tour party there at the same time. The views were incredible across the desert.

We went back to camp for lunch at about 10 am and then headed to the pool for a last swim before starting the four hour drive back to Alice.

I was looking forward to a bit of luxury after a few days in the desert but sadly my hostel is a bit basic- 2 showers for all the girls in the hostel. Managed to mostly get the dust off me and headed into town for a drink at Montes bar. Made friends with two nice Aussie girls called Steph and Emma who invited me to join their pub quiz team that evening. We did pretty well and I was able to answer a couple of questions that other people didn't know so felt quite good. 

Monday 27th October

No sign of the alleged BBQ at the hostel last night so I walked into an incredibly deserted town centre, the only place open serving food that wasn't crazy expensive was a Chinese place so i had a quick dinner there that was surprisingly good. as it was still early (8:30pm) I decided to walk back to the hostel. Found I had two room mates for the evening  who both seemed nice. however they told me that even at half eight its dangerous walking back from town so I'll make sure to get cabs any time after sunset from now on. they girls had just come back from uluru and one of them kindly gave me her fly net as she said it was pretty essential piece of kit for the bush. they also advised me to buy baby wipes as apparently I will constantly feel sticky and dirty from the red dust. one of them had to be up at half four which was a great excuse for me to have an early night too.
My alarm went off at 7 this morning and I was off by about 7;40.  I headed down to Anzac hill and walked up to enjoy the wonderful breeze for 8 am. Lovely 360 views of the town and and the surrounding hills. No one else was up there for at least 20 mins so I could enjoy the peace. Headed to a cafe for a lovely breakfast of poached eggs on avocado with a lime and coriander dressing on'fat toast' with bacon and an iced coffee that came with a massive scoop of really good vanilla ice cream. Had a walk along todd mall (the main shopping drag) and called into a pharmacy  get baby wipes. was really tempted to buy a kangaroo leather hat  that folds flat but decided to wait till I get back from Uluru.

Went to the pioneer women's museum which is based in the old gaol. absolutely amazing place as much of the gaol is as it was when it was in use. Really interesting display Telka Williams the matron of the gaol in the 60's to 80's and about the changes she implemented. There was an exhibition about the women who first came out to Alice and what they achieved culminating in a massive quilt signed by  over 100 women who have been selected for being pioneers in their fields e.g. first Australian gold medallist at Olympic  games, first Australian female fire fighter etc.

Headed next door for the Royal Flying Doctor Service centre, v interesting tour about the work the flying doctors do and how important they are as a service to the isolated communities. Want to buy a few bits in their gift shop but again decided to wait until I'm back in town later in the week. Had a delicious lunch in the cafe of leek, pumpkin and feta quiche with a big salad. Headed back to the hostel for a sort of my gear for the early start tomorrow and an afternoon by the pool.Will grab a subway from across the road for dinner and get another for breakfast for tomorrow am at the same time.

Bit worried I've booked too much time here for after my tour. Will have 4 full days to fill and I seem to have seen most of Alice itself. Will try to spend a day at  desert national park and a long morning at the botanical gardens but reckon the will be lots of time round the pool reading. 

Sunday 26th October

Flew into Alice Springs today for my trip to Uluru. The hostel seems nice if a bit basic. My room is pretty big and when I checked in I was the only one in it so far (there are two bunks beds) so fingers crossed I might not end up with any room mates for the next two nights. Have spent the afternoon toasting by the pool which is small but unheated so bliss to sink into. The other guests seem a really mix, there was a middle aged Ozzie couple by the pool and a group of European backpackers (prob all early twenties) playing in the water, all the blokes seem to think smoking in the pool is acceptable which is a bit grim. It's about 5pm now and I am enjoying an ice cold cider in the shade before I grab a shower. There's some kind of BBQ at the hostel tonight so think I'll stay here for dinner and get up early tomorrow am to explore the town. If it's not too hot I'm going to go up Anzac hill to get some views of the town. 

Saw the hostel where I'm staying post Uluru on the bus from the airport. It's the other side of the river but seems a tiny but closer to town than my current one.

Last few days in Brisbane were really lovely, Friday afternoon me and Ollie went to see Gone Girl which we both though was a pretty good transition to screen. Saturday I was up very early to o to Brisbane market with Ollie and Trish to do the weekly veggie shop and indulge in some wonderful food. I went for a chilli infused hot chocolate and Greek yogurt with passion fruit which was amazing. As we left I grabbed an orange and raspberry ice tea. Think I will try to make sure I'm back in Brisbane for the sat before Christmas as I'm sure I could buy Ollie and Trish lot of yummiest presents from there. 

Got back to Ollie's and helped him unload the car as he's still not allowed to do any heavy lifting and helped with the Saturday clean and sort of the kitchen. Jack went for an appointment with the chiropractor and brought back cupcakes which we shared 

In return I helped him with one of his college projects by testing a video game he has created. Ollie and Trish were out sat evening so me and Jack stayed in watching Adams Family Values, I helped tidy the kitchen by polishing off the end of a bottle of wine.

Thursday 23 October

Had a lovely first few days in Australia. Monday was spent acclimatising to the heat and going to mount ommeney shopping centre to try to register for Medicare and a phone card. Both were slight failures as I didn't have the right documents. Headed back to Carlyle road and watched some tv with jack before taking Sam out for a walk with Ollie. 

Tuesday I was home alone as Ollie was in hospital and trish and jack were working. After a failed attempt to get back to mount ommeney ( waited over an hour for a bus that never came) I spent the morning in the garden reading and then managed to finally get on a bus in the pm. Did a bit of shopping and got registered with Medicare and Telstra the, apparently, best coverage network. Made it home successfully and took Sam out for a walk where we got a bit lost despite having a map. It meant we had had a nice 1 hour walk by the time we made it home so I felt I deserved a nice big dinner with several glasses of Margaret River wine. Jet lag hit and I was in bed by 9.

Wednesday was mostly spent sunning myself in the garden and trying to ensure I was helpful to Ollie after his op. Another early night due to jet lag.

Was up horribly early (6:30 am) today so headed into the city centre for an explore. Had some brunch at the first place I found which ironically turned out to be an English pub, still the eggs Benedict were good ( egg yolks were bright orangey yellow) and then walked up an down Queen street to do a bit of shopping. Jumped on a ferry and spent a  lovely hour going up and down the river admiring the jacaranda trees which are in full bloom at the moment. Got off at the south bank and walked along to the gallery of modern art for a look at some modern aborigine work which was pretty cool, especially a fascinator made of emu  feathers traditional weaving and an emu bone.

Enjoying a glass of wine by the river before I get the train to indroopilly to look round the shops there then back to Carlyle Road for a sit down and foot rest.