Oz - Jules is Down Under!

First night in St. Kilda beach on the south side of Melbourne. We had a girl called katie staying in our dorm back in Coogee who had told us about the "Neighbours" bar where she had worked and met loads of the stars. So thought we better check it out - much to Gav's disgust. We got there quite late, and it really wasn't worth the money for the amount of time left of Karl's band ("Waiting Room") playing. Apparently we had also missed Connor, Ned and the legend that is Jelly Belly (Harold) who are there earlier on in the night answering questions! It's all good though as we are planning to return next week in hope to meet the one and only Toadie and maybe even Steph! From what we heard and saw of Karl, everytime the door to the stage opened they were a pretty wicked band, doing covers of some classic tunes. Should be a good night when we return. Happy Days!

Left for Gav's uncles place knowing that he lived in a little town (what we'd call a village) with not much to do around him. What a shock when we actually got there to find he was living in a half built house with no proper shower and no flush on the toilet! He owns a farm near Violet Town - when I say near I mean about a 15 minute drive! All the roads are really straight over here and you rarely see other vehicles, but when you do they are normally huge double length trucks which absolutely bomb it up behind you. Haven't seen a road train yet, apparently they are normally in the northern territory and western Australia. Gav's uncle lent us an old Ford Laser. It's getting us around, just about! We're doing a huge amount of k's for the age of the car!

So for the last week we have pretty much been heading to every close (ok far) town in the area of Violet Town. Been to Shepparton, reasonable size town, nothing much exciting going on though. Also Bendigo, quite an old town in terms of Australias history. Some nice buildings. Day before leaving we went to the town of Ned Kellys last stand. Look up the story, or watch the film! - Can't be arsed to get into the details of it, but its basically the guy who made a iron suit of armour and went against the police to fight for their rights.

Heading to Melbourne next - desperate for a shower that is indoors (not completely out in the open), with hot water and a flush - not a bucket!

Coogee Beach, Record attempt, XBOX 360 launch. Probably the funniest and most insane thing I have ever done! What happens when you put 1500 people in green tshirts and 1500 people in grey tshirts, give each person 12 water balloons a pair of goggles and stick them on a beach? In short: Hell on earth, total mayhem and extremely wet! We were all hurried onto the beach where we were put into position to form the words "XBOX 360". If you want to try and spot me in the photo, I'm on the left hand inner side of the "O" in "XBOX" .The helicopter went overhead, countdown from 10, on 1 we had to throw a balloon directly up into the sky for a photo opp! Then charge towards the people in the grey and lob as many balloons at them as hard as possible. Not all balloons breaking, so it was a mad attempt at scrambling around grabbing as many unbroken balloons and then lobbing them again. Being twatted in the face with a water balloon is always good fun aswell! Looking back on it, i'm pretty sure that most balloons our team threw didn't even make it over the 10 metre gap (which had to be between the teams to make it a valid record). Most splatted straight on the back of the heads of the people that were throwing in front of you. So glad we stayed in coogee that extra couple of days longer to take part! Thats one thing I can tick off in my "101 things to do before you die" book. I am officially a record breaker! Dedication is what you need!!

Here's a pic of us just after when we got back to the hostel. From left to right: Gav, (add name here later when we finally remember what he's called), Josh, Slater, Spiderman (Simon - Drinks allday!) and ofcourse me!

Having been in the Sydney area for a week now, I have really only seen the normal tourist places - Harbour bridge, Opera House and just last night the Sydney tower. Went to the top for an all you can eat meal, with cuisine from all around the world. I couldn't bring myself to try the Kangaroo again, nor the Camel which Gav did try - crazy fool! The Octopus didn't take my fancy much either. It was a really nice meal though with unbelievably gorgeous views over all the city. Having seen the city once again at night and from these views I still stick with my statement about it being not very commercialised compared to other major cities. Yes there are companies names in big bright lighting on the buildings but nothing too outrageous. The one sign that really does stand out is the Coca-Cola sign which is in Kings Cross. The restaurant is a fun dining experience due to the revolvng seating area. In the hour that we were there eating it slowly revolved the whole 360% giving us sights of the whole city. It does however make it a little interesting trying to refind your seat or trying to work out the quickest way to the toilet or to where the bar and buffet are! Naturally I was always the one that picked the longest route! I won't go on about the photographer that comes round to the tables to take a nice pic of you all, all I'll say is that he was a bit thorough considering we were in the middle of the meal. By the time he had got us all exactly where he wanted us we had forgotten the reason we were actually there - to eat!

King's Cross - yes that's right the red light district. We ended up there not through choice but because it is where the Nightclub was situtated at the end of our organised Pub Crawl called "Route 69". A bus that takes you to what are supposed to be five of the best pubs around the city, gets you free drinks in each one and then drops you off at "Empire" in the middle of King's Cross. It was quite a mad experience, everyone was reasonably quiet on the first trip between the pubs, by the last trip most people were up in the aisle of the bus dancing about and singing loudly. The pubs were not quite what I were expecting, I was hoping that they would be some of Sydneys classy bars, but I was sadly mistaken, really run down bars that were not really my thing. The first bar however, one that I have heard about before as a really well know Backpackers bar lived upto its expectations. It's nothing much, but a nice place to have a drink and a game of pool. Yes thats right I'm talking about the Scu Bar. So having left the club early because it was pretty shocking, we thought we would have a wander around King's Cross hearing that we would see some things that you will only see once in a life time. Well whoever said that to me was right. Saw one lovely "working lady" of about the age of 60 or so in clothes that I wouldn't expect a 40 year old to wear - classy! As you walk down the street you get staff of the clubs trying to get you into their establishment, $5 entry for strippers they shout and virtually drag you in. We managed to resist temptation and went for some food as every english bloke does after a night out on the beers. Trouble was couldn't really find a nice kebab shop so Pies it was, there seems to be so many Pie shops in OZ. Anyway, I would highly recommend the Steak, Cheese and Bacon to anyone who cares to know.

Think I'll stick to the more shopping type areas of Sydney, do however want to visit China Town to see what that has to offer. 'Til then.....

First experience of surfing in Oz - a gorgeous beach south of sydney called (i think) Harbour town beach. You could almost call it a private beach it was that quiet, with only a few people jogging. We went with a surf school. The instructors were tpwo great characters, put them together and they became a double act doing scenes from "Little Britain" which is apparently only just starting to be big over here! How behind are they! So, we jump in this 4x4, in the back with about another 7 people. Bit of a squash. The driver "Bo" pulled away onto the sand dunes so that we could get down onto the beach, going down over the dune, pretty steep, decides he wants a drink. So he takes his hands off the wheel, ah nuts, theres a corner in the track over the dune. But don't worry the other instructor "West" is there to take control! steering round a number of corners at great speed on a hellishly bumpy track. The 8 of us knocking against eachother and over the lumps nearly getting concussion on the roof of the vehicle! Getting down onto the beach though made it totally worthwhile - lovely white sanded beach that curved nicely into a bay. Unbelievably clear water with clear blue sky, not a single cloud to be seen. Spent most of the day surfing, catching what waves we could. And catching plenty of sun - it would appear as though I can't reach every part of my back like I thought I could, as the big red patch will go to prove! Yes, thats right didn't quite get the sun screen to cover my whole back - whoops! But apart from that we had a pretty good day, except that we are going to invest in some rash vests - lets just say that surfboards and two things on your chest don't get on - they're a little sore!

Just got back from Manly on the ferry. We walked down to the end and went a long a little path that took us to another quieter beach where we had a couple of beers and chucked about an american football (which we invested in today). But main reason for the trip was the return journey, to see the sights of the harbour at night. Absolutely stunning. The opera house is lit up subtly, not over the top like some cities would have. Sydney has a very tasteful feel to it, not at all tacky from a far. The whole city is a great skyline at night with the coathanger (sydney harbour bridge) and the opera house getting most of the attention. We plan to drive to a spot in the future where we get the same view at night, when we can take some decent photos - firstly need to find out how to use the camera a bit better and secondly need to be able to keep the camera still whcich is kinda hard on a ferry in slightly rough harbour water!

Sydney, Coogee Beach, what can I say? Everything I expected having seen a couple of photos and what I've heard. Such a great atmosphere, really chilled out atmosphere but still got a lively atmosphere at night with loads of bars, some opening 24 hours a day. Got quite a european feel to it some places. With small shops and cafes crammed in along the street with gazebo style things covering the pavement where you can chill out and enjoy the sun (or shade) and have a drink or some brekky.

The dorm - cracking location. Right on the beach, literally! I mean you could lob a pebble off the balcony and hit the sand! Great views. Slight lack of air conditioning though. Absolutely boiling at night. You can hear the waves crashing on the shore, such a relaxing sound - Thats when the guys in the dorm next door stop partying at 4 in the morning. We're not quite in the party mood yet. Just managed to get over our jet lag. We'll be up for the early hours clubbing it by the end of the week though I'm sure.

Toured the harbour on a guided cruise yesterday. Apart from the really cheesy commentary coming from the loudspeakers it was really good. Having said that I am really glad I know the house up on the hill was made with 20,563 bricks! Really useful information that I'm sure will stay with me forever more! Joking aside some really great views. I can prove that with the 80 photos I took. Admittedly most of those are duplicated about 3 times! Really shouldn't be allowed to use a digtal camera, I get slightly trigger happy - as people at home will testify, luckily I was sober otherwise things get way out of hand.

Just to prove that we did really make it to Oz here's a pic.