Day five in Sydney began with a lie in and the arrival of Rachel from some northern place! We made a rendezvous and made our way to Circular Quay where we boarded a ferry to Manly. I am still genuinely in awe of a city with a functioning ferry port that serves a genuine purpose and isn't purely there for the tourists. The ferry ride was beautiful with beautiful views of the harbour, the Bridge and the Opera House. After thirty minutes, the boat pulled into Manly Pier where we disembarked and walked to find the Norwegians.


Lunatics found, we walked to Manly Beach which I'd been told was far superior to Bondi - it definitely was. Whilst the sun was warm enough, we just basked on Manly beach. As the wind picked up, we walked round to the smaller and more sheltered Shelley Beach.


Once back in the city, we met up with Katie, Mischa and Anne-Marie - some girls Rachel had met on her bus. Introductions done, we set off for food. Burger Fuel beneath the Coca Cola sign in King's Cross shall here on in be known as Heaven, the most incredible burger I have ever had! The evening was spent dancing the night away in The Sugar Mill.

The following day, Katie, Rachel, Camilla and I head out to Centennial Park. We'd made a picnic and took a brisk walk across the city up a grassy hill to sit and look out over the city. Despite my love for Sydney and belief it is a beautiful city, the skyline definitely isn't a winner! Picnic time was cut short by increasing winds and ever growing, ominous clouds. We made tracks back to the city where we got ready for our second night out, this time in World Bar. A chavvy dive filled with girls far above their station and guys clearly out for one thing!


As my time in Sydney drew to a close, I finally managed to arrange to meet up with Austin. An Aussie friend from London. Arrival at his house, late as usual, I met his friend Bailey and we cracked open the vino. From here, we met up with his friend Kane, went to a bottle shop for some wine and head to EatThai. After a fantastic meal which Bailey very kindly paid for, we were finally kicked out of the restaurant because they were closing. We moved onto Stonewall for drinks and then onto The Columbian. It was amazing to see the city from a local's perspective, less of a tourist looking in. It was a great way to spend my penultimate night.

The following day consisted purely of lazing around, purchasing postcards and souvenirs. In the evening I met up with my friend Kristin from the Oz bus and we went for a drink, later that evening, I head back over to Manly to see the Norwegians one last time before the head off home. It was really sad to say goodbye to those guys, they have punctuated my travels since the beginning - great excuse to visit Norway though! I got one last crazy Norwegian dance and it was back on the ferry and back to the city. The city was extremely peaceful, probably something to do with the fact it was 2am on Sunday night but it was wonderful. Sydney is definitely somewhere I could see myself living.
My final day consisted of a hideously early shuttle bus to the airport, my final rendezvous with Kristin and a 17 hour flight which left Sydney at 9.55am on the 14th and arrived into Santiago, Chile at 11.35am on the 14th...

My last trip on the Oz Experience heralded an early start - I definitely wasn't cut out for this! The journey was fairly boring, one highlight being a giant replica of Ayres Rock housing a service station!? Eight hours down the road and the bus was trundling through Sydney's northern suburbs and over the famous harbour bridge. For some reason I agreed to a drop off miles from my hostel, with backpack in tow this was less than appealing. Finally guided to my hostel thanks to the help of numerous locals, I checked into my room and got chatting to some people in there. It turns out the hostel is popular with long term guests who are working in Oz, this wasn't good for me as they seemed less than bothered getting to know any new faces! Once I was settled, I ventured out to see a bit of the city and get some groceries. Stocked up, I head back to the hostel, had an uneventful dinner and went to bed.

Day two in Sydney was a day I had been looking forward to for weeks! I pottered around the hostel until the early afternoon when I got a text from my beloved Norwegians! They had come into the city for the evening to see me, I was stoked! We wandered round the city and regaled each other with stories, grabbed some food and it was back to the hostel to get ready for the nights festivities! We head to a gay club called "Arq" which was a total fiasco. Camilla only had flip flops on so she wasn't allowed in, she urged Caroline in whilst she ventured out to get shoes...lord knows where she thought she'd find any! Caroline and I literally danced the night away, despite the club being passably mediocre, we had a blast.



It's an Arq party!

Considering the night was ridiculously late, we were up crazy early. From the hostel, we wandered through the Royal Botanic Gardens to Circular Quay, home to the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.




I want to be a Chinese tourist!




The Opera House was surprisingly small, although I'm not really sure how big I was expecting it to be! We sat at a restaurant and had a lovely lunch in the sun. A quick wander round the quay found us outside the Museum of Contemporary Art, we made it as far as the gift shop! The time arrived for the girls to head back to Manly Beach, just across the bay and I was on my own again.

The following day I made a massive error and attempted to walk...and walk....and walk, to Bondi Beach. Despite everyone telling me how over hyped it was I thought I'd give it a look, low and behold it was a total let down. I marvelled at the surfing for a while and caught a bus (ingenious!) back to town.



Bondi!

For the evening, I met up with Dara and Katie from Airlie Beach ad we had some quiet drinks in King's Cross.

Sydney is a beautiful city and the people are super friendly, I'll definitely be making a return visit - maybe permanently...

Following my night out in Cheeky Monkeys, an early morning taxi ride to my bus pick up point didn't sit favourably! My new driver, Brett turned out to be the best which was lucky seeing as there were just four of us on the bus. Me, Chloe and two dutchies! A pleasantly short bus ride saw is in Spot X Surf Camp where we checked in with the generic surfer type staff, dumped our stuff and had lunch.

The afternoon was to be spent with Josh, our dread totting surf instructor and Ali, our sex starved photographer who threatened to rape me on several occasions - I didn't know whether to be more worried about huge waves and rips or her!! None of our group were particularly bothered about surfing but we began the lesson with basic safety and then head to the beach where we moved onto the more practical aspects. After much arsing around on the sand, it was finally time to tackle the waves. Considering my fatigue and a number of successive wipeouts, I totally enjoyed the whole experience and even rode a good few waves! Near the end of the lesson, the girls all got tired so I had one on one tuition. The lesson came to a triumphant end with me riding a fairly beasty wave most the way into shore. Absolutely exhausted with battling the huge waves, we trapsed back to our room and took a welcome shower!

Dinner was a glorious, never ending buffet of dreams! The night wound down around a log fire with Brett the bus driver singing songs on the guitar whilst we drank wine he had bought us all en route, an awesome day an wicked experience! I just need to learn the Aussie cricket team and I'll get me a visa!

The 3rd of May came around and my whole reason for being in Byron Bay pounced. An early start to the day, a manic bike ride into town and a short wait for a bus to Tyagarah. Now, Tyagarah is an airfield and my reason for being there was to jump out of a plane at 14,000ft...I was terrified! I got suited and booted, met my tandem and photographer and we made our way onto the plane. It didn't particularly occur to me that the last on the plane would be first out the door so on I got a little none the wiser, 4,000ft up, assuming we were nearing the jump point it dawned on me - my instructor just laughed! We were bloody high up and despite some distant cloud, the views were phenomenal! When the time finally came to jump, the door was flung open and the wind rushed in, there was a total sensory overload and a bit of false advertising kicked in as my guy pushed me out of the plane...no "Ready, Steady, Go", no countdown just BAM!


Hurtling toward the ground was the single most terrifying thing I have ever done and despite putting on a brave face for the camera, I was totally bricking it. As time passed I relaxed and the exhileration took over, 60 seconds passed in what felt like a life-time. Eventually, the parachute was released, the huge canopy ballooning overhead and we began a fairly rapid and painful (to the crotch) spiral descent toward the airfield. I had a little go at steering the parachute and before I knew it, we were back on solid ground, a little hoarse and slightly deaf!

Having been up at 6A.M., thrown out of a plane and home by 9.30A.M. I had a whole day to kill. Being the only English speaker in my hostel, friends were scarce so I made my way down through the creek behind the hostel to a nearly deserted beach. Considering it was a public holiday there was hardly anyone there and it was beautiful. I walked for hours along the soft sand where I ended up falling asleep in the sun. The walk home was equally beautiful as the sun set across the bay.

Despite throughly enjoying my time in Australia thus far, those of you who have been following my blog or know me at all will know I'm a city boy through and through. As a result, our approach to Brisbane left me feeling nothing short of ecstatic! The high rise buildings looming out of the distance, the traffic, the sirens, the general bustle of the city, it all made me feel right at home! Me and the Fraser Island foursome checked into Base Central, as the name suggests, a fairly central location. From here, a group of us head down to the lagoon - proudly toted by Brisbanites as the worlds largest inner city lagoon. All the major towns along the east coast have lagoons (big swimming pools) on account of the deadly "stingers" which inhabit their shores, it's a great idea and Brisbane's was particularly nice, sadly it was too cold for a swim!

Arrival into Rainbow Beach was fairly depressing and my first day proved fairly uneventful, I got some groceries in, caught up with sleep and we had a briefing for the only thing to do in Rainbow - Fraser Island! For those of you that don't know, it is the worlds largest sand island, formed by the deposition from the EAC (Jelly Dude - Finding Nemo, watch it!) heading North from Sydney. The plan of action was a self guided 4x4 tour of the island and a sampling of its pristine lakes. The briefing was centred around safety both driving on the sand and avoiding the wild dingoes!

Formalities done, I grabbed an early night ready for an early morning. I was in a group with a Scot, a Canadian, two Irish and three Germans. We packed up our 4x4, had a quick brieifing on the cars and we were off on our adventure. I began the driving on account of being the only one experienced in driving a manual left hand drive!! Our convoy of 6 cars head down to the beach where we boarded a ferry which was to carry us over the narrow stretch of water which seperated the island from the mainland. The EAC (Eastern Austrlian Current), also known as the Sushi Train brought swathes of fish to the area surrounding the island making sharks very prominent!


Onto the island, we cruised along the coast up to a lookout point known as Indian Head. Aaron, our on board Canadian wanted to try his hand at driving to see if he had the skills to drive which he did but unfortunately he totally forgot the rules regarding not driving on soft sand! As you may well imagine, driving a hefty great four wheel drive into soft sand is a recipe for disaster...as a result we were stranded in the sand for the best part of 40 minutes, only rescued by some passing Germans! Back to Indian Head and it was time to leave due to the encroaching tides, not happy I didn't get the chance to climb the headland, I got a glass of Goon and passengered to the campsite. With German number one, Michael behind the wheel. At the campsite, Kristin - the Scot and I pitched our tent and accompanied by the Irish, Clodagh and Carrie-Ann we head of in search of a creek. Retardedly, we assumed the creek would be up a sand dune so unsurprisingly we never made it for a swim!


As darkness fell, we made dinner - steak was order of the day...result! The group began drinking and not long after our campsite was overrun with 48 drunken fools! As the night wore on, tiredness took over and I hit the hay/sand which I can tell you is less than comfortable!

The next morning was a hideous start to the day, my Goon hangover was savage but as soon as the sun came up, sleep was impossible! With everyone feeling worse for wear, we packed up camp and set off for Lake McKenzie. The road leading up to the lake which you would vaguely described as a dirt track was fairly unforgiving on those with a weak stomach and claimed many casualties who failed to hold down breakfast! The lake was absolutely beautiful and the water was incredible, the sun came out and I was set until Germans two and three began, what they proved was the only thing they were good at, whinging! Complaints ignored, we set off for campsite number two. Dinner was chicken stir fry cooked by our Canadian, drinking again ensued!


At some point in the evening our passeneger door decided to swallow its window which with wild dingoes around was slightly problematic! We spent a good while trying to dingo-proof our car which whilst slightly inebriated was a greater challenge than you would think, we did however manage it much to our pleasure! The evening was lovely and relaxed and we all sat on the beach chatting. Bed beckoned apparently ridiculously early but without humanity time has no relevance!


Our final day on Fraser started early again and we set off for Lake Wabby. It lacked the horrendous drive of Lake McKenzie but had it's very own mamoth walk to get there. The lake was at the foot of a huge sand dune and had a murky green tinge, couple with the huge catfish it wasn't all too appealing but I did take a dip. Apparently the green came from tea tree leeching from the trees into the water so swimming was really good for your skin! As time slipped by, it was time to head back to the ferry and make our way home. Back in town we filled up the car with $53.70 worth of fuel, took them back to the garage, cleaned them up and back to the hostel.


The day was rounded off with fish and chips and an excursion to the beach and finally bed. Despite an extensive shower I still had sand in every hole imaginable and the room was swamped in the stuff! Many peoples cameras fell victim to the sand and my iPod headphones developed an annoying rattle!

The rest of my time in Rainbow Beach was fairly uneventful. I just awaited my bus down to my first big city, Brisbane. I had an amazing time on Fraser Island, I met some fantastic people and dealt with my hatred of camping whilst also seeing some breathe taking natural sights!

Before the big city I so longed for came Kroombit - a working cattle ranch in the middle of bloody nowhere. Our new driver, Beaver tore down the dirt track leading up to the ranch like he'd stolen the bus! We miraculously made it in one piece and cowboyed up with hats and bandanas. Tonight I was in for a treat, having left Asian priced dining behind I've spent the past few days botching the simplest of meals together in the most disgusting kitchens known to man, on one occasion I had to cook rice in a tea pot! Not tonight, tonight I was being cooked for. We started by trying a 'mystery meat', it turned out to be goat - it was just a stringier texture than beef with a similar taste. Next on the menu was a beef stew, it was delicious (not as good as my mums of course!). The main was roast beef, I can't even remember the last time I had roast but it was extremely welcome.

Thoroughly satisfied, a crazy old cowboy by the name of Alan gave us a brief history of the area which was initially settled by Scots back in the day. It was named by one of their wives, a Norwegian who named it Kroombit meaning 'crescent' on account of the crescent shape formed by the surrounding mountains. History lesson over the crazy old coot started cracking his whip all over the show! He gave us a quick lesson on how to do it and sent u off to have a go, he made it look a lot easier than it was. I got a few cracks but it was pretty tedious and ridiculously tiring!

Next cowboy activity on the agenda was the bucking bronco, now obviously they weren't going to chuck us on some deranged bull with an attitude problem but a mechanical monster made do. I was pretty reluctant at first due to the fact the bull didn't look the safest thing in the world and then paired with the fact the bucking motion had revealed slightly more of some people than most of us cared to see. Unfortunately I was challeneged by the Irish, I wasn't going to be shown up, a few drinks more confident I mounted the bull and was soon being thrown all over the place. I lasted all of 6 bucks! As people filtered off to bed, I hit the hay (look at me with all my cowboy speak...) ready for the following day.


Apparently cowboys get up sickeningly early which obviously means that I had to too! Breakfast was an experience, I got my first taste of Vegimite - Australia's answer to Marmite. Let's just say I've never wretched from food apart from baked beans, it was savage and left a lasting impression! The first of the mornings activities was learning how to lassoo a cows skull on a spike, next up was putting these new skills to good use. We got into threes and were led into a pen filled with hundreds of dirty smelly, fornicating goats! Not good. I was with the Irish ladies, one with a lassoo, I was the "tipper" and our final groupie simply had to brand the poor bugger. My job as tipper involved hoisting the goat which had been lassooed and pin it to the ground, it was dirty but pretty fun!


The hope of leaving the mangey goats behind was a fleeting hope as we began our final activity - horseback goat mustering. We saddled up and mounted our beasties, my horse Beau (pronounced by his owner as "buey" - retarded Americans!). He was a legend, started the ride as a farty, grumpy retard but by the end of the ride we made a connection. I had that bad boy trotting all over the show, much to the distress of our guides! So the mustering was tedious and got horrendously boring, we basically hassled a herd of goats from one field to another. The scenery was incredible though, you got such a feeling of freedom atop a horse riding through the Australian bush. Our little adventure concluded with a walk along a little creek and back to the stables.



My time as a cowboy had come to an end and it was back on the bus with our new driver - Disco. The journey was very long and tedious and we pulled into Rainbow Beach in torrential rain, not a good start!