The final leg of Australia!

Trip Start Aug 16, 2007

Trip End Jul 16, 2008

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Flag of Australia Sydney, Australia
Monday, February 11, 2008

Okay here we go. After Brisbane we moved on pretty quickly down the coast to get to Sydney as soon as possible. The weather was pants and we were a bit sick of beach after beach after beach which is pretty much what you get in Australia. On route we stopped at Movie World to do a spot of rollercoaster action. It was a pretty basic theme park in the grand scheme of things but they've got a ride called the superman and it's class! Puts the Oblivion at Alton towers to shame.
We then stopped at Byron Bay which a bit of coastal hippy town and was pretty cool and it's where I decided to take it upon myself to learn to surf. Vik didn't do it coz she's tried before but I fancied myself as a bit of a future world surfing champ so booked a half day lesson while Vikki read on the beach and was in charge of capturing the all elusive action shot. Apart from injuring my forever dodgy shoulder I can pretty safely say that I nailed it! Stood up on my first go and rode the wave all the way in

Takin the piss!

! It went a bit down hill from there but I really enjoyed it. Vikki on the other hand managed to get stung by a jellyfish while standing taking pictures. No panic though coz it wasn't one of the many things that can kill you in Oz, surprisingly, so a bit of savlon did the trick.

When we got to Sydney the weather was just deteriorating all around us. How the Aussie's can call our weather is beyond me when there's is totally horrendous. We got a camp site just outside the city and got a bus into town to meet some people we met in Africa which was good to do. The next day we went up to the blue mountains an hour outside the city and that was really good. Beautiful scenery and watched a very lame local cricket match. We then when back to the City and my mum and dad bought us 3 nights in a 4 star hotel right in the heart of it for my birthday. Absolutely priceless. We were sick of the van and in order to get a feel of sydney we thought we needed to be centre so it was lovelly to stay somewhere nice for a few nights. Sydney was cool (a bit like a small london I thought) and we splashed out a bit on some new colthes and some of the best thai fish cakes I have ever tasted. We are both really ready to leave Oz at this point.

Australia verdict:
Now that we are the end of our Australia trip I feel like I should give our verdict on what we thought of the place and that is a little disappointed

The balance is there!

. Don't get me wrong, we had a nice time in parts (Sydney, scuba diving, Noosa, surfing, Brisbane with Ivor Bigguns brother and Fraser Island) but overall the whole travelling thing there is a little tired and everything you do has been done a million times before so there's nothing fresh there. I also think it'd be better to go there on holiday with no budget so it can be enjoyed more. I think part of it was that I got a bit homesick as well and to be honest by the time I left Perth I already wanted to go somewhere else which didn't set me off on the right foot or the best frame of mind for the east coast part. Having come from Africa as well it was a bit of a step down in terms of wow factor. Also, everything that moves can pretty much kill you! What's that all about?

Bring on New Zealand!