Day 40 - 26th March 2009

Didn't have the best of nights sleep, as although the cabin and beds were quite comfortable we were very aware of the fact that we needed to get off the train at Butterworth and about 4:30 in the morning and didn't want to sleep through our stop. The train actually arrived at Butterwoprth at 5:00am and we were wide awake and ready to get off. We now needed to get to Penang island and so headed out of the station and towards the ferry. As we left the station a taxi driver approached us and asked if we needed a taxi to the Georgetown the main city on the island where we were staying (there is a bridge in case you were wondering). We said that we were going to catch the ferry and he told us that the ferry doesn't start running until 7am. Well we knew that the taxi was going to be much more expensive than the ferry and we didn't really expect there to be anything to do between 5 and 7am in Georgetown anyway so we thought we may as well sit around at the ferry terminal as sit around in Georgetown. As we walked away he called after us "it's a kilometre walk to the ferry terminal". Oh well we thought we have 2 hours to get there! So we walked up the ramp which was signposted to the ferry and across a bit of a bridge and what do you know there was the ferry terminal! Probably only about 200 metres from the train station and as we approached what would you believe that we saw, but a ferry sat waiting for us! The poor taxi driver must have got confused...

The ferry journey cost us about 24 pence and we were in Georgetown at about 5:30 in the morning. We decided that we would head to our hotel and try and drop off our big bags and then decide what to do after that. Now we had treated ourselves to a very nice hotel in Georgetown the Eastern and Oriental and I suspected that taxi journeys to there might be more expensive than to other places, so using our rough guide we found a cheaper hotel just down the road and got a taxi to there for about £2.

Arrived at the front desk of our hotel at about 6am and explaining that we had arrived on the early train from KL, asked if there was somewhere that we could leave our luggage. To our surprise they said that our room was available and we could have it there and then! But first we had reception drinks in the lobby and then our butler (more on this in a moment) would show us up to our room!

The room was huge with a lounge area and 2 televisions! There was also a switch next to the bed which our butler explained that we could press if we needed anything and he would come to the room to assist. We didn't actually use the switch during our stay, prefering instead to ask for things at the front desk. I had a shower and Liz had a bath which was very refreshing after all the travelling we had done and then we decided to go to bed and get the rest of our night's sleep. We woke up again at about 9 feeling very refreshed and almost like we had been at the hotel all night.

Unfortunatley we couldn't have breakfast at the hotel because of course we weren't really supposed to be there yet. So we set off to explore the city. We walked to Fort Cornwallis, which was the original Bristish fort and had a quick look round there. Then we headed into the city through little India and towards Chinatown. We stopped at a hawkers stall and got some sort of pastry/batter things for a mid morning snacks. On our way we saw loads of old buildings and temples. Georgetown has actually being designated a world heritage site due to all of the old buildings which it has. Navigating your way through the streets was fairly tricky as there was lots of traffic and not much in the way of a pavement. The weather was a hot 33 degrees C and very humid, so after a morning wandering round we headed to a air conditioned shopping mall to cool down and have some lunch. After lunch we had a look around the shops before heading back to our hotel.

Back of the hotel we went for a swim in the pool before heading back out to the city to have some dinner in a Thai place which we had spotted earlier in the day. The food here is very cheap which made a welcome change from Australia.

On returning to our hotel we turned on the TV to see the BBC world news telling us that there were more protests in Bangkok, our next destination, with about 35,000 protestors surrounding the governmental offices. Not news that we really wanted to hear...

Day 39 - 25th Mar 2009

Early start today to catch our train from Singapore to Kuala Lumpar. Left our hotel at 6:30 and got a taxi to the train station. Arrived in plenty of time and filled in our immigration forms for Malaysia while we waited. There is quite a strange thing in leaving Singapore for Malaysia by train in that you go through the Malaysian arrival immigration on the platform at Singapore main train station, but then the train stops just before it actually passes into Malaysia and everyone has to get off and go through Singapore departure immigration. Which means for the first 3o minutes of the train journey you are kind of in Malaysia and Singapore! Very strange...

Train journey was fine though seemed a little long towards the end of the 6 hours. I brought us some noodles and rice from the food cart for breakfast and then lunch. It was interesting to see the country as we passed through, quite different to Australia which we had just left behind.

Arrived in Kuala Lumpur at about 2:30 and had a very cheap McD's lunch (about £1.20 for a burger, chips and coke!). We now had about 5 hours until our next train, an overnight sleeper to Butterworth, so decided to go and see some of the city. So we checked our bags into left luggage and headed off.

We caught a taxi to the Bird Park which claims to be the largest free flight aviary in the world. It was quite a nice place to wander round and have a look at all the different birds. Though to be honest allthough it was a very big aviary (large nets supported by huge posts) there weren't really many birds flying around. Maybe it was too warm for them, it was about 33 degrees C and very humid! We saw a show that they put on which was impressive but a little strange, they had parrots who could ride a small bike; put shapes in a jigsaw and a few other random tricks. We kind of wondered what the point was and thought maybe they could have told people more about the birds, but interesting none the less.

Then we caught another taxi to the twin towers. We had been to Kuala Lumpur for our honeymoon and wanted to see the towers again, plus we knew that they had a really good food court. I had a Thai green curry with a drink for about £2 and Liz had a beef stir fry with rice for even less than that!

We decided it was time to be heading back to the station to make sure we didn't miss our train. We knew that with the time of day the roads would be really busy, so opted to take the underground instead. This also turned out to be very busy and the platform was full of people, but incredibly and something I had never seen before on any underground system, people were queueing on the platform in orderly lines! So we joined the back of one of the queues and after a couple of trains had been through we were at the front of the line and then on the next one. Now more like other underground systems, we were crammed in like sardines as everyone tried to squeeze in, but we were on our way at least.

Arrived back at the station with just over an hour till our train was due to leave. Bought ourselves some Dunkin' Donuts for a very reasonable £2 for 6 (we are enjoying the Malaysian food prices already!) and headed to our platform. Unfortunately the train was about an hour late leaving, but once we were on board we settled into our first class cabin very nicely. We had a cabin all to ourselves with a bunk bed a sink and a chair. Our beds were madeup ready for us and on we went towards to Butterworth.

Day 38 - 24th Mar 2009

Today we fly to Singapore so we only had the morning to spend round Perth. First we had to pack up all stuff and post our box home. We managed to squeeze everything in and headed to the Post Office. We got the box weighed and we were shocked at the weight. We decided to take a few items out to make it slightly less heavy and slightly cheaper. Then we taped it up and sent it off. It should get home before we do as we opted for airmail.

We then had a last quick look round Perth and used McDonalds wifi before we went back to the hostel to get our stuff and make our way to the airport. We'd thought we'd be able to get the same bus to the airport that we had got to the city when we'd arrived. However when we looked at the bus stop it just said domestic terminal whereas we needed international! We asked at the hostel to see if there was a different bus we could catch. The guy told us that really the only way was to get a shuttle or a taxis. The shuttle would be slightly cheaper but when he realised our flight was today, which he seemed horrified that we hadn't sorted this out sooner, he said we were too late to get the shuttle. He was pretty negative about it and seemed to act like we were just too late and would miss our flight. We decided to just get a taxis, he phoned for one for us and by time we'd got our bags it was waiting for us. The taxis didn't take long, perhaps 30 mins at the most, and we were at the airport. It has to be the quietist airport I've ever been too, there was hardly anyone around and only 3 or 4 flights leaving that day. We were too early to check-in, so had to wait around. Then when we did check-in, we were told the flight was delayed! So we'd gone from the hostel man saying we were too late to being far too early!

So to pass sometime we had lunch at Red Rooster, a nation wide fast food chicken and fish chain, which we hadn't yet tried. Then we hit the bar to try some Aussie ale. Unfortunately we didn't have many dollars left, enough for 2 beers each, so we went through to wait for the plane. The plane was about 45 minutes late in the end so we had plenty of waiting around to do.

Once on board we discovered we had seat back tv's and we could watch movies on demand. This was brilliant so no sleepling got done as we watched 2 films, we both watched different ones, we may have similar tastes in some things but not films!

Eventually we arrived in Singapore at about 10 pm, we got a taxis to our hotel, although he worrying had never heard of it! We went straight to sleep as we had to leave at 6.30am to catch the train to Kuala Lumpur. Thankfully the room had aircon otherwise we would have roasted...

Day 37 - 23rd Mar 2009

We decided to spend the day around Perth. We started of by going to a few shops, were I bought another jumper! It was 20% off though! We also walked through a shopping arcade called London Court which was a weird mock tudor style shopping street, it was almost disneyesque! We then went to the post office to buy a box big enough to post all my jumpers home!

We went back to the hostel for lunch. Only to find that nearly all the saucepans had been used and not washed up and there was a distinct lack of cutlery and utensils. Eventually we managed to cook our exciting lunch of pasta with a tomato sauce! Tonight for dinner we had pasta in a tomota sauce with mushrooms and sweetcorn to look forward to. We thought the mushrooms and sweetcorn would transform it into a completely different meal!

After lunch we tried to pack our box to send home, perhaps the bigger box would have been a good idea... So we decided to head out again and see some sights. First we went to the Perth Mint, it's a pretty cool building and a nice inside, we didn't bother having the guided tour but just looked round the shop and considered buying pieces of gold! We then headed for Kings Park, we caught a free bus to the edge of the park and then walked up the steep hill to the top. The views of the city were pretty cool and we got a good view of the Swan River. At the top there is the botanical gardens so we walked round. We saw a gang of black cockatoos and there's an elevated walkway which is pretty cool. I also noticed that there is actually a bus which comes right to the top of the park which we could have caught for free and avoided the steep climb up to the top! We decided to catch that one down...

We headed back to the hostel in time to watch Neighbours and Home and Away as this would be our last chance before our return to England. I don't think England is too far behind now so we didn't discover anything amazing.

Day 36 - 22nd Mar 2009

Another fairly early start so we could catch the train to Fremantle and then the ferry to Rottnest Island. It wasn't the best of starts though as there was no hot water when we tried to shower! Had a boring breakfast of toast.

Arrived at the island slightly late as the ferry was delayed but didn't really matter. Went straight to the bike hire place and got ourselves a couple of bikes, decided against a tandem! Bought a subway lunch to take with us and set off round the island. A route all round the island was 22 km so we decided to do that. There's loads of places along the route to stop at, nice bays, a lighthouse and beaches. The island is really picturesque and as cars aren't allowed it's great for biking. We had lunch overlooking the sea at some cliffs, Adam saw a snake but it ran, or slithered, away so we were ok. There are also loads of animals called Quokkas, they are kinda like minature wallabies. They all seem pretty tame though, I guess they are used to the friendly tourists.

About halfway round Adam managed to fall off his bike somehow, almost taking me out with him! He got up and was ok, just a bit of grazing on his hand. So we decided it was time for a break and had a stop at a nearby beach. I went for a swim, the water was pretty cold but once you were in it was ok. We slowly carried on our bike ride stopping at a couple more beaches before getting back to the jetty pretty tired.

The ferry back to Fremantle was pretty late so by time we go back we were starving. Got a large fish and chips each from a place by the water in Fremantle. Just about managed to finish it all! Then got the train back to Perth and went to bed very tired, not even the trains were going to bother me!

Day 35 - 21st Mar 2009

Today we decided to go to Fremantle. It's about 25 mins by train from Perth. We had breakfast at the hostel and headed down to the train station. We had some issues buying a ticket, the machines wouldn't take a card as payment and then the information centre won't sell day cards, so we walked to an ATM to get cash, then the ticket machines need the correct change only! Eventually we got our tickets and made it onto a train just before it left.

When we arrived in Fremantle most shops and stuff were closed, so we wondered around slowly as things started to come to life. We found a second hand book shop to off load our books at. This time I just sold my book and didn't buy so I've finally just got 1 book to carry round!

After Adam had eventually found a book to buy we headed to the markets. These were quite interesting, loads of stalls inside a building. Then we went for a look at the sea and found what is probably the best McD's location in the world. They had the prime spot at the beach, with Wagamamas behind them. So McD's customers get to eat their burgers whilst looking at the beach and the sea, and Wagamamas get to look at the boat yard! Surprisingly though we didn't eat there, we just used their free wifi whilst sat outside!

We got lunch from a mexican cafe on the main cafe road in Fremantle. There are loads of little cafes all with tables on the pavement. We had our first nachos of the trip which were great and sat and watched the world go by.

After having another look round Fremantle we got back on the train and went to Cottesloe. To our surprise there was a free bus service to take passengers to the beach! Beats walking... However the last bus back was in 30 mins time so we could only have a quick look around. On the beach they had sculptures for their annual art by the sea festival. I quite liked having sculptures to look at with the nice back drop of the sea.

When we arrived back in Perth at about 6pm we thought we'd go to the supermarket to buy something for dinner, only to find that it was already shut! Everywhere was shut except a few tacky sovenier shops, McD's and an Asian food shop, so we bought some noodles which we couldn't read any of the packaing for and had that for dinner.

Day 34 - 20th Mar 2009

Got up and caught the train to the airport for our flight to Perth. Arrived and checked-in in plenty of time. In fact so much so that we had time to leave the airport and walk across the road to Ikea for a cheap breakfast.

Arrived in Perth just after lunch and caught another bus to our hostel. Spent the afternoon wandering around the city centre and shops. I bought Liz a jumper for her birthday and she bought another one for herself. Now she just needs to work out how she is going to get them home!

We had dinner in a food court and then returned to our hostel to watch neighbours and home and away before bed.

Day 33 - 19th Mar 2009

Breakfast today was pancakes, again cooked on the BBQ outside, very tasty! It's perhaps worth mentioning at this point that Australian BBQs are completely different to what we think of when we say BBQ. Their's are a big sheet of metal heated by gas, so effectively like a huge frying pan, which is how you can cook pancakes on them (and Chinese Stir Fry; Spag Bol or Bacon and Eggs...)

After breakfast it was off to Seal Bay to see Australian Sea Lions. We actually got to walk on the beach where they were as part of a guided tour which meant that we could get pretty close to them. Some of the males were massive.

The next stop was Little Sahara which is basically a couple of huge sand dunes. Here we had a go at sandboarding, which basically involes throwing yourself down the sand dunes head first on a small wooden board. You got upto some pretty high speeds and it was great fun. The only part of it which wasn't so much fun was trying to scramble back up the sand dunes afterwards to have another go, as you took a step you kept sliding backwards which made it pretty slow going and after about 3 or 4 goes everone was pretty worn out. Then we had a quick stop at a beach for a swim to wash away all of the sand which was now everywhere. Though I chickened out because I remembered how cold the water was from the day before, but Liz went in.

Then it was back to the farm for our usual picnic lunch. As we got back into the bus after lunch Hamish told us that there had been a bit of a change of plan for the afternoon as the fishing boats which were due to take us back to the mainland had become stuck somewhere and so we were going to have to take the main ferry which everyone else uses. However this didn't leave till 7:30 rather than the 4:30 we were expecting so we had an extra afternoon on the island to do some extra things.

So first stop on our extended Island tour was a honey farm where we got to try all different types of honey and I had some honey flavoured ice cream! There is an interesting story about the honey on Kangaroo Island as originally there were no native bees on the Island. But some of the early settlers missed their honey so much that one of them went to Italy and brought back 12 bee hives of Italian bees to start honey making on the island back in the 1800s. Now the interesting thing is that some years later the particular breed of Italian bees actually became extinct in Italy and in fact anywhere else in the world apart from on Kangaroo Island. As a result the bees on the Island are now a protected species with some strict rules to look after them.

Next stop just down the road was Kingscote the island's capital, though that might make it sound more than it actually is, which is really quite a small town. Here we saw some huge pelicans waiting to be fed. Then we were off to one last beach before heading to the ferry. On the way to the beach we passed an Echidna, these are weird hedgehog like animals, quite rare.

We arrived back in Adelaide at about 10:30 pretty tired and ready for bed.

Day 32 - 18th Mar 2009

The day started with a really good breakfast of bacon and eggs, although we discovered a weird thing, Hamish cut out circles from the middle of the bread and cooked the egg inside this hole, he called this Toad in the Hole! Nothing like our toad in the hole...

After breakfast we headed to the Hariet River to do some kayaking. Some of the group were not so up for it as they were worried about getting wet and cold, Adam and I on the other hand were very excited. We had to go in a tadem kayak which actually turned out ok and we managed to paddle in time with each other. We had great fun paddling up the river and we had few water fights with the other boats. So we were pretty much soaked and by time we got back we were really tired but we had a really fun time.

Straight after kayaking we went to a bird of prey show. We did think they might be anothor coach load of people there but as it turned out it was only us 9. This was great as it meant we all got to stroke a Barn Owl and if we wanted we could put on one of the gloves and let a masked owl sit on it. He showed us a few different birds and the last one he got out flew off and wouldn't come back! He didn't seem too worried and figured she would come back when she was ready.

We then went back to the farm for lunch, a BBQ. This was also when we had to meet the other group who were to join up with us for the rest of the trip. To be honest we didn't want any new people in the group as we quite liked our small group. Anyway 11 new people joined us making 20 in the group. After lunch we all went to see the New Zealand fur seals at Admirals Arch inside the Flinders National Park. This pretty cool, they were just lazing about on the rocks. We then went to see the Remarkable Rocks, these are some weird shaped rocks near the coast. Then we stopped off on the way back to the farm at a nice little beach where some people, including Adam, went snorkelling. The water was freezing but they saw some cool fish.

After dinner we all headed out to try and spot some little blue penguins. They only come back at night from their days swimming so we had to use a torch to try and see them. So combining the fact that it's dark and their really small it's not that easy to see them. Hamish managed to point out a few and we also saw quite a few Wallabies. I think some people were a bit disappointed that we couldn't see more penguins but it was pretty cool seeing the ones we did so I was happy.

On the way back to farm we drove around a field to look at the wallabies, there's loads of them on Kangaroo Island, I think about 1 million, not that I counted them all! We also saw a few kangaroos.

Day 31 - 17th Mar 2009

Today was the first day of our three day tour of Kangaroo Island with "Surf and Sun". The bus picked us up from our hostel at a quite reasonable 8:35. There were only 9 of us on the tour plus our driver and guide, Hamish. This was great as it meant we had loads of space in the 21 seater bus and it was much easier to get to know who everyone was. Hamish was an Australian probably a similar age to us with lots of enthusiasm and a quirky sense of humour which was always making us laugh. We got on really well with him which was great for the trip.

First stop on the tour was Middleton Beach where we had a surfing lesson. We met the instructor Will who told us the basics of what to do on the beach and then we were into the water to try it for ourselves. It was much harder than it had looked when we had watched other people, but we had great fun trying and kind of stood up once before falling straight off! It was also very tiring and after about an hour and a half we were pretty exhausted. Luckily the next stop on the trip was lunch! Similar to our last tour this was a make your own sandwiches job at a picnic spot in a local park. We all helped with preparing the salad and washing up afterwards.

Next stop was Victor Harbour a small town about an hour from Adelaide. It was right by the coast and a popular retirement town for people from Adelaide. We walked up to the top of a lookout where we had some great views of the town and the coast.

Then it was onwards towards Kangaroo Island. We arrived at the port, Cape Jervis, and got on a small fishing boat which was our transfer to the island. Kangaroo Island is 10 miles from the mainland and the journey across took about 45 minutes. Luckily (and as we found out later somewhat unusually) the ocean was very calm and Liz didn't feel travel sick.

On arrival on the island we stopped at the IGA supermarket at Penneshaw near the port to get any supplies we wanted before heading onwards into Kangaroo Island. Kangaroo Island is actually Australia's third largest island and quite big. It was named Kangaroo Island by Matthew Flinders, an English explorer who was the first to discover the island, and on arrival after 4 months at sea found lots of friendly kangaroos, which him and his crew promptly ate! Next stop after the shop was Pennington Bay and then onto Prospect Hill a lookout which Flinders climbed immediately on arrival on the island in order to survey the land. There were some great views from the top.

Then it was on to the farm which was to be our accommodation for the next 2 nights. Dinner was Chinese noodles cooked on the BBQ outside, again we all helped out with preparation and cleaning up.

After dinner there was a campfire lit outside which we all sat round and had a few beers and played some silly campfire games.

The accommodation was in dorms or if you wanted to then you could sleep outside in what was called a swag, which was kind of like a big canvas sleeping bag which you put your bedding inside and then there was a flap which you put over your head. I decided to give it a go but Liz decided she would get a better nights sleep if she slept inside. I actually slept very well and didn't get cold.

Day 30 - 16th March

Today we had a relaxed start ie. late start. We headed to the market to start with, to discover it is closed on Mondays. So then we went to Victoria Square and caught the free bus to the North Terrace. We had a chat with a friendly Australian on the way, he was interested about our travels and told us some stuff about Adelaide and the areas of the city. We got off at the botanical gardens and had a really nice walk around them. They were really well laid out with some nice areas including a meditarinean garden and a lilly house. The lillies were huge! There was also the largest green house in the southern hemisphere although we didn't go in, we'd seen enough plants by then!

We found a really nice noodle and rice place for lunch, they did a good lunch time deal and the food was great, kinda like Wagamams but you don't have to sit on a bench.

We then headed for the museums, the first one was the museum of southern australia which had a lot of aboriginal stuff in it. A man started talking to me and he seem to have quite a grudge against the English. Luckily he didn't talk for long. The museum also had the standard stuffed animals and dinosaur bones.

We then went to the migration museum, which to be honest I found a bit strange. I come out unsure of it's purpose really, they seemed to have a few issues with the immigration laws from the early half of the 20th century, which perhaps weren't fair but I wasn't quite sure what their point was.

By this time I was all museumed out so we had a look round some shops although we didn't buy anything before going to Dominos pizza for our dinner.

Headed back to the hostel fairly early so we can get ready for tomorrows adventure to Kangaroo Island. We should hopefully be learning to surf in the morning and seeing some good wildlife in the afternooon. We are staying on the island for 2 nights so we might not be able to post blogs and send emails for a couple of days but rest assured we will keep writing and just send it all off when next get email acess.

Day 29 - 15th Mar 2009

A little later start today as the bus left at 8:00 though in actual fact by the time that everyone was ready it was more like half past by the time we set off.

Our first stop for the day was at a spot right at the top end of the Grampians where we were going to do a walk to the peak of a hill. Well I say a walk, it started off as a walk, but then changed into more of a climb. We scrambled up rock faces and had to go through a cave to get to the summit, but the views from the top were amazing. You could see across all of the forest for a long way 360 degrees. It was great to do and was a real highlight of the tour; if it had just been the two of us then we never would have attempted the climb, but because we were a big group we just went along with everyone else. The walk took us about two hours to make it back to the bus and we were pretty tired by the end.

After that it was back on the bus for the long drive to complete our journey to Adelaide. It took about 5 hours and by the time we got to Adelaide we were ready to get off the bus. On arrival in Adelaide we completed our 3 day tour and were back to being independent (well for a couple of nights at least...).

Day 28th - 14th Mar 2009

Another early start today as the bus left the hostel at 7:30am. First stop was a beach where you could get down to the bottom of the rock stacks. Unfortunately it was bucketing it down with rain so we decided to head back to the bus without going all the way down to the beach. We got pretty wet, but the Swedish couple who went the whole way got completely soaked through. Then it was back to the 12 Apostles to see them in a different light. I decided I was going to stay on the bus for this stop but Liz braved the rain to go and take some photographs.

We drove a little further along the coast to the Bay of Martyrs where the weather had improved a little and everyone went for a walk along the beach. Then it was onwards towards the Grampians National Park.

We stopped at a supermarket so the tour guide could buy some more food for lunch and we picked up some beers for the evening's BBQ. We had a similar lunch to the day before at a Picnic spot.

We stopped at the national park information centre and cultural centre, but unfortunately the cultural centre was closed as they were holding a wedding there.

Next stop was the MacKenzie Falls a large waterfall we walked down a lot of steps to get to the bottom of, which we then of cousre had to climb all the way back up!

Then it was onto Reid's lookout where we got another short walk and some amazing views of the Grampians.

We headed back to Hall's Gap where the evening's hostel was located. We saw wild Kangaroos and deer grazing just outside the hostel. We had a BBQ for dinner which was really nice, though we ate inside as it was a little bit cold. We stayed up till about midnight drinking beer and chatting with the other memebers of the group.

Day 27 - 13th Mar 2009

Another early start today as we needed to get to a nearby hostel for a 6:30am pickup for the Great Ocean Tour Trip which we had booked to take us to Adelaide. The trip was for 3 days and 2 nights and would take us down the Great Ocean Road and then up through the Grampians National Park to Adelaide. We got to the pickup point at exactly 6:30 but the tour bus wasn't there yet. Eventually at 6:50 after we had begun to get a little bit worried that the bus wasn't coming it turned up. We then made a few more pickups in the city until all 21 seats of the bus were full. Then leaving Melbourne behind us we headed south towards the Great Ocena Road.

First stop was at Torquay which is where the Great Ocean Road starts and also where there is a lot of surf shops. We spent some time looking round the shops and got a second breakfast from McDonalds.

Then it was on down the Great Ocean Road. First stop was Bell's Beach which is a famous surfing spot, but there weren't many surfers there. Then we stopped at the arch which commenerates the building of the road.

We stopped for lunch at a beach, which consisted of make your own sandwiches from stuff which the bus driver had bought from the supermarket. It was a nice spot and gave us a chance to chat to some of our travelling companions. They were a nice bunch and quite an international mix! I think the 21 were made up as follows (if I remember where everyone was from correctly): 3 English, 2 Irish, 2 Swedish, 2 Swiss, 5 Germans, 1 French, 2 Dutch, 2 Maltese and 2 Chinese! Of course everyone spoke English so communication wasn't too much of a problem.

After lunch we continued down the Great Ocean Road to Apollo Bay before leaving the Ocean to head inland to the Otway National Forest. On route we stopped and saw some Koala bears in the wild. They we just sat there in trees by the side of the road! They were very cute!

We continued to the forest where we did a short walk before getting back on the bus and taking the road back to the ocean side. We stopped to look at some large rock stacks in the Ocean. They were pretty impressive and the light was just right for looking at them.

Then it was on to Port Campbell where our accommodation was for that night. It was a small hostel right on the waterfront and our group filled the whole place apart from one other person who was staying there. We had a beer on the front porch while the tour guide cooked our dinner of Spag Bol. We had to eat it quickly as we needed to get back out to a different set of rock stacks called the 12 Apostles in time for sunset. We made it just in time and got some nice photos of the sun going down behind the rocks.

Then back to the hostel and a quick beer at the local pub with a few other people from the group before heading to bed.

Day 26 - 12th Mar 2009

Woke up to rain today. Which I guess people will be pleased about as there is a drought at the moment. We decided to walk to the other YHA hostel as we will be leaving from there tomorrow so we wanted to know how long it would take to walk. As we waited to cross a road, already fairly wet from the rain, a car drove past at speed and covered us in water in the process. Now we were soaked, well when I say we it turned out to really just be me, Adam had cleverly stood slightly further back than me so had missed most of the water. I on the other hand was drenched, but only on my front, the back of my trousers were one colour, the colour they were supposed to be and the front was a distinctly darker, damper shade. Adam decided the best thing to do would be to laugh and make a joke of the situation, I decided it wouldn't. I guess looking back now I can see a slightly humourous side but when you walking along soaking wet it doesn't seem so funny!

Finally we made it to the hostel and then carried on to Victoria Market. The market is huge and sells a lot of tourist stuff as well as clothes, fruit, veg and jewellery. There were quite a few Ugg boots, I'm pretty sure they weren't all the real article though. We bought a new padlock to help keep our stuff secure whilst in the dorm rooms we're staying in for the next couple of nights. I definately feel too old for staying in dorm rooms, but never mind, we're on a budget!

We then decided to spend the afternoon going to Ramsey Street. Well to be precise Pineoak Court, but we all know it as Ramsey Street. (In case anyone is pretending not to know, this is where everyone in Neighbours lives, a long running Australian soap opera which has been showing in the UK for years). So we got the train out of town and headed for Glen Waverley, which I was pleaseantly surprised didn't take too long to get to, even though it was the end of the line. We then had to get a bus and walk a short distance. Thankfully we had managed to get some instructions off the internet on how to find Ramsey Street. As we were boarding the bus, the driver asked me if I was sure I had the right bus, I said I think so and Adam asked if he went to Vision Drive, the stop we needed. The bus driver looked and said oh are you going to Neighbours. I reckon he can spot the tourists a mile off! Anyway he was very nice and told us where to get off and where to walk and to be careful when crossing the road. So we started our walk, I was getting very excited and then there it was, Ramsey Street. It's actually a lot smaller than I expected it to be. I don't understand how they manage to play cricket in the road on the TV show! Anyway we walked round the cul de sac and took some pictures, they seemed to be some security guy there, I guess making sure you don't start walking into the houses or anything crazy. Then we got an ice cream from the local shop which sadly isn't the general store as per the show. We caught the bus back to the train station and met our friendly driver again, he checked if we'd got on ok.

Once we arrived back into the centre of Melbourne we had a look round the art gallery. The ground floor had some 'interesting' indigenous work, but the upstairs had some nice stuff, 20th century Australian paintings and some contemporary furniture.

Then we headed into China Town to have a look around and found a Target store, I didn't realise Australia had them as well as America, when will it arrive in England?

Then got the tram back to North Melbourne and had a fish and chip dinner before going back to the hostel for an early night. P.S. There's no Cod or Haddock here...

Day 25 - 11th Mar 2009

Today we had a slow start today. We finished off our packet of biscuits as breakfast! Then we went to the computer room to put some photos onto the website. We also checked our bank account and work have paid us so all is good on that front. Thanks for everyones offer of help regarding the money, it helped us stop worrying about it, so thanks.

Then we headed off to the Victoria Market, only to find it's shut on Wednesday! So we found another food court in a shopping centre for lunch, Adam had some sushi, which looked really nice, and he said was nice.

We then headed to a book shop we had seen the day before. We'd asked and they would trade our old books. So we took our books in and they said they'd give us $12 trade in for them, so it was just a case of finding a book we wanted from the hundreds they had. Surprisingly it wasn't too hard and we ended up with 3 books. Obviously this came to more than $12 but we got one of them for free. Anyway at least we have some new stuff to read now. I'm quite liking this book trading, it's a bit like recycling but you get something back for it.

We decided to head out of the city and go to St Kilda for the afternoon. It's a seaside suburb of Melbourne with a beach. I think we were hoping it would be a bit like Manly but it wasn't really. The beach was pretty narrow and quite busy. Anyway we had a sit down by the sea and wrote a few postcards. We had a meander round the shops before getting the tram back to our hostel.

We had a microwave lasagne for dinner and smuggled a couple of beers into our room to drink.

Photos!

For those of you who think we might be hiding out in Sherwood Forest (You know who you are Mr Fracareta)... There are now a few pictures posted. Enjoy, Adam and Liz

Day 24 - 10th Mar 2009

I guess the day started at about midnight when the greyhound coach arrived at Canberra. Here we had a quick stop to change drivers and drop up off and pick up passengers. This gave me chance to strech my legs as I was already feeling cramped! Only another 8 hours to go! As everyone started getting on board it become apparent that there was 1 too many people for the number of seats. It turned out that the driver had sold a guy a ticket from Sydney to Melbourne thinking there was a spare seat but there wasn't. It ended up that this poor chap had to spend the rest of the journey sat on the step near the driver! Rather him than me...

Next we stopped at 3am for a meal break. It's surprising how many people wanted food at 3am and I'm equally surprised that given the chance to get food I turned it down. Adam just carried on sleeping.

Eventually we made it to Melbourne slightly earlier than scheduled. We then got a tram out of the city to our hostel. This wasn't great as it was rush hour and we had huge bags to contend with. Anyway we managed and got to the hostel which was further out of the city than I had hoped. Anyway it seemed nice but we had to wait to get our room. This gave us chance to have a rest and try to make plans for the next few days. We decided to either do a couple of day trips from Melbourne or hire car and drive ourselves to Adelaide.

After getting our room and doing some washing and resting we headed off into town. We got some lunch from a food court and then went to the YHA travel centre. The lady was really helpful but the car plan was ended up quite expensive so after some umming and erring we decided to book two 3 day trips. This also turned out to be quite expensive! Oh well we're only here once... I'm just hoping neither of the trips are like the Fraser Island trip I did last I was in Oz. I'm sure the people will be much more sensible then the ones on that trip... Anyway we get to see loads of great things so should be awesome.

We then walked around the city a bit and went to see the river. The city seems pretty busy most of the time, much busier than Sydney. Decided to go a cinema so went the Crown complex which turned out to be trying to compete with Vegas. It had nice shops and restaurants and then a huge casino but kinda Vegas like, just there next to a restaurant. Eventually we found the cinema through the maze of shops and casino. Decided to see 'He's just not that into you' as it shouldn't require too much brain power. I had a slight disagreement with an usher as they had blocked off loads of the cinema because of some film premier or something, this included blocking off all the toilets except one disabled for the use of our screen. 1 toilet for the whole screen, very unreasonable, I'm a paying customer too! Anyway really enjoyed the film, light hearted and funny. Caught a tram back to the hostel and slept like logs.

Day 23 - 9th Mar 2009

Today is our last day in Sydney, which to be honest we found a bit sad. We both really like the city. After such a busy day yesterday we had a relaxing start to the day. We were able to leave our big bags at the hotel till later before setting off for the day. We decided to go to Manly on ferry and have a look round there. So we walked to Circular Quay to catch the ferry. I was hoping to find somewhere to get rid of my coat, like a charity shop or something but no luck so ended up carrying it around all day. Which wasn't too bad as it rained a fair bit but unfortunately it wasn't very cold so although I was dry also slightly too warm! The ferry ride over to Manly was really nice, you get to see some of the Sydney suburbs and it was sunny, so we sat outside and enjoyed the view. When we arrived we had lunch at the harbour then headed aacross to the beach. There were loads of surfers and people learning to surf. I guess the recent shark activities haven't put anybody off. We had a meander around the shops, Adam was searching for a hat. Eventually we found one he was happy with, and having looked round all the other shops we knew there wasn't anything better! We then headed back to Sydney. We walked back to our hotel through the botanical gardens, having said our goodbyes to the opera house and harbour bridge. We saw all the bats in the trees again and climbed the steps up to our hotel one more time. Although the hotel was really nice and the room was great with a nice view, I won't miss the steps you have to walk up to get to the area where the hotel is. It's at the top of a hill and there must be about 100 steps to climb to get up the hill! I guess that's the price of having a nice view! We decided to get a taxi over to the bus station as neither of us had the energy to walk to the nearest train station. The taxi was pretty cheap so we decided it was money well spent. We had a Hungry Jack's, same a Burger King, dinner before getting on our bus to Melbourne. A 12 hour journey leaving at 8pm. So we settled in our seats and tried to sleep!

Day 22 - 8th Mar 2009

Today we had booked a tour to go and see the Blue Mountains. So it was an early breakfast before walking to the tour pickup point for 7:30. While we waited for the bus to pick us up we saw people who were just heading home from the partying the night before! Met a nice British couple who were also on the same tour as us. The bus picked us up and we headed towards the Blue Mountains. There was only 16 of us on the tour which was a nice number and not too crowded, the bus driver was very friendly and told us that she had been on the last float of the Mardi Gras parade the night before! We hoped that she wasn't too late to bed!

First stop was the Featherdale wildlife park just outside of Sydney. We got to stroke a koala bear and kangaroos and also saw a crocodile and lots of different types of birds.

Then it was back on the bus and onwards towards the mounains. We stopped off at a lookout point which looked over a huge canyon which was filled with rainforest, which was very pretty. Then we continued on to our final destination the three sisters, which is a rock formation which local legend says was 3 sisters who were turned into stone. Here we went on a cable car which had a glass bottom and had some lunch.

After lunch we drove a short way to were we could walk to a waterfall and then it was time for tea and biscuits!

Then it was time to head back towards the city and our final destination: the Sydney Olympic village. From there we got a ferry back to the city centre. Which would have been quite a nice journey except that it was throwing it down with rain...

On getting back to the city we went round the Sydney aquarium which was brilliant. We saw a platypus, sharks and lots of different fish. They had tunnels you could walk through where you felt you were in the tank with the sharks!

Had a pie for dinner from Harry's before getting home feeling very tired.

Day 21 - 7th Mar 2009

Started the day with a breakfast cooked in our kitchen, before heading off towards the Sydney YHA. We got some information about tours in Aldelaide then headed on towards Darling Harbour. Walked around the harbourside, which was a nice outdoor space. Had lunch at a food court in the centre of town then headed to the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Returned to our hotel room where we had a quick dinner of pasta and cheese.

What we hadn't realised when we were planning our trip is that we had actually managed to be in Sydney at the time that the Mardi Gras parade was going on, we only realised when we saw a 'What's On' magazine at the airport when we landed. So we figured as we were here we had to go and see it. Headed over to Hyde Park which is where the parade starts and managed to get a good place to watch. All the floats and costumes were very colourful and impressive.

Day 20 - 6th Mar 2009

Got up early to catch the flight to Sydney. Managed to share the taxi to the airport with two other people so halved the cost of that. Adam got some breakfast at the airport while I spent my breakfast money on a new wallet! (Luckily we also got a breakfast on out flight so I wasn't going hungry for long.)

Arrived in Sydney and had lunch at the airport at our favourite international restaurant, McDonalds. Then we got a shuttle to our hotel, which ended up cheaper than getting the train. The hotel seemed pretty nice, the room has a small kitchen in it so we can cook meals and have breakfast here. And there is a view of the harbour, not the harbour bridge and opera house part of the harbour, the other direction, but never the less it is nice and we can see lots of sailing boats.

We then set off to see some sights. We had a nice walk through the botanical gardens to get to the opera house. Whilst walking through the gardens there was lots of loud screeching noises, we looked up and started to notice bats hanging in the trees, first just a few of them but the more we looked the more we saw. The were loads of them having an afternoon nap, just hanging around the trees. Every so often a couple would get annoyed at each other and one would fly to a different tree.

We then arrived at the opera house, it's kind of weird for me being back here as I've seen it before, it's still amazing and with the bridge in the background looks awesome, but it's strange to think I was looking at that before I even knew Adam. We walked round the opera house and then along the quay side before heading back to our hotel. The city is pleasant and just nice to wander around.

We called in at the supermarket opposite our hotel to buy some food for dinner. We decided to have pasta in a tomato sauce with pepper, mushrooms and salami. We also bought stuff to cook breakfast.

Cooking in the kitchen was a bit odd, I'm not sure it was actually designed to be used! There isn't really any room to do stuff, the sink takes up pretty much all the space. Anyway we managed and Adam cooked our dinner whilst I wrote the blog for the day before. And we had a nice dinner whilst loooking out of our window watching the sail boats move about.

Day 19 - 5th Mar 2009

Another early start to the day to catch the bus at 7.15 to take us to the marina. Our boat trip round the Mamanuca started at 9 and lasted about 3 hours. We first went to South Sea Island, where we had previously spent the day, then onto Bounty, then Treasure and Beachcomber, then Mana, Castaway and Malolo before arriving back at Denarau marina. It was fun to see different islands, some were quite different to the one we had spent a day on which was the smallest of them all. Malolo Island seemed fairly big, in comparision to the others and had hills and was very green.

The trip which we'd booked included pick up and drop off at our hotel so we got on a bus which we assumed would take us back to where we were staying. Adam was doozing on the coach whilst I was looking out the window when to my horror we went sailing past the turning for the road to our hotel. I nudged Ad gently to wake him up, I'm not sure what I thought he could do but I thought he should know. Luckily the pulled in not too far down the road at another hotel, he then said that this was the drop off for all Nadi Bay area hotels, which was us. To start with we sat there hoping we'd misheard but then realised he was going to next go to the airport, we knew we definitely didn't want to go there so we got off. It then looked like we were meant to get a taxi to our hotel, as other people we going to the same area we just sort tagged onto what they were doing. They was one man with a taxi trying to organise the whole thing, however there were about 12 of us and he only had one car! He decided to call a mini bus to pick up all the people for a hostel next to ours, so I thought well maybe we can just get in that. The mini bus turned up and only had enough room for the people going to the other hostel. By this point Adam realised no one had mentioned the amount this would cost so he asked the guy if this was free, he looked puzzled and said no. We then tried to say that our trip included getting us back, he asked us for a voucher to prove this which we didn't have. He said unless we had a voucher he couldn't take us unless we paid. Adam was a little bit put out by this as we definitely should be getting a lift back, and we knew how far it was to walk and we knew how hot it was, so really we had no choice. Thankfully the guy decided to try and sort it out with the company we'd booked with, the only problem being he couldn't understand our surname, Riley. No matter how many times we said it or spelt it out and even when he said Briley and we were like take the B off, he just couldn't get it. He then decided to take the remaining 2 people to their hotel and said he would come back for us, so we were left there under a tree, waiting. But then before he'd managed to set off the people said the only had a $50 dollar note, the driver didn't have change for this and they couldn't get any so they got their bags and said they'd walk. So he reversed up and was back to help us. He then got the company on the phone and was trying to say our surname to them but wasn't getting on very well, so he put Adam on the phone, he had to do the whole surname thing again, really I didn't think it was that hard! Finally they agreed that we should be taken to the door of our hotel free of charge. So we were on our way. The driver trying to explain it wasn't his fault but the bus driver should of done this and that. Eventually we made it back loooking really hot and tired.

We had a lunch of potato wedges by the hotel pool, which was actually empty and we soon realised had at least 2 people underneath the lining of it trying to fix it. How they didn't die of heat exhaustion from being under there I'll never know!

After lunch we went for a walk along the beach. We then relaxed reading books and playing on the DS; Adam then seemed to be flagging slightly and he had to go and lie down. I went to find him to let him know the sun was setting and we should go out to look at it. But he wasn't right, I think perhaps a case of too much sun and too little drinking of water. The sunset was really nice though!

We had a lovely dinner at the hotel, Ad had chicken curry, his favourite, although very different from our English curries, it was really dry. But really nicely spiced.

We then went up to our room to pack, or rest in Ad's case. I kept making him drink water and in the end made him have a cold shower to try and cool him down. Eventually we got to sleep and had packed our bags ready for our early departure to get our flight to Sydney.

Day 18 - 4th Mar 2009

Today we had planned to go to the local town Nadi and have a look round the shops there. So got up at a much more lesiurely 8:30 and went down for breakfast. While waiting for our breakfast to arrive I decided to ask the front desk what time the buses were into town. I was told that there was one in 5 minutes and then the next one was at 11:30. Well 5 minutes was no good as we wanted to eat breakfast and 11:30 seemed a long time to wait to start our day. So I asked how long it would take to walk, the lady at the desk looked a bit dubious at this idea and seemed to want me to take a taxi, but said it would take about an hour to walk depending on how fast we walked. Well an hour seemd ok to us, it wasn't quite upto 30 degrees celcius out yet and we'd take plenty of water. So after finishing breakfast we set off on our walk. Like the other evening we had about 5 different offers of taxis within the first few hundred meters (some licenced cabs, some not) I'm not sure people could actually believe that we wanted to walk. The last unlicensed cab even tried to tell us that it wasn't safe to walk, in order to get our business, but we carried on. A little further up the road the free airport shuttle from our hostel pulled up and asked us where we were walking and when we told them, offered us a lift to the main road. This we gratefully excepted as it almost halved our distance. I think the pickup drivers thought we were a bit crazy to want to walk and said the journey would be "interesting" and also warned us to watch out for touts trying to get us into their businesses. So after they dropped us off at the mainroad we continued our walk and it was fine. Intereesting was probably the right description for it, there wasn't really much of a pavement for a lot of the journey and where they had roadworks there was no allowance made for pedestrians at all, but we made it to Nadi fine and you get to see much more of the local surroundings on foot.

Nadi is an interesting town and quite difficult to describe. The best concise description I could come up with is that it is trying to be a touristy town but doesn't really have mnay tourists. When we arrived it was really quite busy, but we seemed to be the only tourists around, everyone else was either of Fijiian or Indian descent. As a result all the owners of the tourist souvenior shops wanted us (seeming the only 2 tourists in the whole town) in their shops. We soon met the touts that the pickup driver had mentioned. I think they must have all learned at the same tout school as they all seemed to have a very similar technique: They were friendly enough and greeted you with a Bula (hello in Fijiian which is common enough everywhere), then it was "Where are you from?", "England" we'd reply, (At this point the instructor must have said make sure you shake their hands so they have to stop) "Ah" they say "the motherland", and then the instuctor must have said improvise a little, and we got a quick snippet of why they liked England, ranging from "they had a friend there" to "it's great because of colonisation we're not canibals anymore!". Then it was back to the script and "you don't want to buy anything from all these shops on the mainroad, they're all run by Indian's, you need to come to my shop down this side road or up these stairs". We politley declinded their offers and to be fair they weren't too pushy. It just got a little tiresome playing this script out with various different people as we made our way up the street.

We eventually made it to a little outdoor handicraft market at which we had fun bartering for various necklaces and bracelets. We seemed to get some good deals, maybe due to the lack of customers. We then carried on down to the end of the town and had a look at the Hindu temple there. We then returned to a cafe for lunch, before catching a taxi back to our hostel (by this time the midday sun was out and we decided it was too hot for walking). Like so many foreign taxi drivers he refused to turn his meter on, but the 7 dollar fare we agreed seemd reasonable enough to us.

Spent the afternoon relaxing around our hostel. I went for a run along the beach, while Liz paddled, but found it hard work in the heat so didn't go very far.

Had dinner at the hostel, where I had some local fish which was very tasty.

Day 17 - 3rd Mar 2009

Early start today to catch the 7:15 pickup from our hostel to take us to the Marina. We had booked on a full day trip to South Sea Island, a small atoll about a half hour boat trip from the mainland. Liz was a little bit worried about this as she isn't really one for lazing around on beaches, so a whole day stuck on a tiny desert island didn't seem completely her kind of thing. Luckily though there were plenty of activities to do to keep us entertained!

First thing we did was to go on a ride on a glass bottomed boat around the island, we got to see lots of coral and fish. Then getting back from that it was time for snorkeling. They took us out on a boat to a good spot and we got to see lots of fish again. This was much better than the glass bottomed boat as the colours were much clearer and you could swim round where you wanted to go.

After snorkeling we found ourselves a nice spot on the beach with a shade and some beach chairs and enjoyed a drink (unlimited drinks were included as part of the package!) and read some of our books.

It was then time for lunch which was a barbeque and buffet. We both ate well and there was some traditional Fijian dances to entertain us while we ate.

After lunch we had a bit of a rest before taking a couple of kayaks out on the ocean. Then it was time for afternoon tea and another snorkeling session. After that time for one more drink at our spot on the beach before it was time to catch the boat back to the mainland.

We had had a great day, a little tired and our backs a little sunburnt from snorkeling, but all in all we had really enjoyed ourselves.

As a slightly sad ammedum: on returning to the hostel I found that I had lost $30 (just over £10) from my wallet. I don't really know where it went, I can only assume that somebody took it from my bag while we were in the sea. A bit strange as they didn't take all my money. Think I perhaps was feeling a bit too relaxed and shouldn't have left my wallet at all. Guess I was lucky in some ways that everything else was still there, and need to be more careful going forward (As Bee's Dad would say "stay on orange"). Unfortunately that took a bit of the shine off our day...

Day 16 - 2nd Mar 2009

We landed in Nadi just after lunch and met our free transfer. Unfortunately the other 2 people who were catching the free transfer with us decided they were going to go into the tourist office and book some tours, which meant that we had to sit around and wait for them...

Eventually they were finished and we were off to our hostel. Fiji is very different to Hawaii, where Hawaii was much more developed than I had imagined, Fiji seems to be less developed than I had thought it would be. Arrived at our hostel without any problems and had some lunch in their restaurant. The hostel is right on the sea front, so we sat outside with a nice view of the sea. It was quite hot weather, I think about 30 degrees celcius!

We then went out for a walk along the beach. It's quite pretty but there is a lot of mud on it from the estuary which flows into it. Got back to the hostel and went for a walk up the road to see what else there was around. As we walked people kept stopping and asking if we wanted a lift, we weren't sure if they were just being friendly or would want money, but we wanted to walk anyway so turned them down. The answer to our question of what else was around was not a lot. We came upon a rather strange shop. It was the type of shop which I always refer to as a New York shop as that was the first place which I saw one (though I have since found that there is one in Kimberly, Nottingham) and baically when you walk in the door the whole shop is in a big cage (or alternatively you are in a smaller cage, depending on which way round you want to think about it) and the shopkeeper is in the cage with his shop and you have to ask for what you want and he brings it to a small serving hatch. I guess it is good for security and stops shoplifting, but I always find it a bit strange. But the shopkeeper was quite friendly and was keen to emphasise how much cheaper his beer was than at the hotels. So we bought a couple of bottles of the local bitter and some water, before heading back to our hostel.

Back at the hostel we booked a couple of tours for the next day and for later in the week, before having dinner and heading to bed.

Day 15 - 1st March 2009

Well there isn't a huge amount to say about today, it ended almost as soon as it began! We got up really early to catch our flight to Fiji, we were picked up from our hotel at 4am! Slept a bit on the coach to the airport but we kept stopping to pick other people up. We arrived at the airport in good time so checked in and headed through security. The airport seems to be going for an open air feeling, as in they don't seem to have any doors or windows, it's all kind of open. Boarded our plane on time and took off. It's not the busiest of flights so we were given a row of 3 seats to the 2 of us. Once we were in the air they told us that the time in Fiji is 2 hours behind Hawaii but a whole day ahead, so that was the end of that day.

Day 14 - 28th Feb 2009

Woke up pretty early due to the early night last night and also the time difference. Adam went and got a McDonalds breakfast for us which we had on the balcony looking at the ocean. Then headed off to look for a bank. After trying several ATMs realised they were probably all going to charge so settled on the first one we'd tried near our hotel as this was the cheapest. Whilst searching for the ATM looked in a few shops and bought a present for Chloe. I hope she appreciates the fact that I've now got to carry it round for another 7 weeks! I think everyone else can have things from Delhi! Anyway the shop gave us a voucher for buy one get one free at the ice cream shop next door, you will hear more about this later...

We then decided to walk up to Diamond Head. Most it would seem either drive there or get a bus, so we walked all the way. Diamond Head is a volcanic crater which was used as a military command centre during wars. After paying our dollar each to get in, it was then quite a steep walk up to the top. This also involved a few stairs, some were pretty step and there were 99 of these then after this there were 54 spiral stairs. And not just spiral but metal steps which you can see through and which have gaps between them. Anyone who has previously accompanied me up stairs like this will know that I really don't like them. And to make matters worse there was only one set for going up and down, so you had to either time your ascent carefully or pass people on the stairs. Basically I was petrified but as I had been walking for well over an hour to get to the top I wasn't going to just stand at the bottom of the stairs. So I started my ascent but after about 20 steps there was a ledge where you could stop and let people past, so we stopped, and waited and waited. People kept coming past obviously wondering why I was just waiting on this ledge. I was stuck for a while, I really didn't want to go any further up but I also didn't want to go down! I'm sure my brothers and Mum and Dad can remember this situation well from previous family outings when I was a child. Eventually Adam decided to carry on up and take pictures and then collect me on the way down. Adam started the next flight of stairs and then stopped to say he could see the top and it wasn't very far, so I went for it, I didn't give me brain chance to think about it and just walked up the steps. A couple of turns in staircase later and we'd made it. It's so funny to see little kids just walking up and down with no problems at all and surely they more likely to fall through the gap than anyone!

The views from the top were worth the climb. So after a while looking around we heading back down. We walked all the way back to our hotel, figuring if we'd managed to walk there we could walk back. We were pretty tired by time we got back and it was pretty warm even though it kept spitting with rain.

Decided to head to the beach for a swim and then go and look for dinner. I managed perhaps half anf hour on the beach before getting restless so we decided that was enough lazing about for one day.

Had a thankfully small dinner before going to check out the ice cream shop. Of course with our voucher you had to buy like the biggest ice creams to get the one free, so that's what we did. Adam had a Mint mint chocolate chocolate and I had a strawberry supreme. Adam's was made from a scoop of mint ice cream which then had a chunk of chocolate brownie added to it and some chocolate chips and then some chocolate sauce. This was all mashed together and then put into a chocolate wafer cone. With hindsight I'm not sure we need the cones aswell! Mine was strawberry ice which then had strawberrys and pie crust mixed into it, as I didn't want the whipped cream and caramel I was give double strawberries and pie crust, this was then put into a chocolate wafer cone. It's hard to describe the size of these ice creams, but I couldn't manage all of mine! Adam did pretty well, just leaving some of the wafer. We got a few comments from passersby over the size of ice creams! To be honest I think the ice cream is probably the highlight to my trip to Hawaii, it was amazing.