Firstly Holler Holler to all the crazy Americans - the gals from DC and tampa, the Canadian Docs, our gals from Bris (especially Bella Bonita - you made us cry!) and the lovely sheep farmers from NZ and who could forget Themmo/Thermo/T-Unit!

We've just finished our 10 day tour of the Greek Islands.

We started in Athens and Kate's and my first night involved partying on a hostel rooftop watching the sunset over the Acropolis. Crazy to realise we were in our first non-english speaking country which was to be a fun experience for the next two weeks.

Meeting up with the tour was great, firstly because we hit the luxury of hotels with fresh fluffy towels and showers where we didn't have to wear thongs. The tour was all girls, except for Dundee Mark who was there on his honeymoon with the lovely Sonia - so he didn't really count. This first day we did a walking tour around Athens and saw a Greek Agora, the Monasteraki Flea Market and walked up to the Acropolis and hung out at the Parthenon which was old (and true to our rules - covered in scaffolding). We ate Souvlaki.

We left the port of Piraeus for our first island hop to Paros which was the least touristy of the islands. We got our first beach down time and basically alternated between the beach and restaraunts (with the exception of a visit to the Church of 100 Gates - lots of gold). This island was beatiful because it was so quiet and relaxing; it was nice to get a break after london and to prepare ourselves for Mykonos. We ate Souvlaki.

We hopped to Mykonos. This was my favourite hotel so far, situate right on a gorgeous beach with blue blue waters, we had a fab view of gardens and villas and a gum tree outside our balcony! great showers here - one of our most valued traits in accommodation. We did more sitting on the beach and got heat stroke at Paradise Beach which is the nudie beach full of ugly old naked people. Ew. The nightlife on Mykonos?? Insane. We partied at random bars where as soon as you hit the dancefloor you get surrounded by greek guys at the peak of their desperate years who just grab at you and go straight for the neck - it's almost vampiric. On our second night a small group of us ladies found our favourite restaurant where we got free wine (bottomless glasses) and free dessert, just because we were gorgeous aussies (and one kiwi). we hit our favourite bar again - Scandinavian- and once again because of our aussiness got more free shots and also, for our fab flirting-with-barmen skills acquired free t-shirts! there was lots of dancing on bars, being followed around by strange little hobbits and crazy friends doing insane shots. we saw lots of sunrises from taxi windows and struggled to get to breakfast, but were refreshed by more beachiness. Mykonos is definitely the party island, but also very beautfiful we got lots of stunning photos (although lots were ruined by the bloody cruise ships grr). We ate souvlaki.

Our last island was Santorini. This was the reason I dragged Katie to Greece and i am sad to say that the santorini in all the postcards and pictures and paintings is actually just different angles of one church. we have photos of this church. however, the island is still pretty gorgeous in it's own right. it was formed by a volcano and only one tiny little peak on the island was originally an island before the volcano made it much larger and then colapsed part of the island into a caldera. so we climbed this almight powerful volcano and got very very grumpy at the powerfulness of the sun and the almightness of the uphill paths. grr. Kate's shoes were melting. urgh. our boat took us between the active volcano and a much older inactive one where Bonnie, Caitlin and a hundred other bloody tourists went for a swim to some warm water springs and then began our mud war with mark, although we later covered in the mud due its supposed curative powers or some other story created to make tourists look silly. it stank. Kate and the rest of the crew then took a donkey ride from the port up the 861 stairs to the top of the cliff. They all thought they were going to die and got yelled at by crazy greek donkey owners. Poor Katie had sore legs for days. She says it was the craziest thing she's ever done. We ate souvlaki, but it wasn't as memorable as the goodbye dinner which was a bit sad, and then our last night out which ended a good four hours earlier than any other because we were all completely b*****ed, although the free ouzo jugs here certainly were memorable in their own right.

Our last island hop was an 8 hour ferry ride from Santorini back to Piraeus which was a true display of our groups fiestiness and fabulousness! we played charades for a good 6 hours, we scared our fellow passengers and annoyed them out of their pre-booked seats, we ate lots again and then we got home and cried. Although, true to style we talked our concierge into opening the hotel bar (a fridge of beer) so we could continue our drinking.

One random thing about Greece: the Government looks after stray cats and dogs, so there were lots of animals everywhere, especially kittens! At one point on one of our walking tours we had a dog leading our tour (much to Themmos dismay).

It's been a great trip for it's blend of zaniness, drunkeness and relaxation. We are both very sleepy now.