Hello again.

I said i'd complete my Western Australia blog soon and thought i'd better do it now because i've landed in New Zealand. If I carry on here without having recalled the rest of my Australia trip then i'll get everything mixed up. Like when I was learning French & German at the same time at school. It just gets messy.

So I left it at Broome. The completion of the first half of the tour. We grouped up again after spending 3 days in Broome to start a new tour, Broome to Perth. Most of the original group were still around, which was really nice because we'd gotten very used to each other by then. But there were some new people joining us, which was a good thing too.

We had a new tour guide called Kirsty. I felt a bit sorry for her because Sam's next group were starting their tour in the same car park and we kept shouting goodbye to him. He then came over and we did a final 'All You Need Is Love' Love Ring, then he went back to his new group whilst we stared on bleary eyed. But Kirsty was great and really lively. She had a morning song that I want to learn to play, preferably on the Ukulele - don't know what its called but its a song about tourists coming to Australia and possibly getting killed by one of the many natural hazards its famous for. You may have heard it. "Red Back, Funnel Web, Blue Ringed Octopus...."

We camped for the first half of the tour, back in the swags baby!!! Most of us were all big headed about having camped in the bush already, like we were completely experienced bushmen (we'd stayed in the bush for 4 days) and the sites we were staying at now had facilities, so it seemed slighty luxurious. 3 nights of the camping was in Karijini National Park. It took me 3 days to remember the name of the place properly. I kept calling it Kilamanjaro National Park in frustration. It was great there. Very red. Its basically full of amazing gorges. We went hiking down and through them, as well as swim throughs. I did one swim through but missed out on another because it was a long one and i'm not a great swimmer. Instead I climbed a gorge (after we'd spent quite some time getting to the bottom) and actually fell asleep on a rock ledge. It was very peaceful up there! Another walk we did was called the Spider Walk. It sounded really exciting but when we came to do it I froze. It involved using both your arms and legs spread out against 2 rock faces, so you were balancing spread-eagled above a drop, with running water below. Everyone just did it but to me it looked like my limbs weren't long enough (even though people with the same limb length were doing it) but I just completely froze up - it was terrible! So Kirsty talked me through it and I did it! But I didn't like it particularly. She was amazing though, hats off to her! So i've just read what i've typed and it makes me look like a total lame ass. But never mind, I'm still a Bush Pig and Bush Pigs don't apologise for anything. (Fellow Bush Pigs will relate to that statement.)

One of my favourite things about Karijini is that there was a shop that sold Lemon Callypos. I had one every day. I've never appreciated ice lollies as much as when I was there, it was very hot.

After Karijini we went on to stay in hostel style accommodation for the rest of the trip. The next stop was Exmouth for only one night. Our fellow Bush Pig Lisa left the tour at that point because she'd travelled from Perth to Exmouth before. It was sad to see her go!

Everythings a bit jumbled after that. We went to some very beautiful beaches and there was alot of driving because we were covering such a vast distance. But I very clearly remember Coral Bay. We were there for 2 nights. It was an alright hostel, apart from the fact we had to negotiate our arses off with a staff member to let us have the remote control for the aircon in our room. They insisted on controlling it from reception. Then reception would close for the night and you'd be stuck with one setting. We asked why this was and she said it was because the remote would get into someones bag and be taken away. I said that wouldn't happen and she said "well you're all backpackers". Welcome to the world of prejudice against 'backpackers'. What a tit. So I gave her a $50 note as a deposit and she let us have the remote. This was after much convincing.

Anyway, most of us went on a boat the first day to go snorkelling. The boat went out on to the Ningaloo Reef and searched for Manta Rays. They found some very quickly and as soon as we were in the water and looking into it, there they were! Its a life experience swimming with creatures like that. I also saw loads of amazing fish and a turtle. It was a good day but I was exhausted by the evening. But I managed to do some sand boarding on the dunes which was great fun. Then we watched the sunset on the beach.

A group of us went for a meal in a local restaurant that night. It was pretty good and I managed to have some wine, which I hadn't drank in ages (Goon doesn't count). Keira (fellow Bush Pig) and I shared a desert (cheesecake) and we thought the texture was a bit weird, but in our slightly tipsy state we just carried on eating it. Kirsty tried a bit because we said it was strange and promptly told us it had completely gone off. The waitress said it had been left out too long and apologised so got us something else but I thought not too much of it all.

3 hours later I vomited for the first time since I was about 10 years old. Anyone at home who is aware of my Metaphobia will be amazed by this. I vomited violently several times until 3am. Then in the morning, I projectile vomited for ages. Yes thats gross but I have to recount it here because it was major for me personally. Keira actually stayed with me the whole time and sorted out everything. She even packed my bag in the morning and got my $50 back (!) as we all had to leave and I was in such a state! I had to go to the doctors and got prescribed some anti-nausea tablets. I didn't throw up again, which was a relief but I was so bloody tired for about 2 days after. The anti-nausea tablets knocked me out completely so I slept loads, which was awesome. Kirsty was fantastic again - she started the ball rolling with the doctors and kept looking out for me afterwards. The next day after that Keira badly twisted her ankle stepping off the bus. We couldn't believe it! It was weird coz I was sitting at the back all weary and dark under the eyes from my situation and I saw her sitting there with a massively intense expression of sheer pain on her face. Everyone sat and looked at her but didn't do anything! So I hobbled through the bus like an old woman to get to her. She's such an important fellow Bush Pig and had literally both watched me being sick and cleaned up after me for roughly 5 hours, so I was all like "Keiras hurt, Keiras hurt!". When I got to her she started laughing uncontrollably because of the state we'd gotten into. We were both walking disasters at that point! Luckily her limping died down after a few days :-)

So we all saw a few more sights towards the end. One of which was the Pinnacles and the other Natures Window.

At the end of the tour we arrived in Perth. When we drove into Perth Keira requested we play Dancing On the Ceiling by Lionel Ritchie on the ipod (it had become a tour anthem) and Kirsty started shouting for everyone to get up and dance whilst we drove into Perth. This resulted in myself and Keira dancing like mentalists at the back of the bus, whilst everyone sat completely still and occasional looked round at us. It was a great moment coz we couldn't stop laughing at how still people were! There we were flapping our arms around and I started gesturing at people at road crossings to dance too.

We went for a meal in Perth which was cool. Then to a bar where an amazing live band played and we pretty much danced our asses off - again. I'm going to miss people from the WA tour, they were a fabulous bunch and i'll never forget them! I'm glad Facebook exists these days :-)

I spent a few days in Perth with Keira and saw the sights. We even went on the 'Wheel of Excellence' wooooooo! (It's basically a wheel that looks like a miniature version of the London Eye. It went around 4 times and after 3 times we wondered whether it actually stopped.)

After Perth I flew to Adelaide. All i'm going to say is it was majorly hot there (a heat wave averaging 39 degrees C every day), I saw some cool things, like koalas and kangaroos at a wildlife park and a couple of beaches, had a good night out which was a proper laugh etc. I've made a friend and that's how it'll be!

I left Australia today! It went pretty smoothly apart from a customs person being on a really irritating power trip on my way out of the country. She was such a moron it was unbelievable. She wanted a second opinion on my passport photo coz I had different hair. I said with the exasperation of Basil Fawlty that the picture was taken 10 years ago (my hair was short then). This other woman said "the hairs a very different colour" - I ask you. What were they on? I was genuinely flustered by it. The woman then went on to grab another persons passport off them to show me how bad the quality of the British Passports photos were compered to Australian ones. Well OOOOOOOOOOH! I'm so hugely ashamed of the fact that passport booths at home don't take clear photos. Never mind that no-one has ever questioned the passport before, ever. I think i'm still irritated by it now because it wasn't that long ago. Doesn't it show? ;-)

I'm at a hostel in Auckland now and hopefully start on the Stray Bus tomorrow morning if things have gone to plan. I'm happy and excited to be here.

Thats it for now. I'll update when enough has passed for a decent length blog.

Love you all, keep in touch, mwa!

Emily x