The final day in Adelaide didn't quite end up being as expected…After a long tram journey and walk we ended up at the Adelaide Zoo all excited about playing with the animals and seeing them for the first time! Unfortunately it didn't quite turn out like that. It was closing in two hours and they wanted $30 to get in!!!! So then we had the lovely long walk back, which included a mad rush to find a toilet as I suddenly became bursting! In the end we had a little shopping trip in the streets of Adelaide city which wasn't too bad really J

We got back to the hostel and I was nice and boring and went to get ready for bed almost straight away, after our daily dose of cheap noodles. I had to be up at 4.30 to catch my bus for the beginning of my trip. I vaguely remember, although I was still asleep basically, that the girls came back up and I looked at my phone…it was 40 minutes before I had to get up!

It was strange being sat waiting for a tram at 5 in the morning! Everything was so dark and quiet. The first tram came on time thankfully and I headed up into the city to wait for the bus outside another hostel. It was late and I was sat alone so I panicked a bit about whether I had the right place or not. Thankfully I did and they showed up and I could see why they were late. The guide was this little woman who was a bit everywhere bless her but she was lovely. I had no problems with the luggage allowance thank god I reckon I could have had more and they wouldn't have said a thing!! We continued picking everyone else up from the city and then had to sign in. I clicked with a few girls straight away, they are really nice, called Liz, Suzanne and Nicki. They're all English too Nicki and Suzanne are travelling and Liz has just finished a masters degree in Perth.

Since I hadn't had any breakfast I had been drinking loads of water since I had got up. Turned out to be a very bad idea!! I was bursting for the toilet for the first part of the journey and had to make Andy (the guide) stop at the first public toilets we could find. It was just annoying that when I was bursting we happened to be in the middle of nowhere!!! After that everyone just seemed to sleep. It was so tiring! Our first stop was Bordertown which was where I saw my first Kangaroos!! They were white there which was pretty cool. We didn't stop long just to take pictures and then we went on.

We then went through Horsham and had lunch at a little picnic area at the side of the road. They provided sandwiches and salad which was so nice since it was a change from noodles!!! We then went on to the Grampians where we didn't realise it but we were climbing a mountain!!! It was ridiculously high! And its not easy to climb a steep edge when heights make you dizzy! It felt like such an accomplishment when we reached the top though and I managed to go onto a high rock to have my picture taken to prove I had done it! The thought of walking down again didn't appeal though! I shall not moan that I haven't been able to do exercise on this trip again.

We then attempted to get to McKenzie Falls but our guide went the wrong way and had to attempt to turn the bus around with a trailor on the back! It was quite entertaining, I think she took about 10 goes. But the waterfall was great! Ive always wanted to see one and it was gorgeous. Loads of steps though which Suzanne wasn't pleased about. She calls them the bane of her life! We then went to the accommodation for the night in Halls Gap which was really nice! They were self contained cabins almost like a lower centre parcs style. One had 3 bedrooms and the other had the main kitchen and 2 bedrooms. We all pitched in making dinner and it was manic but Spaghetti Bolognaise was a welcome change from the cheap rubbish ive been having, its so nice to eat something healthy!

We were the cool group and went to bed at 10 since we were shattered from being up at 5ish and climbing a mountain!! I don't know how the others did it!

I was still shattered the next day and kept falling asleep on the bus, and I find it difficult to sleep in public and on transport so that just shows how tired I was! We began the day by climbing another mountain!!! We head through 'The Grand Canyon' and up to the Pinnacle which is the highest point in the Grampians. That was a hard trip but well worth it at the top where we sat and ate chicken flavoured biscuits. The way back down was a lot easier than the first days as it wasn't quite as steep. Once we got to the bottom we went to the luxury of toilets that were just a huge hole in the ground!

We then head back to Halls Gap for some ice cream which was actually lush!!! I had Rocky Road Flavour which had chocolate and marshmallow bits in it. After that the long drive to the Great Ocean Road began. Along the way we had a few toilet breaks which is where I discovered Liz has a coffee addiction similar to mine!! We also were given a subway which was included in the price of the tour, I didn't realise we were given this much food! We started the Great Ocean Road at Warrnambool.

It was beautiful! I love the sea and this had spectacular beaches! We went to see London Bridge and went on the most amazing and secluded beach I have ever seen. Then we head to the 12 apostles where we went on a helicopter ride which was incredible. Im scared of heights and flying normally but this was spectacular. Helicopters are so smooth. Unfortunately it began to rain just as we got in it but thankfully it didn't make too much difference, Ive just always wanted to go in one and wear the headphones! It wasn't a long flight but wow what a great experience!

We then head to the next hostel which was in a little town not far away from the apostles. The hostel was great though, only one year old and was really clean and modern. The layout was strange though because in the corridor between the rooms the toilets were just in little cubicles. We had burgers and then set off to the beach to watch the sunset where we were told we would see pretty colours on the rocks. I was constantly taking pictures and trying to spot the colours but they never showed up!! Turns out it justmakes the rocks a strong red colour so I was quite disappointed as I was waiting for purples and oranges and pinks to come out. The sun set was beautiful though and you can see about 10 of the same pictures of it in my album.

We had to wait for ages to get back to the bus and during that time I was eaten alive by mossies! Back at the hostel finally we all sat in the lounge area having a debate with an American and Canadian about the words we use in the englsih language like toilet instead of restroom. We then head up to the single little pub in the town which was half empty but according to the owners was a really busy night. It was great we were all a really close group having a laugh…theres a few german, 2 Canadians and a load of English. We went to choose a song on the duke box and then met some New Zealanders who we had a chat with. That was pretty much it until 1ish when we went back to the hostel to go to bed.

It was not nice the next morning getting up at 6.15!!! We set off again to the great apostles and went down to the beach which was gorgeous. We were all half asleep still but I started digging a hole in the sand trying to get to England. We then head to the Otway Fly where we went on a tree walk. It started with seeing some dinosaurs which were oh so realistic and we then went up some walk ways to the tree tops. Im doing well at facing my fears as they were very high, especially the tower that had spiral stairs up to the top and then wobbled like crazy when you were up there. So once Id taken a picture I ran back down. After that we raced back to the café because basically we all wanted coffee. I got a lovely ice cream and we sat in the sun which was gorgeous! We then went to have lunch at Apollo Bay which is a lovely little beach town. There were little BBQs to use in the park for free so we had chicken wraps with salad. Andy then went to refuel the bus whilst we went shopping or to the beach. Typically it tipped it down on us when we were waiting for her to come and pick us up again. Next we went to Lorne and stopped at a caravan park where we saw Koalas!! They were so cute, there was one that looked like an old man with a baby that was adorable! They kept pooing on us though which was lovely of them. We also saw parrats which sat on everyones arms. I tried to have one on my arm but it was just my luck that I had two fight on me, it was pretty scary!

The next stop was at Torquay where we went to the ripcurl outlet. To be honest I wasn't all that interested in it but I went to have coffee in mcdonalds instead. This was the final stop before the long journey off to Melbourne. This was along a Motorway or Freeway I think they call it. As there was nothing to look at I slept a lot of the way. Basically now all we had to do was drop everyone off at or near their hostels but trust me again to be bursting for the toilet!! Thank goodness I ran into the hostel I did whilst the guys were getting their stuff out of the trailor because if not I would have had to wait a good hour longer and I was ready to burst then! As Andy didn't know where my hostel was, I got dropped off by Liz's hostel as it was just a block away. It was a nightmare pulling my case that far though, I tell you what I don't need a gym anymore! Finally when I managed to find the hostel with a bit of Danielle's help on the phone my Melbourne adventure began…