Hey everyone, here i go again rambling on about my trip. Right where did I leave off. Right i ended brisbane with helping mitch and maddy move into their new flat which by the way was awesome..very very swanky, absolutly stunning, the bacony/outside patio was covered and was bloody huge, we set up the garden furniture and was still bloody massive. Its a really nice place and i was glad to see it. The last few days just consisted of moving, getting my flights sorted for coming home which i will go into in a minute. Also spending time with mitch, maddy and maddys family for dinner a few times to which they were were so lovly for feeding me on a those occasions. It will not be forgotten. Absolutly awesome people both mitch and maddys family..easy to see why mitch and maddy are such great people. Writing this now is sydney only a few days ago..absolutly miss them and they said i was like part of the furniture when i was there. I cant wait for them to come to england. Love em to bits. Getting back to the flights i fly out from melbourne airport the 28th to fiji for 8 days which i cant wait for. I tried to book my train journey tickets for europe but i cant do it from over here so when i land back in london on the 12th i will mostly likely stay in a hostel for a few nights and sort my tickets out before heading off to europe for a few weeks. Sorry everyone i probably wont be coming down south for those few days. I was looking at flying back to paris but it couldnt be done. Although i still have to look into a hostel in london yet haha so i might still be dad haha..but seriously the plan is to spend a day or so in london and head of again.

Right I left brisbane on the bus and arrived at BYRON BAY. This place is awesome a real surfer town and so much fun. The town isnt that big, it pretty much consists of one big cross roads leading to all the shops, club and pubs and the beach. Its a really nice place. Our hostel was a little down the road from the town centre, roughly about 10 minutes walk which was perfect for drunken nights. Firstly the place was awesome and just seeing it when I arrived I realised it was my sort of place and loved it. When i got to my hostel it was even better, the backpackers inn was great, a fair size for a hostel but had lots of rooms on a large balcony walkway. It was really nice and it made it pefect to socialise with people from other rooms. The first night i met up with the scottish girls, fiona, holli, becky and laura who i met in fiji which was really awesome..love those girls..proper funny. Spent the first night with them getting very wasted and talking about our trip before heading out to a club..not much more to say about that apart from the fact i got so drunk...when i was back in my room i raised my hands and my right hand hit the ceiling fan but luckily it only caught my watch and didnt hit skin but it still hurt abit..so for a few moments then in my drunken state i laughed about it probably waking a few people up. The guys in my room were awesome..really great...got on like a house on fire, there was a manc guy called tom, two austrian guys called peter and Tom also and of course the crazy scots man..Mr Jonny beeley..this guy was awesome on the guitar so we jammed alot together and i learnt some cool songs from him..in return i taught him the top gun anthem..hahaha i am not as good as him but he said that anthem was a fair return haha..an absolute legend. They all were legends and we had so much fun chilling out playing drunking games and of course the club cheeky monkeys. Cheeky Monkeys, the club where you dance on tables all the time..great fun. Unfortunatly the majority of my time in byron bay it was raining or cloudy, there wasnt much sun and being alot further south now it is abit colder, so we were feeling it abit being used to queensland weather. Not much more to say about byron bay really it was a really great place and possibly in my top 3 places i liked in australia..possibly...would have been better had i got more sun but thats life. Sitting about chatting to the guys was awesome enough. My last day in byron bay my bus left at 10pm but the last shuttle to the bus station was was 8pm so i had to say bye to the guys early coz it was bucketing it down with rain, I could have walked but i would have got drenched and i didnt want that for my bus journey. Bit annoyed as i missed a sangria party. Once i got to the bus station i just chilled out played some guitar and waited for my bus chatting to odd traveller who was also waiting for other buses. I did get accosted by some dickhead aboriginal man who just wouldnt stop lecturing me about jesus christ and the roman empire and other boring s*** like that...even when i said i dont care mate and i am trying to play my guitar he still carried on. There are plenty of weird abbos like that in australia..most i think harmless but plenty of them hanging around bus stops and streets. He left me alone finally with the comment "so do you play guitar". I look up at him which my guitar on my lap, pick in hand where i had been lightly strumming whilst he was lecturing me. I think he got the answer from my face. If your reading this mitch and maddy that was literally 2 minutes after i got off the phone to you. Gotta love the crazy old abbo's.

The bus journey was 12 hours long over night, I had done an over night journey before but this one was particularly busy and very uncomfortable, I kept drifting in and out of sleep and appartly i txted some people and i had no clue i had done it. That could be a troubling habit..might have to get out of that one, especially if i am drunk lol. I was very pleased to get off the coach especially as i had some tool of a man in front of me kept reclining his seat onto my knees without checking first who was behind him....a tired and uncomfortable mark is not the nicest of marks in this mood on a bus over night with someone doing this to you. I made my feelings about his chair clear as i litterally pulled his ipod earphones out of his ear after the millionth time he had done it. He still didnt apologise. I dont know what nationality he was but what ever he was .........damn that a*******.

I got to sydney about mid day and checked into the hostel which is right in the centre of the city and very convenient. Met a a few people in my room and went for a wonder round the city for the rest of the day. walking around reminded me for the 2nd time that i really love sydney its a great city. Very very clean. I do love coming here and definatly want to come back again at some point in my life. That night me and the guys from my room went out for a good night, the guys from my room were Duncan from glasgow, and ricky from nottingham, two more girls from winchester joined that night also and we saw them out. Duncan brought some scottish girls over he knew and we all had a debate as to why the scottish have a problem with the english but not the otherway round lol. Word of advice DO NOT and i repeat DONOT ask that question to a collective group of scottish people..they like to argue that point but it was funny and i still disagree with their arguements haha...i loved winding them up though and we all loved the nationality banter lol. I actually saw them in the reception area this morning and the banter..so funny them girls. That night i was waiting for my two friends, twin sisters kerry and lucy to come to the club with their friends as kerry was leaving the next day..so i partied with them and their friends and met a very awesome girl called leanne and spent alot of time with her over the next day or so as she left. That night we stayed up all night which was really awesome and lovly but i felt it the next day because i had THE BLUE MOUNTAINS TOUR...wahoooo. I literally had an hours sleep before waking up for the tour and with a bad night sleep the night before on a bus..i was hanging. earlier in my trip i wasnt too excited about the blue mountains as russ will vouch for, but i think it was because i didnt really know what it was. For the record I am so pleased i did that tour yesterday, i saw some things that i am also officially saying are some of the best sights and views i have ever experianced. The day was amazing.. I am still loving thinking about yesterday, that tour showed me things that are exactlly what i wanted to see on this trip. It absolutly hit the nail on the head with what i wanted out of my journey. The blue mountains are just outside sydney and hold real sugnificant value to australian histrory. On the coach journey there we were being told all about the history of australia which is so interesting. I never knew when we first sailed over here with our first colony of prisoners...the french tried to take it after us but we quite swiftly with a cannon ball told them to F%CK off. The history of this place is very interesting. We went to look for some kangaros first which we found, then went for some tea and coffee in the nearby village. Then we were on route to the blue mountians. On the way there Our tour guide SMOKEY, a tall typical looking australian bushman which hiking boots, hiking gear, longhair, big beard and a hat with croc teeth all along it, was telling us strories about the blue mountaians and why they are important to the british settlers when they first came over. Again very interesting. Smokey was great, couldnt ask for a better guide into the mountains..very funny. He gave us a talk on the bus about snakes, spiders and other deadly things that were out there in the mountains..we were all a tad scared at this point as we realised we were actually going into the bush or at least the most bush like environment any of us had been in. We got of the tour bus and walked over to where people seemed to be congregating and the view of the blue moutains was just spectacular..i think i actually swore at how amazing it was. As you will see from my pictures the view was amazing with the blue mist in the valley and the trees ..we were so high it was unreal. After a few pictures smokey dragged us down into the trail leading us down into the heart of the mountains. The trial was well set out with many people walking up and down. Smokey stopped us and gave us each a leaf, told us to roll it up like you would a cigarette, rub the middle part together, tear it in half and put them up our nostrels and then just inhale....ITS WAS VICKS VAPOUR RUB haha. It was so strong. The leaf was a ucaliptus tree leaf (i have no clue if thats how you spell that haha). We carried on walking down the trail til we got to a water fall where we all took some more pics. The place just blew me away, it was the most natural place i have ever been and loved every second of it and by this point i had only been in the mountains about half an hour and loved it. During this time smokey saw an elderly couple walk up to us and wanted to get past so he told us to get to one side in a line and as they approached he made a joke about it being the hall of fame as they walked through and the women was so confused thinking we were talkign about them when she said "how did you know our name..we are the Halls" haha everyone just laughed and as smokey said that moment just golden. I love that australian saying "thats gold".

From this point onwards that was the easy part..the next part of that day was exhausting but amazing. Smokey stopped us to check we all wanted to do the hard part of the trail and checked if anyone had heart or lung conditions and if so they were to stay up the top. We headed down a 700 step trail down the side of the cliff faces right to the bottom of the moutains and underneath a beautiful waterfall. The walk was amazing..we walked down steps through bush then round cliff tops, the walk got quite tiring and my right knee was starting hurt but the views were worth it..everyone was stopping to take the most amazing pics, you will see mine in my album on facebook. Halfway down the walk smokey stopped us just infront of a corner and said clear your mind because what you are about to see normally makes peoples eyes pop out. We walked round the corner and everyone one by one just gasped, the view that was in front of me literally took my breath away and everyone stood there each looking at it in silence, it was amazing and I am pretty sure it was the best thing i have ever seen in my life. The view was over the whole blue moutains with a ledge leaning out over nothing but air. we had a railing to stop us from falling over but i got a picture of me infront of it but the picture does not do the place justice and doesnt show exactly how high we were or how perfectly natural the blue mountains look. After more pictures and just complete amazement we all carried on down the winding stair case on the cliff side. I also got a picture of this. By the time we all go the bottom our legs were shaking slightly as we werent used to walking down that many steps. At the bottom it was equally as amazing and beautifull. The waterfall was gorgeous with the sunlight just shining off the drop of the fall that made my pictures look awesome. We all chilled out there just taking in what was around us. Also it was this point I relaised we have to walk back up those 700 steps haha. That was so tiring, my legs got a workout there. The sun was beating down, i was litterally dripping with sweat as was everyone else. Finally after a long time and plenty amounts of pain we all made it back to the top then headed for the coach to get the lunch the tour supplied for us which was gorgeous too. So far the day had been perfect. After lunch we headed round the mountains on the coach where we would walk down another part. By this point our legs were so tired but we didnt care as all were saying how amazing the place was. We headed deep down into a rain forest where it was so deep the sunlight wasnt penetrating through and it was freezing. Suddenly from mid 20 degrees to what it felt like barely nothing. Here smokey told us this was where aboriginals came for medicine and he taught us about certain plants and how they are still used today for medicine. he also told us then when brittish settlers came to australia, we tore down 90% of the aboriginals rain forests killing all there resources and leaving them with barely nothing. From what i have heard since i have been in australia, we really screwed the aboriginals over when we came here and makes you realise that back when it all happened it was so wrong and being here when i see aboriginals i feel abit embarrased as now they are a minority that is pretty much hated by most people here, when to be honest it was their bloody country in the first place that we just took over. But the the flip side of that is when you get dickhead abbos like the one in the byron bay bus shelter preaching to me about b******s, you realise why they are seen as more a pest than people. Anyway i am slightly digressing. Here in the rain forest we saw a really cool cliff face that was called the witch but it looked kore like a gorilla to me. I look a picture of it but it blurred. We carried on walking deep into the rain forest learning more about different things and how the aboriginals lived in thsoe conditions. We all lined up when we were deep in the valley and smokey told us all to shout certain words into the valley and listen to the echos that would reverberate for ages...you could just hear the shouts just keep going bouncing of the mountain walls. After that we walked down to the bottom and we got a very very steep train ride back up the hill, which is the steepest train journey in the southern hemisphere or somthing like that. It was so weird if you leant forward you felt like you were going to fall back down. That was pretty much the day over. We headed back to the coach and made our way abck to the hostel where the trip eanded. Not before listening to more stories from smokey on the bus and hearing loads of rude jokes. That tour guide was brillaint and like i said before we couldnt have had a better one..he knew alot and made the day a great one. It was also on this trip i met an awesome girl called alex from switzerland that i spent a bit of time with the days after. She is a very awesome girl. But i have writen alot and i have more to write about sydney and the fun times with the guys and girls which i will say are awesome as well i have had some great roomies. I will pick that up on my next blog, which i think might well be in fiji again. Yep yep its that time again FIJI TIME!!!!! i cant wait to get back there and take a chill..the last few week have completly knocked it out of me although brisbane was a nice chill. The life of a backpacker is fun but very tiring getting in at dawn, being up by ten, activities and eating poorly..its hard work but i love it.

So i fly out of melbourne on the 28th april for fiji for 8 days and i will pick up againw hen i am in fiji.....I hope everyone is still good miss you all..i have caught up with quite a few poeple whilst the weather has been bad at times but keep my posted and miss you all.

Once again

GOOSE OUT!!!!!


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