So much to see and do!

Well the time has flown by since my last post - I've been so busy that I'll try not to make it too long of a post but I'm not hopeful!
After my last post I was heading out to the Barossa Valley for the day where I got to taste wines at Wolf Blass, Vine Crest, Grant Burge and Monkey Nut Tree wineries. All very yummy - including the wide varieties of ports I got to try and being a bit of a port fan anyway this was good! Also had my first taste of Kangaroo as I had it for lunch that day too.
For the rest of my time in Adelaide I went to the Donald Bradman Collection (who went to work for Harry Hodgetts - a stockbroker - when his cricketing career was over!), The South Australia Museum, SA art gallery, Adelaide Uni, Chinatown and Central Market. On my last day there it was the Melbourne Cup so a few of us booked a table at the local pub to eat and watch the race. My go on the sweepstake was about as successful as it is on the Grand National but a fun time was had by all!
After Adelaide I travelled on the Ghan train up to Alice Springs which took 26 hours but was good because a. you get loads of leg room; b. I got a double seat to myself and c. there is a lounge car and dining car for you to walk around in so you're not stuck in your seat all that time - they even have a shower on board if you want one!! The sunset as we travelled on the train was absolutely amazing and so was the sunrise the next morning.
Once in Alice Springs I went to visit the Royal Flying Doctor Service base there which was really interesting and then went to a kangaroo rescue centre where they look after joeys that are rescued from the their mother's pouches when the kangaroos have been hit by vehicles. They were soooo cute! After there I went to the School of the Air where I saw a lesson on computing taking place. These days the lessons take place via computer linkup rather than radio and so there have been some issues with when the homesteads switch on their generators as they need to be on for the satellite linkup which wasn't an issue with the radio system. The logistics of it all was amazing though and it was a fascinating place to visit.
The next day I had a really early start (5.30am) for my Mulga's tour of King's Canyon, Kata Tjuta (think can 'a' tuna!) and Uluru. On the first day of the tour we had a long drive out to King's Canyon and then we walked the rim until we got to a swimming hole that hasn't had water in it for a year (but obviously knew I was on my way so they'd had a huge storm which had filled it up) so we got to swim in it which was cold but lots of fun and also saw the creek that runs though it which also had water in it for the first time in a year. That night we set up camp and slept out under the stars in swags which was freaky at first but then when you got used to the idea of bugs and spiders and snakes it was OK!
The following day we walked through Kata Tjuta (otherwise known as The Olgas) which was absolutely beautiful, the place was magnificent. From there we went round to Uluru and saw the watering hole there and some of the aboriginal paintings that had been done on the stone. Then we went to the sunset viewing area and had dinner whilst the sunset over Uluru. That night we went back to camp and made it up in the dark! Then we all sat down and had a few beers and Beej (the guide) starting playing the guitar. Just lying back on the swag listening to him and looking up at the many many stars made for a magical evening. Which was good because we had and even earlier start the next morning (4.30am) to go watch sunrise at Uluru which to be honest wasn't all that impressive!! After that we did the base walk - you weren't able to climb it that day due to the high winds - not that I wanted to anyway - which is still about 9 km to give you an idea of just how big this rock is. On the way back to Alice that day we stopped off at a camel farm and I had a ride on a camel, which I have to say was almost as traumatic as the donkey ride I had along Blackpool beach when I was about 8!! After arriving back in Alice we had a group dinner that night and then went to the most soulless nightclub I think I've ever been to - but we'd had a few beers so all was good!!
The next day, myself and 5 others from the Mulgas tour flew to Cairns, where not surprisingly it was throwing it down with rain, but we went out for a few drinks together that night anyway. The following day we all had breakfast together and then we all went our separate ways. That afternoon I went white water rafting on the Barron River which was great fun. I had 4 Japanese, 2 Korean people and the Japanese guide in my boat so I got my picture taken a lot but couldn't really have a conversation with most of them (the guide spoke English of course) and so there was lots of fun and lots of smiles but not too much chat from me! Fortunately I didn't fall out of the boat either!
The next day I went up to Cape Tribulation in the rain forest where it wasn't supposed to be rainy season for another month but Cyclone Guba was having it's fun in the area (the first cyclone in November for 35 years!) and so it poured down with rain the whole time I was there. Didn't stop me doing a days diving on the Great Barrier Reef although it did make the dive fairly murky having churned up the bottom of the sea. Also didn't stop me Canopy surfing where you fly from tree to tree on zip lines which was excellent fun. Unfortunately on the 3rd day it stopped me getting back to Cairns by completely flooding the road that I need to cross! Fortunately after waiting for a couple of hours the water level dropped enough that a large 4WD truck was able to tow us across so eventually made it back to Cairns in time for the 3 day liveaboard boat that I went diving from the next day.
So, remember the cyclone I mentioned? Unfortunately the liveaboard was following in its wake. So that made for a very bumpy journey (Jim you'd have hated it!). Also meant that for those 3 days we didn't get the best visibility in the water - I've had better in the UK at times! However, it was still good to dive the Great Barrier Reef and the fish were fab. I even got to see a long-nosed hawkfish which is a fish I'd been desperate to see but never did in the Red Sea so I was excited anyway!
And so now I'm in Brisbane for a couple of days before I head off to Singapore on Monday which I'm very excited about. It's not raining at the moment, but of course, it's forecast for later!!

An itchy tale...

So, I did not lie in my last post when I said I was planning to tell you that the weather was going to warm up. It did and so I enjoyed a few days of glorious sunshine! This made the view from Sydney Harbour Bridge (which I was climbing at the time!) absolutely amazing. Shame we weren't allowed to take cameras up there (they have a problem with people dropping things on the highway that runs across the bridge for some reason) as there would have been some amazing photos. But never mind. It was great fun doing the climb, we had an excellent guide who was really lovely and told us lots of interesting facts along the way and so I would heartily recommend this to anyone traveling to Sydney (thanks to Rachel and Jim for the recommendation). After this went to Doyle's in Watson's bay for food. They have what looks like a lovely fish restaurant there but my backpacker budget unfortunately only extended to their takeaway! Was still delicious though!
The next day I took a trip to Bondi Beach which I was definitely too white to sit on (I was pretty well camouflaged against the white sand!!) but it was very beautiful there and great fun to sit and watch the surfers. On my way home I called in to the Sydney Botanic Gardens which were also great to walk round and had some trees that had so many flying foxes hanging from them they looked as if they were covered with huge seed pods. I was there just as they were starting to wake up ready for their dusk feeding session. I walked back through Woolloomooloo (how many Os in that word?!) along the quay and felt very jealous of the people that were sat in the fabulous looking restaurants in their fancy clothes (travelling gear is neither smart nor attractive!).
The next day I traveled up to Manly and had a couple of days relaxing on the beach - or at least my version of relaxing as I need far too much entertainment to sit on a beach so I read, did sudoku, listened to my iPod, people watched and whatever else I could whilst sat in the same place for 3 hours!
From Manly I got the ferry back into central Sydney and headed straight back out again to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. On the first day I went to Echo point and the 3 sisters rock formation and then went to "The Edge" cinema to to watch a movie on the Blue Mountains. Whilst very beautiful, there are many many flies (actually flying insects in general) in the Blue Mountains which is mildly annoying and so the next morning when I woke up with a number of bites I didn't really think anything of it. Spent the next day going to Wentworth Falls and walking along the Valley of the Waters before coming back to Katoomba and walking down the falls there and then I got the steepest railway in the world back to the top of the mountains. It's a 52 degree incline or 127 in 100. Steep! That night I forgot to put insect repellent on when I went to bed so didn't really think anything of it again when I woke up the next morning with yet more bites.
From here I went back to Sydney for an overnight stop as I couldn't get to my next destination the same day. That evening they had a "make your own pizza" night in the hostel I was in which was much fun and quite delicious! That night I smothered myself in insect repellent and so was pretty fed up when I woke up the next morning with yet more bites and so it was on the 8 hour bus trip I had to Albury that I figured I wasn't being bitten by some kind of flying insect.
In Albury I met my Dad's cousin who I've never met before and got to have yet another bizarre experience! Howard sells semen to farmers for artificial insemination of cows and that night there was the regional final presentation dinner for the state competition of cows in various classes which his company was sponsoring e.g. best 2 year old, best mature cow etc and so I got to find out all the best features needed in dairy cattle such as good ligaments, optimal teat placement, prime wedge shape good gait etc. etc. The things I'm learning on this trip are remarkable! Australia is in the grip of 7 year drought but that night they had more rain in one night than they had in the whole of October last year and Fe, Howard's friend who also came with us to the cow dinner (not really sure how else to describe it!) unfortunately had a flood at her house that night as a result (which will be a great insurance claim in the middle of a drought!). I had a few more bites that evening and so the next day when we returned to Albury I headed straight for the chemist to see if he knew what the bites were. He thought I'd picked up scabies (nice!) but having had scabies before (not nice!) to me it didn't really look like that but anyway when I got to Melbourne later that day I treated myself for scabies and washed all my clothes on a hot wash etc etc but still had a few more bites (nothing like in previous evenings though) and spoke to another pharmacist who told me that I had been bitten by bed bugs! Grim! Fortunately I managed to get some bug spray which kills bed bugs so I thoroughly sprayed my rucksack and rewashed all my clothes and fortunately after that the biting slowed dramatically and seems now to have stopped. Fingers crossed. Have maxed out at 204 bites to give you some idea of how much I was bitten!
Anyway, having treated the bed bugs I was then able to enjoy what was left of my time in Melbourne although would really like to go back to this city as I liked it a lot. Managed to see the Queen Victoria market (very good but not quite Borough market!), the Anzac War Memorial, most of the city centre and then on my last day I went to Ballarat and Sovereign Hill which is where they have a replica mining town from the 1860s and the people that work there dress in period costume and you can pan for gold etc. Would have been great except for the fact that by then the wind which whist being about 100kph the day before but warm had slowed down somewhat but turned very cold and also Sovereign Hill was full of kids. And most of you know I don't need to say any more for you to know how that made it for me!
Over the last 3 days I've been doing a "Groovy Grape" tour along the Great Ocean Road. This was great fun and I met some really lovely people on the tour. It was an excellent way of seeing the Great Ocean Road and the Grampians and we saw various things such as the 12 Apostles rock formations, Bells Beach (where the last scene in Point Break was set - although not filmed) and watched the surfers there, Bay of Martyrs and the Grampians National Park before heading into Adelaide last night.
Today I've just been mooching and catching up on random chores such as washing as I have 5 more days here in which one of them I have tour booked to the Barossa Valley which includes a wine tasting at Wolf Blass winery (yum!!).
Adelaide is in Southern Australia, which is the driest state in the driest continent, but guess what the weather's doing today.
You got it - raining!!