Back to HK and the beginning of the Trans-Siberean adventures!

I arrived in Hong Kong at 11.30pm on Wednesday night which just happened to be ladies night! I decided to go straight to typhoon from the airport and meet everyone! I got some very funny looks rocking up to a bar with a backpack but it was lovely to catch up with everyone and have some free vodkas!! I didn't realised how much I'd missed everyone and being in HK. I was only there for one full day but decided to spend it at Shek o beach and dinner at bubba gumps on the peak. This meant that the next day was a big rush to repack and sort bank stuff out. I made it ok and after saying a sad goodbye to everyone, Ben and I made it to the train station on time to meet Jen.


We boarded the train but I was in a different cabin to Ben and Jen as we had booked seperatly. Luckily we were next to each other and the journey was pleasemt. I even liked the food in the dining cart! 25hrs later we arrived in Beijing and took the bus to the Red Lantern hostel and ate lovely chinese food. The next day we did a reccy to the visa office before having lunch and going to see an acrobatic show which was brill.


As we knew where the visa place was, we got there very early on monday morning only to find it was closed! Luckily the window opened and we could fill in the form but our visa would not be ready until tuesday - the day we were supposed to catch the train! arrgghh! We decided to go to the station anyway to see if there was another train we could buy tickets for and after a 4hrs we found the place that sells international tickets. Luckily there was a train the day after our visas would be ready - I told the ticket man that I loved him!!

It was a rare clear day so we went up to the gate of Tianamen Square where you can look down onto the square. I felt just like Mao! We then decided to walk to a park at the back of the forbidden city where we walked up many steps to see the suset and stunning views of the forbidden city. We finished off the day with some well deserved beer and pizza.

After shopping for hats and gloves and eating some peking duck we boarded the 36hr train to Ulaan Baatar. The journey was actually good despite the border crossing taking over 5hrs. I even liked the food in the dining cart! The views through the window changed loads . When we woke up, there was masses of snow covered land and montains. I was worrying about the cold a lot! We finally arrvied in Ulaan Baatar and checked into a dodgy hostel which actually turned out to be nice inside - it was warm too! After eating some Mongolian food, which mainly consists of lamb, we went to a traditional mongolian show with contortionists and throat singers. It was very bizarre but actually quite funny and an expereince at the least!

Tomorrow we are going on a week long trip to the Gobi desert where we will stay in gers with local families. Im looking forward to it but we are all worried about the cold and the fact that we cannot have a shower for four days! Hopefully I wont have frozen to death and will write about it soon!

xxx

Melbourne and the end of Oz!

Many people have told me that Melbourne is one of the best places in Australia and I should definatly go. I like to go to places according to people's advice so I did the trip up the east coast a little quicker than planned so I could hvae a few days in Melbourne. However, when I got there (after getting on the correct flight!) I was greeted with rain and freezing cold weather and a pretty rough hostel. First impressions were not good.

Melbounre reminds me of England, not just the weather but the buildings too. It is also a very trendy city with cool bars and cafes and I can appreciate why people like to live here. I spent a couple of days walking around the city window shopping as I have no money. I also went up to the skydeck to see views of the city from the 88th floor which was pretty cool. I met up with Frankie for drinks and dinner as we were in the city for one day together which was nice. I aslo met a friend, Grainne who laura and I met in Thailand last year. It was really nice to catch up and it felt like just yeasterday that we were at the full moon party!

On Friday I went on a day trip to Great Ocean road whihc is a beautiful long road that runs on the coastline of south Australia. On this trip I also saw koalas in the wild, the lighthouse from 'Round the twist' and the twelve apostles. It was a long day but very beautiful.

The last couple of days were spent at St kilda which is where the beach is but all I did was eat cake in the lovely cake shops they have there! I'm glad I saw melbourne but i feel like I had too many days there and it is not somewhere I have the urge to go back to. 

I then flew to Sydney for two days to catch my flight to Hong Kong. It was lovely and sunny in Sydney so I spent the day at Bondi and became a little lobster like! In the evening I met Larry who is a frind of a frind in Hong Kong. He took me to lots of Aussie bars around harbour where we drank lots of Aussie beer. My favouite was the opera bar which is just underneath the opera house. Stunning views! We also went to the Australia bar where I ate kangaroo and crocodile pizza! It was very strange - I quite liked them both but the kangaroo was definatly my favourite! Thanks Larry! 

I am now in the airport ready to board my flight to Hong Kong. I am sad to leave Australia but very excited to see everyone in HK! 

xxx

Reef and Rainforest

After another long hungover bus drive, I arrived in Cairns. The city itself does not have much to see apart from good nightlife! It doesn't have a beach so I spent the first day chilling by the lagoon which all places with a rubbish beach seem to have!

I then went on an overnight boat trip to the Great Barrier Reef. We had to get on a smaller boat to drive out to a much bigger boat which is where I would stay. The boat was lovely and I had a room with a double bed and en-suite all to myself! After lunch I did some great snorkelling in a couple of different spots. There was then the chance to try an introductory scuba dive. This means that you go under the water for 30mins with an instructor who controls everything for you. All I had to do was breathe and kick my legs! However, I have decided that water activites are the kind of things that I'm most scared of and whilst I was sitting with the tank on ready to get into the water, I was more nervous than when I jumped out of a plane!

When we began to go under the water The realisation hit me that I could not pop my head out of the water every few minutes like I do when snorkelling and I freaked out! I felt very clostrophobic and scared that I would not be able to breathe nder the water! What a loser! The lovely instuctor calmed me down and we eventually went down to about 12m. I saw lots of lovely fish swimming above me, picked up a pineapple sea cucumber and saw a shark. It was amazing and Im glad I tried it (for the first and probably last time!)!

The day after the boat trip I went on a day trip to an area called Atherton Tablelands with Uncle Brian's tours. This is an area of rainforest and flat lands that were used for mining. We walked throught he rainforest and went to three differetn swimming holes. The first one was milla milla falls whihc had a rock slide that you could slide down into the river. fun! The next one was Josephine falls which is the waterfall where Peter Andre did the 'Mysterious girl' video! It was also where the herbel essences advert was filmed so the guide insisted we all have a photo taken flicking our hair out of the water! The last swimming whole was a lake in a huge volcano but I was too cold to swim by this point!

The scenery on this trip was lovely but it was the bus ride and the people that really made the trip. The bus driver was hilarious and made us play games and sing and dance. One of the games involved passing a polo around the bus using matchsticks in our mouths! There was also a point where the bus driver had us all ducking down and spying for animlas only for us to find a granny in the trees with soft toy animlas and a feather duster! I cannot describe how random and fun it was but would just say you have to go on Uncle Brian's if you are in Cairns!

I have also been to an area called Cape Tribulation which is where the rainforest meets the beach and the reef. It was nice walking through the Daintree rainforest but we didn't manage to see any crazy animlas. So, next we went on a cruise down the river to look for crocodiles. I saw a baby one on the bank and an adult female lazing in the water. The trip also involved another swimming hole and a stop off in Port Douglas which was very relaxing. A good day that everyone talks about but it didn't quite compare to the trip the day before.

Today I went to the airport to get a flight to Melbourne but when I got to check in, they told me it was the wrong day! My flight is actually tomorrow! I did know this but seem to be a bit of a dumb ass who doesn'yt know which day of the week it is! This meant I had abother day to chill by the lagoon and will hopefully get on the right flight tomorrow!!!

xxx

Fraser Island and the Whitsundays

I left Hervy bay early on Monday morning in a 4x4 and headed to Frser island. The tour was a self drive tour so after food and alcohol shopping and collecting campiong gear, a group of seven of us got into the car and drove to the ferry. There was only three of us the group that had valid driving licenses so I ended up being one of the designated drivers. Arrrgghhh!! I havn't driven in such a long time! Our first driver was a German guy and he was very good. The island is just sand so as soon a we got off the ferry, we hd to drive through a lot of soft sand whihc made for a very bumpy ride. The drive itself is amazing as we were driving along a neautiful beach by the waves.

After swimming in a creek and looking at a shipwrek we headed for the campsite and set up our tents. Soon after, the sausages and cheap wine were flowing and we played drinking games, sang to the guitar and were taught how to play the didgeridoo by an aboriginal man.


The next day, I as feeling very hungover and covered in scratches from walking through the bush in the middle ofthe night. However, we got back in the car and went for a swim in a place called Champagne pools. After lunch, we went to a point called Indian head where we walked up soem cliffs to see whales, dolphins and manta ray swimming in the ocean. It was so beautiful.


The water in the camp had run out so noboady could have showers the next morning! his wasn't to much of a problem as we quickly packed up our tents etc and drove to Lake Mcenzie. This is a huge fresh water lake with lovely white sand. W spent quite a few hours chilling here as it was like paradise. We had to head back to ferry after this and I decided to hav a quick drive of the 4x4! I didn't kill anyone but only lasted 15mins as I couldn't drive in the dry sand. I had such an amazing time on the island. The camping and driving was an experience, the sights of the island are just beautiful and the group of people in my car were a lot of fun. I was sad to leave and definately reccomend this trip!

As soon as we got back to the mainland, I got on a 12hour nightbus to Airlie beach. The journey wasn't too bad as I had two seats to myself and managed to get some sleep. As soon as the bus arrived, I had to check in with the sailing company that I sailed the Whitsunday islands with. I just had time to pack a small bag and buy some goon (cheap wine) before boarding the boat. The boat was lovely and it was only a small, quiet group of us so it wasvery chilled out. We spent the whole of the first day sailing to a cove where we would sleep for the night. All meals are provided so we had a lovley dinner and some wine! We were allowed to sleep up on the deck, so we all dragged matresses and sleeping bags up and played soem drinking games before going to sleep under the stars.

It was an early start the next morning as we woke up with the sun. We had some breakfast whilst sailing over to Whitehaven Beach. We were take dover to the beach in a smaller speed boat and spent 3 0r 4 hours there swimming and chilling. The beach and water is amazing and when you walk up to the viewpoint, the view is like a beautiful postcard scene. There were many fish swimming with us in the clear water. We then got back on the boat and sailed over to Hook Island where we went snorkelling. The water was lovely and I saw a turtle and a family of clown fish (Nemo)! The last day we did some ver early morning snokelling again before heading back to Airlie beach. The trip was lovely and I now want to own a sailing boat!

Airlie beach is not really known for its beach but it has a beautiful lagoon that you can swim in and is a bit of a party town. So, after some afternoon swimming, a group of us from the boat went to investigate the bars and clubs. I had a really fun night as there is a great atmosphere here and I saw some people I met on Fraser Island and in New Zealand. The fact that there was twelve teams of hot footballers in town also helped!

Today Frankie left as she has less time than me and had to get up to Cairns as soon as possible. I will prob see her again when I get to Carins though which will be nice. I am now off to sunbathe by the lagoon and prepare for another night out with the footballers!

xxx

P.S It is that hot here that I have had to stop caring about looking stupid and buy a hat!