Sydney Baby!

i'm loving Sydney!! The Weather is great, met some fab people, hostel is cool and in great location. i'm so amazed by Sydney and it's really surreal being here. Had a great birthday, thanks for all the cards and messages!

Great Ocean Road/Melbourne

Had a fantastic few days travelling through the Grampians National Park and along the Great Ocean Road. MacKenzie Falls were amazing, but i pulled muscles walking up and down all the stairs to get to them, which meant i couldn't do the 2 hr hike up to the Pinnaccle the next day. To be honest i wasn't that bothered as i don't like hiking anyway! Visited the Brambuk Aboriginal Cutural Centre, saw the Bay of Martyrs, London Bridge, Loch Ard Gorge, 8 of the remaining 12 apostles, more little blue Penguins. Stayed at Port Campbell, went for a rainforest walk at Otoway Park went to Lorne, Bells Beach , Torquay. Fed some King Parrots, saw a Kukkabura and more Koalas.... Been busy!

i was only in Melbourne for a day and am heading back in January, so took it easy. Went to the Victoria Market walked around Brunswick Street (amazing shops!) and sat on the free tram and hung out at Federation Square for a while.

Just arrived in Sydney today!!

Can't upload any photos using this computer, but if you click on the link to the right then you can see them at my Flickr account. Saw some pretty amazing Coast this week.

Kangaroo Island & Adelaide

It's been a busy week this week. i managed to sleep on my flight over but i then regreted it after my legs swelled up because i wasn't doing my leg exercises! i'm all back to normal now tho so don't worry!

There's not all that much to do in Adelaide, but most of the stuff that there is to do is free, so it gets a thumbs up for that at least! There's even 2 free buses which loop the city which makes getting around easy, although my hostel is in a really good location so i can walk most places. So on Monday i went to the South Australian Museum & also took a guided tour at the Art gallery, saw some really cool aborignal art which was really inspiring. Also chilled out at the Botanical Gardens.

On Tuesday i set off for Kangaroo Island. There is loads of wildlife on the island which can't be found on the mainland. i saw Kangaroos, wallabies, echinda, New Zealand fur seals, Sealions, Koalas, Little Penguins & a horrible Lizardy thing! We stayed in Eco huts so i had to check the loo for spiders everytime i went to the toilet & had to check my swag every night before bed to make sure nothing was already in there! eek! Did some other cool stuff like Bush Walks, sand surfing at Little Sahara & visited the Remarkable Rocks, which were pretty impressive!

So after a few packed days i've just been chilling out today, doing boring stuff like washing and fun stuff like shopping. i only bought a t-shirt though and it cost me less then 6 quid! My minimal packing idea seemed good at the time, but i'm really struggling to get everything washed every few days so am picking up a few extra bits in the next couple of weeks. Also went To Gelelg on the tram which only cost $2!! It was really nice there, just sat on the beach for a while & watched all the locals. It's surreal being in Oz, the people are just like we stereotype them!! It's all 'G'day mate, how's it going?' 'Far Out!' and 'No Worries'. Ha ha! They are really chilled & friendly.

i'm being careful in the sun, wear my factor 50 try and stay covered up and wear my sun hat, my freckles are out in full force though!

The food is more expensive then i thought it would be, but there's a huge variety of foods which is great, including loads of new chocolate bars to sample!! he he

i've just uploaded more photos so check em out, although i seem to have some spots on my lens, which i need to get sorted quick sharp!

Tokyo!!

Is amazing!! i love it here soooooooo much. There are a mix of places to go, some really hectic and others chilled. Its a place where they read books back to front, dress their toy dogs in clothes, take their shoes off inside homes and traditional restaurants, where music plays to let you know that a train is departing, where buildings are floors and floors high, where there are Buddahs and temples, skyscrapers and Neon lights on every corner.

The people are really sweet, polite & helpful. The place is really clean but the transport system is quite confusing for non-japanese speakers! There are three different metro lines. On my first day i went to the Senso-ji temple which is pretty amazing, really like it there. Lots of good photo ops.

Wednesday i went to the Edo-Tokyo museum and was lucky enough to get an english speaking guide, who explained loads about the Edo period. It was really interesting. Also went to Akihabara, the Electic City which is full of electronics shops. The phones here are huge because the technology is so advanced, they have TVs on most of the phones. We had Sushi from one of the restaurants which have the revolving converyor belt. i was only brave enought to try some cooked prawns and sone crab stuf, no raw fish for me! im finding using chopsticks quite hard but im slowly getting there! i tried seeing the grounds of the Imperial Palace, but they were closed. i went up the Tokyo Tower though, which had amazing views of the city. i had Katsu-kare for dinner, which i wasnt that keen on. Visited Shinjuku which looks cool at night, lit up with the neon lights!

Thursday i went to Kamakura, which is about an hour out of Tokyo and took 3 trains and a bus to get to, but totally worth thr journey! i saw the Daibutsu, the giant Buddah which is in all the guide books. It is HUGE! Also went to theHase-Dera temple which was beautiful. In the evening i went to a traditional Okonomi yaki restaurant with some people from the Hostel and a few japanese people. It was cool! The restaurant had so much character and it was nice to go somewhere traditional, the food was really good, its my favourite japanese food so far. we also went to a karaoke place, where you rent a room and get free drinks. It was crazy! i never realised how bad at singing i was until i went to this place!

Today i went to a traditional garden called Happoen where i saw two brides! One was in traditional kimono which was beautiful and another in a wedding dress more similar to our traditional style. i was lucky to see them! i went to Rappingi Hills which is full of Skyscrappers and Shops. We saw a pet shop which had puppies and kittens in the window, they were so tiny, too young to be away from their mums but they were sooooooooooooo cute!

Tonight i went to Shibuya to see the famous Pedestian crossing, it was crazy! So many people it was unreal.

Its taking forever to upload photos, i will get around to putting the others up on Flickr soon!There are some on there though, just click the link on the right, sorry i cant figure out how to get them on here, the keyboard and comuter is mostly in japanese!

Having a brilliant time, will be sorry to leave Japan but excited about Australia!

One more sleep to go!!

This time tomorrow I'll be on the flight to Tokyo, i've just checked-in online, how bizarre is that!? Yesterday was a bit emotional, but the good-byes weren't as hard as i thought they'd be, i guess i must be getting to used to this lark now!! Today i am just really excited!

Anyways, now it's time for some Oscar stylee Thank-yous!! Because i really wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't for the support of certain people. So here goes....

To those of you have given me advice on where to go, what to do, where to stay and what to avoid etc etc. i have been grateful for all your tips.

Thank-you for all the cards/prezzies/text's/phone calls and messages.

To everyone who has said to me i'll miss you/i love you/good luck/stay safe/have fun. Thank-you, it means a lot.

To those of you who have listened to me witter on about all my hopes and dreams, fears and worries. Thanks so much for your support. i am always at the end of an e-mail if you need me.

And above all, thank-you Mum. i have flown, because you gave me wings.

The nerves have kicked in...

For weeks now people have been asking if i'm scared or nervous & now with just 2 days to go they are finally here, but only a little bit. i am more worried about saying goodbye to the people who mean so much to me, because i know it's going to break my heart. And i know that they'll be at the end of an e-mail or phone while i'm away & that they'll still be here when i'm back & i will have an amazing time, but that doesn't mean that it's not going to be hard.

The Itinery

Depart Heathrow 12th November
Arrive Tokyo 13th November
Depart Tokyo 17th November
Arrive Melbourne 18th November then fly to Adelaide
Hang out in Adelaide for 2 nights 18-20 Nov
Visit Kangaroo Island for 3 days 20-22 Nov
Hang out in Adelaide for another 2 nights 22-24 Nov
On trip from Adelaide to Melbourne 24-26 Nov
Stay in Melbourne for 2 nights 26-28 November then fly to Sydney
Stay in Sydney 28-30 Nov (the 29th is my birthday woo!!!)
I will be travelling up the East Coast throughout December, i have no set plans yet
24th December Fly from Cairnes to Sydney
Spend Xmas & New Years in Sydney!!
Fly to Alice Springs 3rd Jan
Go on tour round Uluru for 3 days
Stay in Alice Spings again 6th Jan
Fly to Melbourne (again!) 7th Jan, hang out there for a few days
11th Jan depart Sydney for Auckland
27th Feb Depart Christchurch for Singapore
Spend 8 weeks travelling round South East Asia (no set plans yet)
24th April depart Bangkok for Heathrow!

No More Running Away

This time next week....

I'll be somewhere in the air winging my way to Japan. How mega exciting is that! i woke this morning with butterfly's in my belly...

By popular demand a picture of me in my halloween costume. i was a Dark Fairy. The things that spring from my imagination never cease to amaze me!

Photo credit goes to Mr Phil Buse.

This weekend

Good stuff:

Fancy dress for halloween, especially the fake eylashes and tutu
Having people look at me like i'm a freak and not giving a fuck
Photobooth madness
Hanging out with the extended Fam for an entire day. {Love each and every one of you}
Seeing The Fray and The Days. The Fray took a few polaroids whilst on stage and threw them into the audience. Coolness...

Not so cool stuff:
Hanging my head upside down over the bath trying to wash the red hair dye out at 3am on Saturday, and feeling oh so very drunk-ed!

True. Eternal. Spirit.

This week i lost my Grandad. And i feel weird blogging it, but to not mention it would be even weirder.

He will always be loved.