Australia - what you should know!

We've already mentioned a few of the things we got up to so we'll not bore you with the full itinerary. We'll just stick to the things that stood out:-

1) Australia is actually very very big!
Us Scottish/English/Europeans should really realise this before we get here - but it's not the case. Take note, it is the size of Europe and how much of Europe do we visit on a regular basis? We spent 24 hours on a bus just to go from North to South Queensland - and we were gutted when we found out we could have taken the 1.5 hour plane trip for 20 dollars less!!

2) It is far, far away!
Again we should really know this but it's not until you get here that you can actually appreciate how far it is - it took us 5 months after all. And to us it felt like being on another planet not just the other side of the same one! It's so big you spend most of your time getting your head around that and there's no room left to hang the rest of the world off the sides!

3) If you show an Aussie a vegetable they run away in fear!
(which is very surprising considering a vegetable can't kill you but a lot of the other things here can!). Oh, do they love their steak - we on occasion had it for breakfast!! That's how much the Aussie barbie rules. And if you happen to be a vegetable that doesn't go well with steak you are probably extinct over here!!

4) You can just pop in off the street and watch their Prime Minister at question time!
I'd like to see Gordon Brown entertaining such behaviour. We happened to be passing one afternoon in Canberra so we wandered in to see what Mr Rudd was up to. Being heckled by an MP from Sydney actually - "tell the truth Rudd" "tell the truth" - he was thown out for that, which is not unusual. Their parliament is nothing like our stuffy formal lot - no here, let's just say its what we'd call laid back. And Mr Speaker is the best, if you start rambling you get a very dry "you're times up, shut up". If you get the chance you should have a wee listen online it's very amusing.

5) Uluru is a big rock!
We heard many Aussies describe it in this way when it came up in conversation. And to be fair, it is just that - a big rock. But it is a very enchanting one at that - we thought it was mesmorising, so much so that we watched it twice at sunset and spent 3 hours walking round it (but we didn't climb it). If you're going to Oz make sure you go to the Red Centre and see it (if you don't, then you're probably Australian).

6) Australian's love their rock!
Not the Blackpool or Uluru kind but the 80's kind. We went to a pub in Jindabyne where this was evident - everyone knew the words too - even though we'd never heard it. But maybe the 3 blokes with the moustaches and the one with the cape had over done it a bit! Not to mention the Benny from Abba look alike - or maybe it was him??

7) If you want to see the Great Barrier Reef - go soon!
It's truly amazing but it does look as though it is struggling a bit. The coral and the fish are beautiful - and I even saw a Reef Shark.

8) There's some scary things in Oz!
After reading Bill Bryson's book I was surprised to find any of my relatives still alive! Thankfully the only deadly beast we saw was 'Scarface' the 5m Croc and that was from the safety of a boat. Graham was reassured though as Croc's always go for the smallest animal/human so he was ready to push me overborad if need be!

9) The Great Ocean Road is more spectacular than Highway 1!
At least that's what we think - make sure it's on your list.

10) Time your visit with a Sandstorm in Sydney!
We were up at 5.30 that morning to go catch our plane to Ayres Rock and our first thoughts were - "the antipodean sunrise is amazing", "Bill Bryson didn't mention this in his book he must have been too hungover to get up this early" (sorry Bill). However, when our taxi driver informed us that he'd not seen anything like this in the last 25 years we realised it didn't happen everday! It was bizarre - it felt like being in a zombie movie, we were the only humans left! (we were pretty sure our taxi driver wasn't, his laugh was too evil sounding). And once visibility was better than 50m we did make it to Uluru only 30 minutes late. Luckily for us when they opened the airport again they put us on an earlier flight - result! And, we were only a slight tinge of red all over!

11) The animals, birds and plants in Australia are unique!
They just have some of the strangest and most colourful. And if you are a true Aussie you'll never have been to Uluru but you will know about the birds and the bees!! Aussies must study them at school as everyone has their own list of one's they've seen and one's they've got in the garden!

12) Aussie's love their sport!
Everyone follows something whether it's rugby league, union or aussie rules.

13) Saying all this, our firm advice is DON'T go to Australia - at least not right now!
The Australian dollar is at an all time high - gone are the days of 3 to 1, it was 1.75 to 1 when we were there!! Owwwwwwwww....they don't even have a recession!!! Let's just say we spent twice our budget while we were there and if we hadn't had family and friends to visit it would probably have been double that again - i.e. it may cost 4 times what you expect!! It is only slightly cheaper than Japan at the moment - you have been warned!!

14) And we couldn't leave without making reference to the BEACH!!!
Aussie's love them. And they have loads of them to love. It's the No 1 pastime - heading down to the beach!

More thanks to.....

* Bob & Anne for a lovely relaxing week in Ingham - where else could we have picked oranges from the garden for breakfast? Bob also cooks a mean steak. And thanks for letting us induldge in a day of normality with a spot of gardening;

* Nelson & Estelle for showing us the sights in Brisbane and along the Coasts and for taking us to meet 130 Koalas (there's never too many!). And for sharing a very enjoyable afternoon fishing on a boat at Noosa Heads on the Sunshine Coast. It's just a shame we had to buy Fish & Chips for dinner (or Fusssshhhhh & Chups as we now call them in New Zealand);

* Andrew & Violet for the loan of the fishing rods for the aforementioned trip and for the invite to the Wine Tasting (a little warm up for South America);

* Mark for opening a 30 year old vintage from his 7,000 bottle wine collection - yes, now 6,999;

* Young James for saying Graham looked like the lead singer out of Kings of Leon and to his even younger brother Harrison for saying he sounded like Shrek!;

* Jonathon, Tracey, Finlay & Fergus for letting us get to know wee Finlay with a spot of babysitting. We feel we coped well with the numerous questions - "Do you live in a Castle?", "Is it like the one in Thomas?", "What was the Loch Ness Monster like the last time you met her?" We hope we answered them honestly and we'll get saving for the "Castle" just as soon as we get back. And last, but not least, for the most amazing day out to Moreton Island where we got to do some Sandboarding (still finding some sand from that), 4x4 off roading, driving along the beach, swimming in the Lagoon and watching Turtles, Dolphins and Whales frolicking in the wild (the Dolphins were actually frolicking!). So many things we'd never done before - what a treat!

* And not to forget Cath & Emily for flying up to Brisbane so we could see them again (and say goodbye to them again too!).

After 7 weeks it was now time to head south to New Zealand for our onward journey and I have to confess to shedding a couple of tears at the airport on the way out - it was the family and friends in Oz which really made it special for us. We'll miss you all and if you could just arrange for Australia to move a little bit closer to the UK that would be great! And we'd be happy to consider a swap next year when Stephen & Natalie move to Perth (Perth, Australia that is not Perth, Scotland) - it could balance out the numbers! You're all welcome anytime and we hope to see you soon again, whether in Scotland or Oz. Thanks for looking after us x.

And now back to reality (well not quite reality yet - that's another 4 months away), but what better thing to do after we've spent the last 7 months together 24/7 (with the exception of 2 afternoons, 1 evening & a football match) than to hire a 5' x 9' campervan for the next 3 weeks!!!!(anyone looking for a husband please put in your bid to ebay - don't worry there's no reserve price any offer welcome).

Piccies from India

At long last ....... if you are still interested in seeing some photos there are now 80ish on my facebook page!!!.....yippee.....

p.s. For those of you who aren't as advanced as my mother and have yet to sign up to the horrors of Facebook this link might work, or not:-
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=157625&id=810223271&l=ef5a6d6aac

A photo at last!!!! - only took 6.5 months

2 minutes before this photo was taken the Koala had looked particularly perplexed and had nibbled Graham's beard - we think he thought he'd met a cousin!!