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!