My first port of call in Australia was Sydney. I did all the usual things, taking photos of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House and then I bought a Ford Laser with the plan of driving up the east coast, then across to Alice Springs, then Perth before driving back for my flight from Sydney to Santiago, Chile.
My next stop was a two day drive to Byron Bay where I bought a surf board and did some surf lessons. On one of the lessons I met Ahmed, a student from the Saudi Arabia, who invited me to spend New Year with him and his friends when I got back to Sydney.
Next I went to Nimbin, an “alternative” little town, which reminded me of Glastonbury, the town was crammed full of artists, drug dealers and alternative shops and restaurants. I found a cheap campsite about fifteen kilometres away which had beautiful views of the rolling hills and valleys and every night the kangaroos would hop through the site. It was close to here that I saw more first snake, a large python which stretched across half the width of the road and I also had to flee the campsite bathroom when I spotted a huge huntsman spider on the window by the toilet.
I then headed to Brisbane to watch the 3rd day of the 1st Ashes test, which turned out to be one of the few that was dominated by the Ozzys with Hussey and Haddin putting on a record stand for the Gabba of 307.
Another two days drive and I arrived at Airlie Beach, because of the rain I spent quite a bit more time than I had planned in hostels and hotels and only camped when it looked like it was going to be dry as my tent was not the greatest letting in water when the rain got heavy. I tried to get to one of the remote Whitsunday islands in order to camp out on my own deserted paradise island, unfortunately I couldn’t organise a boat out to the island as it was never sunny for long enough. I spent a lot of time waiting for the rain to clear drinking with Rick, an Australian guy who had grown up in Knowle, Bristol.
In the end I had to scrap the idea of getting out to the island and instead I booked a diving trip to the Great Barrier Reef. It was my first time diving and I found it strange breathing under water at first until you started to become distracted by the huge and colourful fish and the coral all around me.
My next drive was for three days to Alex Springs and because the floods were just starting I was wondering if I was going to make it. Fortunately for me most of the problems were further south so I managed to get through.
I camped for several nights in the East Mcconalls, in a beautiful spot by the river, which in December is normally dry, but due to the extra rainfall had plenty of water in it although the sun was still incredibly hot, I even felt my skin burning while I was sat in the shade.
I spent a day driving to Uluru (Ayers Rock) arriving just in time to see the sunset and the way the rock appears to change colours as the sun drops lower in the sky. I camped out that night and was awoken in time for sunrise by an army of ants that had eaten through my tent and were marching all over me.
My next drive was four days including 200kms down a dirt track filled with Kangaroos, beautiful birds including emus and parrots, which was an adventure, but I was concerned that I would run out of petrol or that the birds and animals would destroy the car if I hit them. Then it started getting dark and at one point I was driving on a wall the width of the car with a lake on one side and a sheer drop on the other. I also had a 1000km detour around the flood water before I eventually got back to the east coast where I hoped to do some more surfing and relaxing on the beach before New Year.
The weather though was getting worse, I spent Christmas in New England National Park on the Waterfall Way and then decided to head to The Blue Mountains where I finally found some sun. I stayed in a place called Lithgow, while I was there I went to see Zig Zag railway, which is so called because the track zig zags up the mountain. Also while in the Mount Victoria Museum I met a guy who offered to show me around the area, he showed me Hartley Vale set in a beautiful valley where he had grown up as a child, the ammunitions factory in Lithgow which is now owned by Thales and a big dam and power stations just outside the town.
I then made my way to spend New Year’s Eve in Sydney with Ahmed and his friends from Sydney University. From the Harbour Bridge national park we watched the spectacular firework display before heading back to a house for a party that finished just as it was starting to get light.
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