Scotland and Ireland all coming to an end.

Ok ok I know it’s been a really long time. I guess I just am getting so wrapped up in what I do and next thing I know weeks have gone by. So here I am now trying to play a large game of catch up.

So if I remember correctly I left you all with me going dry suit diving in some wrecks up in Scotland. Way cool!!!

Sunday August 23

I met Kira and Russell for a good Scottish breakfast. The first one I had I thought was good, but after having this one I was much happier. This time the black pudding was way better. (I have to say I didn’t dislike black pudding but I don’t see myself going out of my way for it.)

So after we were all happily fed we tredged out into the hardcore winds and drove out to Skare Brea. This is an ancient, like 5000 year old village that was found when a high wind storm came alone and blew away a good portion of land. So there was a whole museum saying “Look at all the stuff we found” but really none of it had explanations as to what it was. But to give them the benefit of the doubt, how on earth are we to know what people 5000 years ago did.

Well, after the museum we got to walk through the mock village, or at least a home. It was TINY!!! It was hard to imagine a family of just 4 living in that room. It was a room about the size of a large bedroom. It had a fire, shelves, little pantries, and beds. So it leads us to believe that the whole family lived eat and slept in that one room. Then each room in the village was attached by tunnels. These tunnels were so amazingly short. I felt like I was a hobbit. (As I learned it is likely that Tolken used Skare Brea as an inspiration for hobbits. Also…Orkney….Orks…ya see it…?? Right, any ways)

So then after we got to see the village that was found. One really impressive thing about it was while walking out to it then have a time line going back to the 5000 years just to give you a perspective of how long ago 5000 years was. I mean this is way before Stonehenge. WOW!! The village looked really amazing, and just unbelievable how people used to live that way. It’s like a town for kids really.

Well, we decided we would walk out to the cliffs there to see if we could see the waves wearing away at the rocks. It was a bit of a steep walk out but so worth it. Kira was a little more afraid of the edge than Russell and I were so we walked out to the point where we could look down and see the waves crashing up into the cliffs. For out walk back we dodged all the cow pies because we just walked through a farmers yard. Which is not illegal in Scotland as long as you are not be destructive.

We enjoyed walking out to those cliffs so much that we decided to go to Yesnaby which are spectacular cliffs. We could see out to endless ocean and the waves were just so impressive. What made it so much better was the wind. It added a bit more to the adventure. Standing on the edge of really unfathomably tall cliffs with about Gal 2 force winds. Woah!!!

That night Kira wanted to take me to see a show. Well seeing as we were on an island with limited show access all that we had the choice to see was a cabaret. So we drove out to Strenness for dinner and a show. The show for being just one singer, two dancers and a performer who did this thing with cool glowing balls, it was a really great show. It had all types of music and we were all participating in the end. I have to say, “It was a blast!”

Monday August 24

Kira and I were going to do some activies together but when I got to her place with my stuff I found out that she was really ill. But, lucky for me Kira is the most organized person I know and she had everything I needed all spelled out for me. So I was hopping on a bus to Stomness to catch the ferry to the main land. I wasn’t catching this ferry to leave Orkney or just for the fun of riding a boat. I was taking it for one reason, and that was to see the Old Man of Hoy. This is a really tall unstable column cliff thing that has been eroded away from the main island. So it is stand alone. It’s so unstable they are saying that it might not last much longer. All the more reason to go see it while I can, plus, my dad really kept pushing for me to see it. The only way really TO see it is to take this ferry past it to the main land. I however was not planning on staying on main land Scotland at this time, so I got on the ferry enjoyed a nice ride past the Old Man of Hoy, enjoyed a cup of tea, got off the ferry in Scabster, turned around and got right back on. J They people on the boat even noticed this odd girl going in circles. It was a good relaxing, enjoyable day, and I got to see the old man TWICE!!

When I got back to Orkney I had to wait for the bus so I just took a stroll through Stomness which I have to say is possibly my favorite town. It was so small, and all of the buildings are up on hills, but close together, so you have to twist and wind through tiny little alleys. Once you get up the hills a little you can see over all the roof tops and see the sheer number of chimneys, all with the water in the backround. How perfect is that.

When I did finally make it back to Kirkwall Kira was feeling much better. So as a treat she took me out to try my first try at Haggis. We got what we like to call, “A heart attack” It was a deep fried black pudding, deep fried haggis, and my favorite, a deep fried Mars Bar (which is a lot like a milky way) It was all a totally different experience, but I finally said I had tried it. The thing with the Mars bar is that everyone says people in Scotland with deep fry anything, even a Mars Bar. Well, they did. Though it was good, we really had to go for a walk after that. Ugh…

Since it was my last night Kira and Russell took me out to a very nice dinner followed by a drink at one of the cutest pubs. On our way back to their place to pick up my stuff so I could catch the ferry we ran into DANIEL MACBETH….Dun…Dun…Dun….(That was said it a deep booming voice) I would like to refer to Daniel Macbeth as…the town hooligan. Well as you can imagine was not in a very sober mindset, and kept making it very difficult for us to. By the time we did leave to get my stuff, my ferry left in 30mins. We were moving. After swerving past all the cars getting on the ferry Kira and I run in only to find that I was 15 mins too late to check in. We even tried to push for me to just hop in the car with someone driving on but that didn’t work. So…I missed my ferry…oops!

That night Kira and I were able to book me a flight and everything was just going to be great. I wasn’t concerned about it at all. Some how it would work out.

Tuesday August 25

I caught my taxi to the airport with no problem. I got checked in with no problem. I made it through security…with no problem. I got on the plane through the flight….with no problem. So see everything worked out just fine. I had little trouble trying to find the hostel but that was just because I couldn’t figure out the bus system so I walked the 2 miles, but I guess a little exercise never hurt. By the end of that walk though I was soooo ready to wash all my clothes. I can’t even think about the last time I washed ALL my clothes.

While I waited for the laundry I walked down to a shop I was told served the best fish n’ chips in the whole UK. I guess you could say they do, but I don’t really know. They didn’t knock me to the floor with their amazingness. So that evening, I was running around the hostel in just a dress that I had worn about 3 times on this trip, and my swim suit, just so I could wash everything. It was crazy, but I was also crazy about getting my clothes clean.

I know this day was not exciting AT ALL!!

Wednesday August 26

I caught the train back down to Edinburgh. I had no intentions of staying in Aberdeen and I don’t really know what there was to do there anyways, so I moved on to the city I more wanted, plus I wanted to get to the Fringe Fesitval which is a 3 week long performing arts event. There are shows of all kinds and over 2000 shows. It is crazy!!! Plus, there was the Tattoo (and it is not the body art) which is the Scottish military bag pipes and guests play in the court yard of the Castel grounds.

So as soon as I arrived in Edinburgh I ran… well as best you can run up a hill with 15 kilos of crap on you, to the hostel, set my stuff down and was out playing as soon as I could. Oh my goodness the fringe was so over whelming. I sat down and watched a street show then ran to a venue to watch a dance show, only to get there too late. So instead I watched an improv (Captain Improv) and was then well aware of what the fringe was all about. Basically if you could pay for a space you got a show slot….Which means not all that you’re going to see is going to be good. I thought I would make it up by seeing another show which was called “Celebrations” This was not so back. It was just a hard show to follow and even harder because they sat down the whole time, but there was some quality work in there.

After I was so over whelmed with all that I decided it was a good time to see about the Tattoo, so I went to the ticket office, only to find out that they were sold out. Crap….I kind of decided that I was not going to miss it so that evening I just walked the streets in front of the castle to see if anyone was selling their tickets. Lucky for me there was a group of French people selling a ticket. One of their spouses was sick and couldn’t make it, so I got to spend this event with them. Best thing that could have happened. They were the nicest people ever and wish I could have spent more time with them.

As for the Tattoo, IT WAS AMAZING!!! I have never seen anything like it before. There was a door way that all of the bag pipers came out of. They just kept pouring out and you think there is no way they could keep coming. So Crazy!!! Then the whole courtyard was just covered in bag pipers and drummers. Then also part of the Tattoo they have performances from around the world. They had drummers and dancers from Tanga. They had a horn, drum and dance show from China (Shay wa) They had singers come out and sing some Robert Burns (Scotlands poet) They performed a ghost story by means of Scottish dance. The Swiss army came out and played some spectacular stuff, my favorite were the Swiss “Top Secret” Drummers. They were just mind blowing. They also had the Scottish Air Force play. Then as tradition they played their evening ballad with the Lone Piper on top of the Castle, and ending the evening with Auld Langsyne.

Thursday August 27

I got up early to try to get some of the sights of Edinburgh in before I tried to tackel the Fringe Festival again. So I went up to St. Giles Cathedral which was a little bit of a let down because they were restoring it so It wasn’t as spectacular as it could have been, but I got the idea. The Thistle Chapel was the more amazing part. This is a chapel for all the top notch Duke/Earl/Queen ranking people. There are only some 20 seats. So yeah. After that I just wandered down to the Childhood Museum where I thought they would have more things from my childhood, but it was more like stuff from my grandparents childhood. Yeah, so I didn’t relate as much, but it was still really fascinating to see.

At 11:00 I met up with one of the guys I met in my room, Steve. He had been in Edinburgh since just about the beginning of the Fringe and he knew what he was doing. So I tagged along with him and his friend Sam. They were more into Comedy acts, but I was learning that that was more of what I was going to see.

So first stop, the artic… Well, ok it was really Helen Keen but her subject was about the artic. She was funny because she was telling us the 10 steps you would have to take to survive in the artic. Things like, “you need to be willing to eat anything” because you never know when you are going to run out of food. My favorite survival technique is to always celebrate Christmas. What a happy thing to remember.

This time I was not going to miss the dance I wanted to go to the day before, so they walked me over to the theatre and I watched “Stranded” while they went to another comedy act. This dance was much better than the two shows I had seen the day before. It was a modern dance but I guess slowly I’m growing to like it.

I met Sam and Steve at the Underbelly, which was one of the venues. We went to watch Sammy J who is an Aussie comedian. His show was about his life in 1999 as a huge geek. It was done by comedy and song. Soooo funny. He even had a tamagatchi. J His show was so fantastic!!
We quick ran to get some food then were right back at the Underbelly to watch “Barry and Stuart Powered by Demons” Which was a very dark magic show. They were so good. They were funny, and sick, and twisted, but extremely entertaining. I was afraid it would be a lot of gore but it really was only at the beginning. After that it was a very different magic show that kept you thinking.

We had one more show for the evening but we still had to fill the time, so to do so we went to the “Crow Bar” where a guy would play music tunes and everyone would sing along. Man I felt so out of my league. These people knew every word to every song. Some of the songs I didn’t even know where they came from. It was crazy, but at least it entertained us till the comedy show at 1:00am.

Yep, we went to what is called “Late n’ Live” This is a comedy act that you go to for the experience more than anything else. The audience will boo and cheer where ever they want. People have had thing thrown at them if the audience didn’t like them. It’s just that crazy. Lucky for us the audience was tame, but I guess that killed part of the experience then.

Friday August 28

The plan was to meet for breakfast, then Sam ran off to get the tickets for the day. Steve and I met up with Sam at the Utter belly (another venue owned by the same group as the Underbelly) to watch “Private Peaceful” This was a one man show about his life leading up to WWII. It has to be some of the best acting I have seen. It was so spectacular. It always good to see great acting but even better when it is a one man show.

After that we ran across a few streets to watch “School for Scandel” This had me falling out of my seat from laughter. It was a scripted show with a lot of comedy written into it, but there was totally a lot of improv. They would even flat out say, “That wasn’t in the script” or “You don’t even remember the next line.” My favorite was they guy who said something that didn’t make sense then said, “I don’t know, everyone else is just saying whatever they want.” Teehee.

The next two shows I went on my own. The first was a show that is actually coming to concert hall this year. It is TAO. They are samurai warrior drummers. Oh man they were just mind blowing. I cannot get over how so amazing they were. It’s also nice that I have gotten to see them so when they do come to the hall I don’t feel like I’m missing out by watching everything from back stage. The second show was “Merrily We Roll Along” which is a Stephen Sondhim. Thought it was performed by a college group it was still really good.

So my last show of the Fringe was with Sam and Steven again. We went to Ali Mcgregor, who is yet another Aussie and she does a comedy cabaret kind of thing. She has an assistant who is a grumpy man who does a very bizzar dance. She herself sings, and let me tell you, she can SING. But then she has guests. She had a comedian who did impressions, a comedian who did the strangest dance known to man, a hula hoop performer who stripped naked (strange I must say) and an ompa band play Bohemian Rhapsody. I think it was a perfect end to my Fringe experience.

Saturday August 29

This morning I caught the haggis bus tour to go around and see Scotland. Our driver was Dan, and he knew so much about all of Scotland. I really liked how he did his tours because not only would he tell us stuff but he would play audio clippings and music to go with his stories. It makes it more memorable.

Our first stop was in Sterling to climb up to see the William Wallace statue. It was such a huge thing. Along with that Dan told us about the main first battle that William Wallace lead the Scots into. It was basically the Scot deciding they didn’t want to be ruled by the brits. Basically that’s what it was all about. We then stopped for a quick photo stop at Castel Doune which was used in the filming of Monty Python, then on to see a very hairy friend, Hammish. He was an adorable orange highland cow.

That evening we stopped in Oban for the night. Before dinner a few of us walked up to McCraigs Tower. While up there, I managed to slip in the mud and slid down the hill. So annoying when you only have a limited supply of clothes and no way to really wash it. Plus, the best part, I managed to destroy my camara. That would be camera number 2 for this trip. It still work but only till I got back to Edinburgh and could do something about it.

That evening, after getting all washed up we went to a traditional Scottish music and dance event. This was really good amazing. They played the bagpipes, and sang in Gaelic. There was highland dancing and they even got us up and doing Keelee dancing. It was really awesome. There was so much I learned about the Scottish music culture at that.

Sunday August 30

Our goal was to drive out to the Harry Potter bridge before the train went by. We made it in time. This is the shot they use in one of the Harry Potter films with the train going over a stone bridge. Well, I guess for tourists they now have the steam engine train go over every day at the same time. There we all were ready to go.

We were then given the choice of going to a whisky distillery of to the place where 40% of BraveHeart was filmed. Someone pushed for Brave Heart. I wanted the distillery but the drive through Glen Nevis ended up actually being a really spectacular drive. The mountains are just so green and high, and of course the heather is in full bloom so everything is a perfect shade of purple. I don’t know how you couldn’t fall in love with it all.

After lunch we drove out to a sight were we could see Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in Scotland. It was really kind of hard to see since the top was all up in the clouds. I guess that just made it seem that much more grand.

After a short detour up to see the 5 sisters, which is just 5 hills, we went to Eilean Donnan Castle, the most famous castle in Scotland. It was used in Highland, and I hear most recently Maid of Honor. It was rebuilt by a man who had a dream about what he thought it originally looked like. Then they found the plans only to find out that he was 90% correct. Now that’s crazy.

Monday August 31

Today was probably the first crummy weather day I had up until this point. Not bad for, how many months…? It would have been nice because we spent the day driving around Isle of Skye, which is one of the most beautiful parts of Scotland, and once at the top of the mountains you could see for miles. That’s a bit hard in the rain and fog.

First of all we learned that Isle of Skye was very fairy based. So of course the first story we learned was of this old couple who, every Sunday would climb up to the top of this hill and just catch up on the town news. Finally, the woman had decided she had gotten too old and this would be her last climb, so she told her husband this. Soon after they heard this noise and went to see what it was. What they found were a whole bunch of faires crying. Well, the saying goes, if you see a fairy you are granted a wish, but you need to be careful with fairies because they are tricky little buggers. They don’t usually just give you what you want, in stead they will take something in return. Well the old couple wished that they could keep coming up the mountain. The fairies, wanting the same thing, (see that’s why they were crying) granted them the wish. As the couple decended the mountain they began to slow down. They slowed down so much so that eventually they turned into stone. So then on the top of the mountain you can still see Old Man Starr, but the Woman has fallen down.

The next story we learned about was the story of how the giants cause was formed (the one in Northern Ireland, but there is remnints of one in Scotland also, but I don’t know where) We learned about it because there was a cliff they call Kilt Rock, and it’s called that because it looks like it has a giant kilt on it. The story says that the giants in Scotland took his kilt off and put it on the cliff to try and confuse the giant from Ireland. (That’s a whole story I won’t get into now. I couldn’t do it justice.)

We made one last drive on Isle of Skye up to the top point to look over the island then we headed down for lunch. After lunch we had a very long drive ahead of us. At one of the pit stops people were so fed up with sitting on the bus, they turned the toilet stop into a whole half hour stop. It was really kind of funny how everyone just made up their own minds like that.

That evening was magical. Dan had us all close our eyes and told us story, then when we opened our eyes we were looking at a castle. This Carbisdale Castle, we were staying in for the night. So cool!!! It’s one of the only castle accomidations that has not been completely altered. So it has still original paintings, and rooms. It was huge. So all of the common areas were still common areas and there was no doubt that you were in a castle/palace. We explored every bit of that castle that we could. AMAZING!!!

That even we had to walk the long dark walk to town to go to the pub. The walk down wasn’t so bad, it was the walk back. It was much darker, plus there was a metal bridge that didn’t seem the safest but it seemed even more unsafe when it’s total darkness underneath.

Tuesday September 1`

While in Scotland I had learned a lot about Cairns. Cairns here are burial stone mounds. There were some at Stonehenge, and quite a few up in Orkney. Today was the first time that we got out and saw some up close. We went to the Clava Cairns, which are 5 cairns and they say they were lined up in the line of the winter solstic. Amazing, how these people were even aware of this kind of stuff. I mean I don’t even know where the winter solcstis runs and I have the technology to know this. It’s really just amazing how all these people 1000’s of years ago were able to determine these kind of things.

We then stopped at the battlefield of Cullodeen where the Scotts were defeated by the English and the English changed everything about the Scottish culture. It was then that tartans were not to be worn anymore; bagpipes could no longer be played, even though they were the first instruments to be declare instruments of war. I’m not exactly sure when all of this was allowed again, but the change in life style was just mind blowing.

For lunch we bought supplies for a BBQ and took it to the shores of Loch Ness. That was cool, how many people can say they had a BBQ on the shores of Loch Ness? Despite the wind, it was a perfect day for a BBQ. Infact, I was a bit disappointed. I expected Loch Ness to be green and for there to be an eerie feel with fog every where. Where was all that?? The water was a deep blue, and the sun shone down relecting off the water. Surely this could not be Loch Ness. Well, it was and we enjoyed a wonderful lunch beside.

As something, I think just for kicks for Dan, he took us to the visitor center and out to the water. There he told us some story about his family always going out there to call on Nessy. They would do it by this song and dance. So Dan taught us this song and dance and said that everyone believed it then Nessy would show. We did it (while a boat passed so they saw the whole thing) and yet no Nessy. I guess someone just didn’t believe. I was looking forward to seeing Nessy…

That night we went to this guy Dan calls Sexy Ken. There we sat in an originally designed house that the Scottish would have lived in hundreds of years ago. It wasn’t that large, but it turns out that about 20 people would live in it and at night they would bring all their animals in out of the cold. That could get very smelly. Part of the demo he also showed us the proper way to put on a tartan, and that clans different tartans is on within the last couple hundred years. Everyone used to just wear the same pattern. We also learned how women wore their clothes. That was really really cool. He even showed us most of the weapons they would have used, and how they would have used them. Wow, I have to say I would never want to piss off a Scotts man.

That evening there was a one man performer, Donald, in the pub attached to the hostel. He was playing guitar, harmonica, drums, and tamborien, all at the same time. He might as well have been Burt from Mary Poppins. He also could play any song you threw at him. One of the guys on our bus was really into music and was throwing out some crazy songs for him to play, and he played them.

Wednesday September 2

Today was mostly about driving us back to Edinburgh but along the way we made a few stops. We drove along the south side of Loch Ness which Dan had never even done himself. It was an amazingly gorgeous drive. We then made a stop at Coire Cas which is a ski resort in amongst the Blue Mountains and you can see Loch Skiresart. And our final stop was at Dunkeld Cathedral. This was gorgeous. It is a cathedral right on the river, and inside there was someone playing the hand bells, so it just added to the whole experience.

After the long drive, a few of us decided to do an Underground Ghost Tour. These are tours that take you to the original city. Edinburgh ran out of space so they just built up on themselves. I was hopping for a bit more history with the ghost stories but it was still really good. We walked along the streets of Edinburgh both above ground, through alleys, and underground.

Thursday September 3

Well if you remember correctly, I had said that my camera was dead. So I was on a mission to find a place that could do something. I also had plans to see some of the city before I caught my bus mid day. So I did a really fast walk to the other end of town. Had to get another camera because mine died in his hands as soon as he tried to turn it on. Then I power walked back up the hill to Edinburgh Castle in hopes that Michelle (one of the people I met on the haggis tour) was still waiting for me. She was even though I was much later than I said I would be.

At the castle we wandered into a few towers. Some used for dungeons, so for battles. We saw the crown jewles, not quite the same as Tower of London’s but still just amazing to see. There was also a stone that had been Scotlands and was taken and placed at the feet where for the past couple hundred years kings and queens have placed their feet to be corinated. It has now finally been returned to Scotland by Queen Elizabeth II. They are kind of proud to have that back. We also saw a military memorial which was a little gut wrenching, because it had books with all the names a people who have died in war since WWI. It was a lot. The last thing we saw was the dungeoun for the prisoners of war. I had no idea how many prisoners of war from our revolutionary war were held there. And it turns out it was only after that war did they continue to hold onto the prisoners. How rude!!

Eventually I needed to catch my bus. I was going to take my bus to Stranrea then catch the ferry the next morning for Ireland, but when I got on the bus I found out that my ticket was good all the way to Ireland. Ok, I guess I’ll go over now. So that was what I did. Eventually, I was able to get a hold of David, since we were meeting up in Ireland, and he just flew in that day, and we figured out the two of us could meet. That night we stayed in a hostel right in the heart of Belfast Ireland.

Friday September 4

Once we finally got moving we went out to the car to find a flat tire. Oops!! David quickly changed to our spare and we then took a wander around the city. I was little paranoid because I had been told all these things about not taking photos of stuff and definatly don’t take photos of people. Well, to get around that we found a sightseeing tour bus that took us to all the political sights, drove us through the protestant and catholic sides of town, it showed us a bunch of the murals, we saw the sight were titanic was being built, and we drove out to the sight of Parliament. For just a small cost, we saw a lot. Possibly too much, because I can’t remember much about what we saw but enh.

We then decided we needed to do something about our tire. So we went on a wild goose chase looking for an auto repair store so we could get some fix a flat stuff. I didn’t know what we were doing but David did at least.

Once we finally got ourselves out of town we got distracted right away by a castle. We saw the Belfast Castle sitting up on a hill. So we found it on the amazing map we bought and we were off, on our first of many many many wild goose chases. We did find the castle and it was mostly amazing because we could see the whole city of Belfast from up there. Soo cool!

We didn’t plan to stay in Belfast so we worked our way a little north up to Larne, which is where I would have come into if I had taken the ferry that day. Good thing, because it turns out David would have had no idea how to get there since he had no map, a dying phone and didn’t know how to go about getting information. Oh boy….

For our accomadations I stayed in my first B&B. It was above a Guiness Pub, so how apropriate.

Saturday September 5

After a pleasant cup of tea with Chris, the owner of the B&B and a good Irish breakfast we headed along the Causeway Coastal Road. Along the way we saw something about a detour to climb Slimish Mountain. We drove off the beaten path onto two lane roads not even the size of one lane and worked our way around to find the visitor center for the mountain. It was more of a center with some info boards. Despite the mist we clambored up to the top. It was like in Scotland. It could have been an amazing view if there had not been rain, but it was still really spectacular. The coolest part was when we looked off in the distance and saw what we thought were birds on to have them come closer and realize they were fighter jets. It was so totally wicked.

After getting back in the main road we soon took another detour. We drove down the Glen Ariff road. It drove us into the mountains then through some woods and along a valley. The views were just breath taking.

As we worked our way up to the Giants Causeway we stopped at Torr Head which had a great view but also an abandoned house. For some reason the house was really quite fascinating. Down the road from there was Murlough Bay where we could see Scotland across the water, then finally into Ballycastle. We only stopped there long enough to eat because we were on a mission to get to the Causeway for sunset. We did make it there in time however it was so cloudy it didn’t change anything. The causeway, though was out of this world. It is mind boggling to think that something like that is totally natural. I would almost believe the giants story first.

Sunday September 6

We were going to walk from the Hostel to Carrick-a-rede Bridge but seeing as it was raining when we got up we decided we didn’t have enough clothes to waist getting wet. So we just drove down there. This is a suspension bridge that goes from the main land to a tiny tiny island. There is nothing special about the island except that you get a fantastic view.

We also stopped on Dunluce Castle. This was the first of many castles we see in Ireland. They had a view talking about how it was really made what it became by I think the Cambell family from Scotland. It became huge, but over time and soon neglect it became rubble. They were able to explain what some of the rooms would have been and what they would have been used for. They also had an archery demo going on, so that was pretty cool to learn about.

On our mission all the way to Sligo (if you look at a map that a a ridiculous about of ground to cover) we stopped at a place called Down hill house. It was an old Bishops place, but also there was a Mussendon Temple. It was more about how random it was then what it really was.

So before we got to Sligo, I had to Skype home. It was my dad birthday a few days before and they were throwing him a surprise party, and I was in on it. So in a mad search for Wifi in Londonderry we saw a lot of round abouts. We saw even more on our way out. By the time we were leaving Londonderry it was just before 10:00 and we still had almost 2 hours drive to Sligo to go…

Well, we made it thank goodness, but we were tired. I wished we hadn’t been so tired because I feel that would have been a great hostel to enjoy.

Monday September 7

Outside of Sligo we were able to find our first Cairn of Ireland. We climbed up a huge hill to Maebh’s Cairn. This has to be the largest cairn ever. It was just humongous. Across the way from it was Carrowmore Megalith cemetery, where we actually go to learn a bit more about cairns in general. The Cairn is the pile of stones, but the important part is the tomb inside it. One of the best preserved ones was of course in a cow field. I wasn’t so concerned about the cows until they began to follow me….

On our way to Galway, we decided I could try driving. We totally chose the wrong road to do that on. For one I’m not used to driving a manuel plus then I had to get used to being on the wrong side of the car and judge the size of my car while on a very narrow road. The only part that was easy for me was being on the left side of the road. 4 months of living that way it becomes natural. Let’s just say, I didn’t do too well.

Our last stop before pushing on (we were pushing because I got how many days left wrong and we thought we were running out of time) we stopped at Ceide Fields. Now this could have been quite cool if we had had time to watch the video but we had no idea what we were looking at. Oops!

We started to push on for Galway when we decided there was no need. So we stopped off in Westport for the night. It’s a good thing too.


So I’m kind of running out of time so I’ll just mention some of the highlights since then.

We climbed Craugh Patrick which is a huge mountain that people will climb as a pilgrimage. At the top is a chapel for St. Patrick and that is also where he buried.

We wandered the streets of Galway were we saw the original shop that makes Claddaugh rings.

We watched the sunset on the Cliffs of Moher, and I went out to Inisheer (one of the Aran Islands, also the sight for the TV show Fr. Ted) while David took a lesson in surfing.

We went to Bunratty Castle which is one of the best preserved castles in Ireland plus it has a little village attached to it.

We wandered around Limerick which didn’t end up being all that exciting.

We made a mad dash across the country to catch a Hurling Match in Dublin by mid-afternoon. It was the U-21 finals of Clare vs. Kilkenny. The U-21 is kind of like the minor league team of all the players under the age of 21. This was the first time in U-21 history of any sport that Co. Clare won. So we saw history.

We went to Waterford Crystal factory only to find that everyone has been laid off since they had all their money invested in US banks. So we didn’t get to see how everything was made but we saw a lot of stuff that is way more worth my life.

We wandered around a massive Abbey that is just rubble now but we spent along time there because there was so much to explore.

Lastley we stopped at the Rock of Cashel which was a place that ST. Patrick preached, there was a chapel, Kings tower, and a cathedral all mixed into one massive building.

Now we are in Cork getting ready to go to Blarney Castle to kiss the stone.

I really really miss every single one of you and cannot wait to be home to tell you all about everything. Well maybe not everything because that could take months. For anyone who is wondering when I get home it is the 25th of September, so just in a few days.

Sending lots of love from Ireland!!!

Sunny Sunny Land of England and Orkney

So....

I left you all knowing that I was planning on going to see the sun rise on the Sydney Opera House. Well, that's exactly what I did.

Monday August 3

I got up real early to walk down to the end of the warf where I had a fantastic veiw of the opera house. I must say, getting to watch the colors change on the white sails, and across the city was really the perfect way to end my time in Australia.

Once at the airport I had to battle my way through security which was rediculous because they were stopping everyone for anything. I got stopped because of my harmonica..... yeah.... Before leaving the wonderful country of Australia I had to leave with one last package of Tim Tams. Besides I needed something to get me through my two really long flights.

I was flying on Malyasia Air which I had heard was a pretty good flight. Well, I had heard right. They fed us constantly and they had unlimited choice of movies. I just kept watching movies the whole flight. Well, I had a small hiccup. I went to the bathroom at one point. I was waiting in line and saw that one was open just someone had locked the door. So I went in, shut the door and went to lock it only to find that the latch to lock it was gone.... crap.... The door was locked and I had no way to get out. I banged on the door and try to shake the door a lot in hopes that someone would see it moving. I then was checking my person and the bathroom if there was anything I coud stick in the slot to unlock it. The best I had was the zipper on my hoody. It was doing no good. I figured since I was stuck I would make use of the facilities, then I had to think of a plan of attack. I still had about 4 hours left to go and was figuring eventually they would have to make sure I was out for landing. It would be uncomfortable but there was no need to panic. But I did really want out, so I just kept banging on the door, but the plane was too loud and I knew that no one would hear me. I my attempts to get comfortable I saw the assistance button. Yes.... I was saved, as long as they had a way to unlock it. So I pushed the button and waited.... Finally someone banged on the door to see if I was ok and I just called out, "Help, I'm locked in!" He was able to unlock it and asked again if everything was ok. I explained to him that there was no way to unlock the door from inside. I had of course drawn a crowd of people waiting to use the bathroom, so for the rest of the flight, I was "That person"

The second flight went a lot smoother. In fact, I slept through most of it. I woke up at a point to find food just sitting in front of me. I guess they make that sure that you are fed. So everything was smooth, until I landed.

I got to customs, and I had prepared myself a head of time for Englands customs since I had decided they are so far the hardest I had to get though. Every time I've gone through it, they have asked me questions as if it's questionable as to why I'm entering their country. Just when I thought I had been prepared it all I was proven wrong.

The questions started out normal, like where you coming from, how long have you been traveling, where you staying...etc. Until she started to ask what I do for work and how much do I make. Then she seemed to think it was impossible for me to fund this trip. I explained to her that this is money saved up, but she didn't accept that. I was doing too much traveling and not enough work. She filled out a piece of paper and told me to sit aside. I was more confused than ever, I was tired, jet laged, and getting very cranky. What a way to be greated by a country. Few minutes later she called me over and eccentially told me I was marked by the Government. They since I'm not making enough money, I was spending too much time in the country, and I had no departure information from England (I have a flight out of Ireland) then I was a questionable person. The stamp I got in my passport says that I'm not allowed to work here (which I couldn't do anyways since I don't have a work visa) and then she treatened me saying I had better leave the country in 2 months. AAAHHHH!!! WELCOME TO LONDON!!!

Yeah so on to happy things.

Tuesday August 4

I finally make it to Katie. She just moved so she in now in a cute little studio flat. I feel bad because my stuff takes up so much space, but she tells me it's ok. Since I was lucky and Katie did not have to work, we just sat and talked. It felt really good to not feel I had to do something, because I was with a friend and I was in a city I had spent quite some time in. Eventually we went for a walk and got some food, but it was all and all just a day of recovery. (Australia took a whole heck of a lot out of me)



Wedneday August 5



Katie and I got to take a day together to be tourists. We began the day by going down to Buckingham Palace and were we battled the crowds just to watch the changing of the Guards. I thought it would be this whole fan fare event with trumpeters and craziness. It was really just a group of guards marched in, a little music was played then a bunch of guards marched out. But, it was still worth seeing.



We then just walked around central London. It was such a change from all the calm and politeness of Australia. Strange ajustment. Another strange ajustment was going from the dead of winter to the dead of summer. Therefore, it was always dark longer to being light longer. I couldn't believe my eyes when it was just getting darkish around 9:00pm. Crazy!! Makes you feel like you did some sort of time warp. So, back to our walking. We stopped for some lunch and sat in Leicester Square where Katie pointed out the cinema that was used for the premire of Harry Potter. It wasn't hard to miss seeing as the building was covered in massive posters but that was just a small give away.



To kill some time we decided we would take a stroll through Harrids. Now, I'm not into fashion but I love Harrods. Just some much great stuff to look at. Stuff that I would never wear, or could even afford for that matter. But.... I did get to try on a £6,000 ring. I think the guy fancyed me (so Katie says) and that way why he kept trying to get me to try it on. It was so shinny!!! Then to prove that we can't afford stuff of all the things to buy and places to eat there, we go to Krispy Kreme. It was yummy I must say. Then to end our Harrods experience we went and looked at all of the amazing clothing. It was good too because it gave Katie some ideas for wedding dresses, seeing as she's getting married in a year....



That evening we had decided we would see a show on the West End and the show I chose was Avenue Q. I have been too close to seeing it so many times that there was no passing it up this time. It was hilarious. It really was the crude adult version of sesame street. There was even full puppet nudity.... Yeah wrap your brain around that....



Thursday August 6



Katie had to work on moving so I went on my own to Hampton Court Palace which was one of Henry VIII favorite residences. So of course there was a lot about Henry VIII. It also helped that they are celebrating 500 years since his coronation so they are pushing his history even more. I got to learn about him before he was King. Battles that he fought in, and that he was actually a very kind man, and loved his first wife, Katherine of Aragon. It wasn't until she couldn't bare a son for him, did he start to get a little crazed, and just started offing wives as if they were bananas... yeah I don't know why I chose bananas but just go with it.



I also did a tour of the kitches which was really pretty cool. They talked about how they perseved food, and how they made food. The concept of pies was not the same as it is now. They would bake things in pie crusts just for something to bake it in, they would not eat the crust. These are meat pies of course, not things like apple pie. There was also 1,000s of pounds worth of dishes. Crazy!!!



That night Katie and I made some dinner and sat down and watched 'Mrs. Henderson Presents', a story about the only theater in London that stayed up and running durning the WWII. It is now a very classy strip club. But really... it is classy. One of those places that you have to dress up nice to get into.



Friday August 7



I had decided this day that I would change my plans. I was going to leave soon to go up to Cardiff then Liverpool, to York and finally up to Scotland. I decided I had been so on the go and I hadn't gotten to see much of Katie, that I would just spend my 2 weeks of England in London and do a few day trips. So, with that in mind I was in no rush for the day. Finally I strolled to the tourist office and booked a tour of Oxford, Cotswold, Bath, and Stonehenge.



That evening Ricky, Katie's Fiance, was in town and the three of us went to do a Jack The Ripper Tour. It was really cool because it wasn't all about blood and guts. It was more about the history. History of the 6 women, of London, the area (East London), and then theories of who might have been the mysterious "Jack".... After that I'd be interested in finding books about it just because it all seems so foreign.



Saturday August 8



Katie had to work again so Ricky came out and played with me. We had a full English breakfast then were off to the British Museum. We were off to a great start when we realized neither of us had grabbed a map. We just knew that we were going to Holburn Tube stop. Lucky for us London is not too hard to get unlost in as long as you stay in the city center. Plus, I had stayed around that area when I was there last so once I got my bearings I was able to figure out where things were.



Now, the British Museum is massive and has just a collection of everything. There is no particular theme. There are ancient Egyptian things including jewlery and mummies. Then there are coins, clocks, Greek statues and even the Rosetta stone. It just has a little bit of it all. But it's all owned by the British Government. That is how it's all there. It's a museum you could go into many times and see something different everytime.



Since Katie's place is so small we were having to go back to her old place to sleep so there was space for the 3 of us, then go back to her new place for everything else. Well, this night I was too tired to make it back to her old place. I was just still jet laged. I mean I've just come to the conclusion that I'm like a guy now; I eat anything and I sleep anywhere. It's so not like me, but I guess it is now.



Sunday August 9



I decided today that I would actually go into Buckingham Palace. It was 60 years of the Queen being queen so they had opened things up to the public and had a whole room talking about the Queens tours to the CommonWealth, so there was a lot to see. There were 12 State Rooms to go into and it was soo much more impressive than any castle I've been in. Everything was elaborate and gold and bright, and the ceilings were soooo tall. It was also very clean, unlike castels that are 100's of years old. I think for me though, I loved the clocks. Every room had at least 3 clocks and everyone was specially designed. It was pretty crazy.



So then I went to attempt to go on the London Eye. It was something I always said it wasn't worth it, but finally I decided I would just do it. However the Underground is dumb on weekends. I wanted to get on the a line, but it was closed for the weekend. So I took another line to a stop to get the only other line to where I needed. When I got to the platform they were shutting that line down. So my only option was just to take the tube to a stop nearby and I would walk. It turned out to be for the best because I got to see all the street performers and artists out. It was also very nice out so the walk was worth it.... until I got to the Eye. The line was a couple hours wait and still didn't even have the ticket. For get that. I would just come back on a weekday when the tourists had moved on. (London was sooo packed with people that locals said it was more than normal. I'll bet it's the Olympics, but that's just my guess)



So finally I met up Katie and Ricky, and we went out to dinner. Then back off to Katie's old place.



Monday August 10



While Katie and Ricky when to look at a hotel for reception places I went to try to London Eye again. This time, it was cloudy and gloomy London, but there was no line. I didn't care. I still had a great view. But first I did the "4-D Experience". Of course there are always people in there who are so lame about it. There were girls scream and cowering into their mans arms. Why do girls act that way?? Anyways. For the most part it was just really cool to see Parliment up high, but I was able to see over across the city of London. It really gives you a whole new prospective of London.



We kind of waisted the morning away so I really was only able to get the Eye in, but I did take a very long walk around Parliment. It was the most I had ever seen of it. Everytime I had been that way I had gone to Westminster, so this was a change. I then just started walking, not knowing where I was going until I came upon Victoria Station. So that was my sign to head back to Katie's.



Tuesday August 11



Ricky was leaving this day but I did get to see him before I headed off to Greenwich. It was a bit a thinking to get there because I had to keep changing trains and lines and things but once I got to the little town it was worth it. It was a small little town with little shops. There were all these museums to go to. I only the main Marine Museum then the highlight, which was the observatory. I of course had to see a show in the observatory and the only one left was the one about Ice and how Ice and water effect the universe. Then... I had to go stand on the Prime Maridan. Yep, that is the home of the Prime Maridian.



It took a while to walk back to the train, then I had to do the strange adventure back but I was figuring it out. I also, took a short stop at London Bridge, just to get off and walk around. It was strange because it felt like underground London. More, off the beaten path. I later found out that there are sketchy parts to that area, oops.



Wednesday August 12



Katie really only had today to get her old placed cleaned up and moved out, so I went with her to keep her company, plus, it was good to stop a little. So I sat with her all day and compiled photos. Of course I never got them online. I promise when I get home I'll just put them all up and then you can have them all at once.



To reward ourselves for a job well done, we lugged a huge load of stuff through the streets and on the public buses of London. It was great. I've never been apart of a move right in the middle of a busy city. It's different than just throwing everything in the car and going from door to door.



Thursday August 13

I actually had to get up and moving because I had decided I would take a day bus to Cardiff. So I had to get there early. I was only about a 2 hours bus ride, I wasn't too bad. I didn't know exactly what I would see there, but I knew that the castel was worth seeing.

It helped that when I got there the city was small. You couldn't miss the castle because it was the large thing with the massive stone wall up around it. So I went in there and learned about it's 2000 years of history. How the center tower was built as a home, and it eventually became a fort. Then the fort wall has since fallen down, but the center is still there. It was just a really impressive sight to walk around. I also did a tour of the newer building where the clock tower is. We got to see inside the clock tower, childrens room, and a guest bedroom. The childrens room was my favorite. There were paintins all across the top of the walls representing all the different tales. I wouldn't have minded a room like that when I was little. Shoot, I wouldn't mind one like it now.

The day was getting on but my bus was still for another few hours so I went over to the Cardiff Museum. I went and looked at some of the paintings but the best part was the history of Wales. I thought the best part to that was how it talked about it's history 10 million years ago, and how the UK used to be down around where Africa in now. Who'd of thunk.

When I was kicked out of the museum I just took a little stroll around Cardiff and finally got on the bus back to London, getting me back late.

Friday August 14

I spent the day down at the Tower of London. As I said before there was all this stuff about Henry VIII well the Tower of London had the largest collection of Henry VIII stuff any places has had. I learned even more about Henry VIII here, but first I did a Yeomen Tour, better known as Beefeaters. I learned why they are called that too. It's because they used to be paid in beef which was really expensive so people said it about them in a kind of sarcastic annoyance, and it just stuck. This guide was good though. Very interactive with the crowd. I learned about many different prisoners they had. How exicutions worked and all about the private executions, aka Anne Bolyen.

In the exhibit of Henry VIII I learned why he started to get large. I was not because he was just a fat lazy grumpy King. It was because he got injured doing a sport, which he did a lot of, and that just changed his whole matabalism, and caused problems physically, plus he had to stop doing his sports. So, he got fat. It was actually that, which caused his death too. So yes, I have been getting a very good education on trip along with everything else.

A must stop was also the crown Jewles. There were loads of people but at least things are set up so everyone can see the jewles. Again, amazing!!!

My last stop before going back to Katie's was Blood Tower, where to two princes were believed to be kept. That of course is a whole contravsial story but I'm actually going to leave it to you guys to look that one up. I'm sure you've all heard about it any ways.

So it was back to Katie's with a very poor dinner, which I made, of Mac an cheese.

Saturday August 15

It was today that I took my tour around parts of England. We started with Oxford, and I'm sorry Dad but Oxford was better than Cambridge, at least my tour was better. I'm sure Cambridge could be quite nice with a good tour guide. We learned all about how the colleges work. Don't ask me to explain online, I couldn't type it out, but I'd gladly try to explain it when I get home. Then we also learned these students actually have to wear robes. It's totally like Harry Potter. If only the students had been in when we were there. Also, the length of the robe shows how smart you are basically.

We saw the heart of the University, where the graduations happen and even where Tolken studied. Pretty cool!!!

From there we moved on into the Cotswolds. This was pretty cool because this is the area that my Dad grew up. We didn't go to his town but I saw signs for it... if that means anything. We stopped in different little towns. Towns that make you think of fairy tales. These town just shouldn't exist, but they do. Places like Burfor, and Stow. The best though was Lower Slaughter. We had to drive on two way roads that were small enough for only one car. You couldn't even drive up to the door of the houses. You had to walk along the water on a small path. It's THAT cute!!!

That night we stayed in a hotel, what a novel thing. We had a nice little pub meal and a couple drinks, and called it a night.

Sunday August 16

Our first stop was Bath. We spent most of our time there at the Roman Baths, and it seems crazy that we spent so much time there, but there is a lot there to do and learn. After the baths though, we went to have tea and crumpets. It's England, you just have to do that.

We drove through a few more small towns. I could honestly retire to a place like that. It was just so perfectly quite and cute. Then we ended our trip with Stonehenge. Honestly, all I could think aobut was Eddie Izzard. It's bad I know, but I did still get a lot out of it. The idea that people 1000s of years ago understood the stars and space and time so well that they were able to build this memorial based off of it all and it's still accurate. Crazy!!

Finally, I got back to Katie and was what I had come to concider, home.

Monday August 17

Since Katie had the next coupld days off and I had exhausted all that I wanted to do it was time for us to just hang out. We got some sandwiches and walked down the street to Alexandra's Palace and just sat in the grass all afternoon. Sounds like we didn't do much but it was exactly what I could have asked for.

Tuesday August 18

I took the morning to plan out my trip to get to Scotland, deciding I would go up to Orkney first and visit Kira. Once all that was in order we traveling into the center of town and went to see about getting tickets to "Woman In Black". Both of us had already seen the show but it's the best show I have ever seen I could watch it over and over. It's a ghost story that comes so to life when you are watching it live.

Since we were early we went down to Charing Cross for some dinner, then back down to the theatre. The show was AMAZING all except the crazy lady in front of us. She was so crazy, she started to put on foot cream at one point. Yeah, people like that should not be allowed in public. But, aside from that the show was just spectacular. That is the number one show I'll recommend to anyone, unless you can't handle the scare.

Wednesday August 19

Today was not much different from the day before only instead we went to Hampstead which is an only hold that you can see only Victorian period furnature and paintings. Then we sat out on the grass and got some sun. Yep you heard right, in the middle of London we were getting some sun.

That evening I took Katie out to dinner as a huge thank you. Then I had to go pick up my stuff to catch my over night bus to Edinbrough.

That bus ride was the worst thing ever. It was a packed bus, the driver kept changing the temperature, the lights were left on, there were kids throwing tempertantrums, and we stopped about every hour for people to get off and on. Just horrible.

Thursday August 20

In Edinbrough I had to catch a train to Aberdeen, then I had to catch a ferry. Once on the ferry I was out. So tired. By the time I got to Kirkwall, Orkney I had travelled for another 24 hours. But, I was nice because Kira and Russel drove out to meet me and take me to the Hostel, so they long day was rewarded.

Friday August 21

Kira and Russel came and picked me up. They took me out to breakfast where I got to try black pudding. I'm glad that they didn't tell me what it was before I tried it because I have had blood saucage before and didn't like it, but I did like black pudding.

So then we went over to the ring of Brodgar which is a ring of stones set up like Stonehenge only this is a 1000 years older. Crazy again how people could know all this for so many years. We then drove out to Brough of Birsay which is an area that when it's low tide you can walk across to an island where ther is a light house and you can stand on the cliffs. We were looking for Puffins but never saw any. We did, however, see seals off in the distance and found out how to drive over to them. To get to the seals we ended up walking though someones yard and instead of getting made at us, that brought us over to a place to sit and ever pulled out some binoculars for us to use. Talk about amazingly nice.

That evening Kira and Russel had plans so I just went through a walk through the city of Kirkwall. I was so amazing. I can see now why they moved there.

Wednesday August 22

I had to walk down to the Cathedral where I got picked up. I was on my way to do my first dry suit dive and too see some wrecks. These wrecks are famous too. The more famous Scapa Flow was too advanced for me but I was able to go on the Churchill Barriers which were a whole load of ships that were sunk for the purpose of preventing the Germans getting in. Scapa Flow was the 72 German fleet gave up and scuttled all their ships. I plan to one day go back. But back to my dive. I had to learn about a dry suit and how it works. The fact that I was fully clothed before getting in it was crazy. Then once all the gear is on you feel like you would sink. In the suit I felt like I belonged on the moon or somehting, but that is actually how they keep the water out. They used NASAs zipper. Yeah... interesting. So we had two dives there and they both were just amazing. To see the ships, even though it was only pieces was just out of this world.

Well, I'm running out of time so I will finish up my travels in a few more days but I'll leave with all with this much for now. I'm now in Aberdeen and will soon do a tour around Scotland. After that off to Ireland I go. Yippy!!! I miss you all!!

Lots of love,

Cheers from Aberdeen!!!

Aussie Highlights

So before I'm allowed to go any further about my happenings I'll just recap the highlight of Australia. I guess I just want to relive it for myself because I love Australia and really miss it.

So yes, these are all the things that I found to be the best things and most awe-inspiring events from Australia: (There's a lot so you may want to get comfortable)

- Near Melbourne getting to feeding Kangaroos and Wallabies, and getting to see Wombats and Dingos, and getting my photo taken with a Koala, which was even awake.
- Going to the Penguin Parade where I was only feet away from holding one, but that is not allowed so I didn't do it.
- Flying over Sydney and getting to see the Opera House from the air.
- Darwin. I didn't spend long there but I loved getting learn about their history and really about it's involvment in the war. Plus, everyone there was more chill than anywhere else, and despite the hot weather, it was the best weather. (It's what you would expect in Australia)
- Going on a Crocodile cruise and seeing many crocs just chilling in the water, but more awesome was the watching a crocodile eatting a goose.
- Having a 360 degree veiw of Kakadu National park while watching a perfect sunset.
- Twin Falls where we played at the base of, but then the hot exhausting hike to the top of it for the most satisfying swim in my lifetime.
- Swimming at Jim Jim Falls because we got to swim right up to the bottom of the falls since it's dry season, so the falls were not very strong.
- Spending a good hour swimming at Sandy Creek and playing in that waterfall.
- Kayaking in Katherine Gorge (on my way to Alice Springs)
- THE STUART TREE!!!
- climbing to the top of Kings Canyon (Near Uluru) and walking along the top and being in a place that felt like it could be used in the Jarassic Park movies.
- When Macca, our guide for the Red Center, pulled over at a random hill so we could watch the sun set on Uluru.
- Sleeping in a swag under the stars, the stars of the Southern Hemisphere.
- Walking around Uluru and Kata Tjuta. These two very sacrid places feel very spiritual and it felt special to be there.
- Finally having a day to do absolutly nothing, so I spent it relaxing on the beach in Cape Tribulation.
- Going through my PADI diving course in Cairns and getting certified on the Great Barrier Reef. Getting to do as much diving as I did, see all that I saw (Sea turtle, Sting ray, Shark, Whales and 100's of 1,000's of coral), and meet all the people on the boat.
- Walking along White Haven Beach down in the Whitsundays. This was such a white beach it felt like it had just snowed. The only place that looked like a secluded paradise.
- 4WD on Fraser Island, and walking along Eli Creek, swimming in Lake Mackinzie, and running down the sand dune into Lake Wabbi.
- Seeing real Dingos in the wild on Fraser Island.
- Learning to play the didgerido even though I'm really bad at it.
- Staying in Evans Head at Plenko's Surf Shack and staying with Hanna. Here was where I first learned to surf and ate so many Tim Tam's I'm going to have withdraw.
- Going on Surfaris where I was pushing myself to complete exhaustion everyday to improve on my surfing. Then at night we would have Jam sessions where I learned how to play the Harmonica and rock out the Kazoo. (Yep, I'm a real talented one)
- Getting to finally walk up to the Sydney Opera House and going on a tour. It was also kind of nice to know that I know much more than the guide.
- Getting to walk around the Olympic Park. It's the little things sometimes that make me happy.
- Taking my tour out to the Blue Mountains because it was my real last little bit of nature before leaving Australia.

The last highlight I had is quite possibly the best:
Watching the sunrise on the Opera House.

Well, there you have it. That is a good recap of my 6 weeks in Australia. 6 weeks that I will never be able to forget and am actually getting choked up now thinking about it.

I miss you all and hope your summer is going well.

Cheers from London, England!!!

Australia's East Coast

Hello Hello my happy followers!!!

I'm trying so hard to keep everyone updated on all the stuff that I"m doing, but I feel that it all just gets long and repetitive. Please let me know if that's the case. Plus, I just keep doing so much it's hard for me to even keep up with myself. Crazy travelling!!

So talking about the Whitsunday is going to be hard because I just loved the reef so much up by Cairns that nothing I ever dive in will ever be the same, but the Whitsunday does have it's own highlights. I think I saw the most beautiful beach ever there. Just pure white sand, and the sand was a soft as walking on a beach covered with baking flower. Just perfect. I think I got my new desktop photo from there.

So going through my days, I left you all after I just got back from diving.

Tuesday, July 14

I got off the boat to go back with my buddy Nathan, (he was my dive buddy and we also became really close friends because of that.) to have a place to get a shower. It was the best shower ever. After 8 dives in the ocean, plus getting thrown in as an extra bonus, I was covered in salt water. So was all my clothing, but I knew I was going to be back on a boat soon, so there was no point in washing anything but GREAT SHOWER!!!

All of us were not ready to part so we all got together for some drinks and dinner. I was really nice to get to spend my last bit of time in Cairns with some of the best people I've met. I feel I say that after every tour, but really, when you spend two days in a classroom and then three days on a boat with the same people you learn to either love or hate the people. Well, I loved these people.

As the night went on people started to have more to drink, but I didn't plus, I was going to get on a bus so that would have been miserable. Lucky for me, I had an excuse to duck out. I had a bus to catch at half 12 in the morning. (Oh my, there I go talking like them. Who says half-12??) To be honest, it was really hard for me to part with Nathan. We had just spent the 5 days almost constantly together, and depending on each other to watch the others back. I mean, I don't think I could ever train a buddy like him. He's the only person to remind me right before I get into my wet suit, to go to the toilet. Then he is the first person to help me out after the dive, so I can run to the toilet. You can't get any better than that. (So that's a hint for those of you who are certified back home, if we ever go diving together.)

I got onto the bus and was asleep for the night. I guess an over night bus ride was worth saving on a nights accomodation, plus it saved a day of travel.

Wednesday, July 15

When I got off the bus in Airlie Beach, by first goal was to find a place to leave my stuff. There was no point in bringing everything with me on the sail boat. After I went though that I had to go on a bit of walk to get to the marina so I could check in.

Check in was odd. It seemed to be just two bums who party all the time and the office looked like someone personal office in their home. I guess it was just preparing me for the boat. It was all so odd that one of the guys checking me in even asked me to join him up at the pub for a few drinks. I had a few hours to kill so I did join him wiht the locals. I must say that was quite an experience. I basically walked away with one of them wanting to pick me up in a limo after I got back from the sailing trip. Them crazy Aussies.

I finally got on the Pegasus sail boat, where we all had a very strange orientation. You know to be quite honest nothing really exciting happened. We introduced ourselves then most everyone just sat around drinking. Not really my idea of fun. I think traveling has made me less interested in drinking. But, we did play a fun drinking game that doesn't have to be done with Alcohol. The maid thing I remember from it as was how cold it was, and I did not bring most of my warm cloths. Dumb dumb move.

Thursday, July 16

As we sailed around Whitsundays we stopped at the White Haven Beach. It is the whitest sand ever. It really just looks like snow, it's so white. Also, with the tide going out it looked like a paradise photo. We didn't see much there but a whole lot of crabs, which actually looked pretty cool.

We moved beaches to Hook Island. Here, we got to jump off the boat and go for a fun snorkel where we even heard whales. That was quite a rush, and so amazingling exciting. While the four of us who are diving certified were snokeling the others where getting a short lesson in diving. Finally it was our turn. We, in a very thin stinger suits when for a dive. It wasn't anything like up in Cairns, but we did still see a lot. Unfortunatly it was killed by the freezing weather. We surfaced to get into the little motor boat, but we had to wait till everyone ran out of air. (I"m sure it was done so against PADI regulations) So that meant sitting in this boat as the sun was setting losing feelings in my body. OH man getting to the boat was fantastic so we could get out of our stinger suits and warm up.





As the sun set we all just sat around watching the gorgous sunset on the water. Once dark hit some people went for a night snorkle. There was no way they were getting me back in the water. This meant that we were the first to get dinner. Yay food!! Oh I need to stop thinking that way because I swear I never stop eating.





Friday, July 17





Everyone must have been up late parting because it took everyone forever to get up. Once we were all up we moved to another sight where those of use going for a dive hopped into the motor boat to a sight. This time we decided we would take things a lot slower and really get to see stuff, because all I really saw last time was the back side of our guide, oh and a lion fish, which was cool. This time we got to see a giant clam. It was massive and a perfect shade of purple. It wasn't like I ever expected it to look, but it looked way better then I could have imagined. I think our guide was getting frustrated that we were going so slow because he kept snapping at us and trying to make us move faster. But really what do you get out of a dive if all you do is swim as fast as you can. If that's all you're going to do then just swim some laps on the surface. You go diving to explore what is on the oceans bottom.





Well, to add to our frustration, when we surfaced they took our BCDs and weight belts and told us to swim to shore. We had not planned on this so we hadn't sent our stuff with anyone, so we had no towel, no dry clothes, no nothing, and we were already frozen. The only way we were able to keep warm was by huddling all together and wait for the boat to come to shore. Oh, it was dreadful.





As soon as we got back to the boat we were going back to Airlie Beach. On our way we saw a Hump Back whale off in the distance. It had a calf with it because it was teaching it tricks. It was amazing to watch. If only it was closer. The best part though, had to have been the waves. The boat was rocking so much that at times you would have thought the boat was going to flip. I was having a blast, but others were not doing so well. Poor things!!





Back on shore I had a few hours to kill. I really had no way to get a shower so I had to accept the fact that I was going to be traveling over night all salty. Enh!! But, two from the boat were just hanging out at the lagoon so I stayed with them till I had to leave, but first they introduced me to "Jacket Potatoes" Yeah all the really is, is a backed potatoe, but have you ever tried it with backed beans?? That was amazing. That's got to be the perfect break-up food item. It's delicious.





That evening I had to get back onto a bus to work my way farther down the coast.





Saturday July 18





I arrived in Rainbow Beach mid-afternoon, and was so ready for a shower, but I couldn't get one yet. I had to sort some things out for my 4 Wheel Drive trip to Fraser Island. Then we had an orientation where we got to meet our group, and learn about the rules on Fraser Island. It was mainly, drive slowly and safe on the beach, and don't feed the Dingos. Yep, that's right, Dingos. This Island has the largest collection of pure bred Dingos. Pretty cool. After that we had to create a shopping list and a few of us went out to get the food keeping it all as cheap as possible. I was a bit concerned about the group because all they talked about was drinking, and being drunk the whole time. I was so not into that idea but I had no choice but to accept it. Then now, finally, Finally finally finally....I got my shower.





Sunday, July 19





We had to start our morning by going though an orientation of the vehicle, and doing a check on the vehicle and our inventory. They lent us tents, and camping gear which we had to of course bring back in good condition. Then the ones who could drive (Over 21 and have a drivers license, which means I qualified, if only I could drive manuel better than I do) had to read over the iteneray. After all the ligistical stuff was done we were on our way....or so we thought. We drove to the ferry... which ended up being the wrong place. Oops, I take that blame. I was navigating and I got us lost right at the start. Who thought it was a good idea to make the directionally challenged one incharge of getting us from place to place. Bad idea.





Finally we were off, for real this time. Frank, who became our main driver got the first leg, and he was driving fabulously on the beach. Our first main stop was at Lake Mackenzie. It was and over cast day with a slight chill and we all ran foulishly into this lake. Oh to be young. It was absolutly freezing. It was fantastic. We all played a little volleyball, then through a frizby around for a few hours. It was an amazingly relaxing day and I was really enjoying my time with all of these people.





Finally we got out to our camp and let me tell you, it's pretty funny to see people who have never camped before to be left to put up their own tent. Who thought that was a good idea I don't know, but finally I jumped in to help them. All the tents were set up, and some of the guys took on the task to cook our pasta dinner.





In the mean time others pulled out their "Goon". Now I'm sure that sounds a bit strange to all of you and possible not that appetizing, well let me tell you, it's horrible. It's a really really REALLY cheap "wine" if that's really what you want to call it. It's a type that comes in a box, but most people take it out of the box and just carry around the bag, so it's wine in a bag. It's the ingredients that make it the best. I'm sure that there is some wine in it, but I also know that one of the ingredients is fish oil. That right there makes me now what it. So with it being so disgusting people drink it with the soul purpose of getting drunk. Lucky for me, none of them got really annoying and others were still sober. Until, the liquid laughter happened.....





Three of the guys got really chummy over the night in their drunken state. When we all started to turn in they insisted they had to be in the same tent. There was also another one who was drunk and walking around with the music speakers. My favorite sight of the whole night was Gary standing outside the tent with the three guys holding the speakers to the tent, while you just see the tent swaying back and forth while the guys were getting situated. It was fantastic and will always make me laugh.





It was shortly after that though, that I heard what sounded like a bucket of water splash inside the tent. I knew that couldn't be good. Frank was the only one brave enough and he pulled aside the tent flaps to find Lloyd pressed against the screen of the tent....sick....hence the "liquid laughter"





Monday, July 20



Poor Lloyd cleaned up his mess. In fact, we lost him because he went to a different loo to do his washing and no one knew where he was. When we found him he was cleaning everything 3 times. With body soap, shampoo, and Toothpaste. Yep, toothpaste. I guess he was going for the fresh clean smell. Unfortunately it did no good. It all still smelled foul.



We went back out to the beach to go to the ship wreck that was left on the beach about 30 years ago. After it drove into the land, the Army decided to use it as bombing target. So it's a rusty destoryed massive ship just hanging out on the beach. It really was amazing. We also lucked out my having the most spectacular weather so the photos look fantastic.



We then back tracked a little to go to Eli Creek. We didn't really know what this was but we suited up in our swimmers and checked it out. It was a perfectly clear creek that you just walked along in. We got wet up to about our waist, but in the heat it was really quite refeshing. At the end of the creek some of us just sat/passed out in the sun while others played a little football (soccer).



I woke up realizing how much of the day was just lost. We had not had lunch and we still had a long drive to get up to Indian Head. We decided to stop some place to eat and there we made the decision that we would not make it up in time. So in stead Frank stopped us at the Pinnacles along the beach. He had seen it on the way up and wanted to check it out. He and I saw that there was a path and we were going to go for the walk. All of a sudden everyone liked the idea of going for the walk, so we locked up and left stuff and made this huge preparation. The walk was about 80 meters..... Yeah we felt dumb after that. But the rocks looked really cool.



It was nearly 4:00 and we had to be off the beach by 4:30 so instead of going to the camp we all just played some volleyball to pass the time. It was really a great way to end the evening. Finally we had to move on to the Aboriginal camp site. This was really a fancy way to camp. It had pavilion that we set the tents up in, and there were mattresses to put under our tents. Talk about camping in style. It was also nice because there was a campfire there, and I got the pleasure of teaching everyone how to make S'mores. Oh it was just fantasitic.



That night we got to meet some of the local Dingos. To be honest it scared the crap out of me. Then the owner came around with some tubes so we could learn how to play the Didgerido. I was much better at it this time than the first time I tried, but it was really difficult. It's that whole circular breathing, that is really difficult.



Tuesday, July 21



Our only stop today was Lake Wabby. However, it was a bit of a drive and then a 30 min walk. The walk ended up being longer than that, but the lake was worth getting to. We took the scenic path, so we came up on it from the top of a massive sand dune. We then had the brilliant idea to run down the hill as a group. It was brilliant till we all hit the water. We lasted about 3 seconds till we realized we had to run out because it was so cold.



We spend the rest of the day there till we had to head off to get back to the main land on time. We were way off on our time and got back about an hour late. Oh well. They seemed to like us enough that it wasn't that big of a deal.



We then had to wait to for him to make sure everything was returned. We all of course had the same question going through our head, "Do we tell about the sick tent?" Finally a few of us came to the conclusion that he was going to figure it out when he opened the tent and it would better for him to prepare himself. So, I was the brave one to fess up. I guess I really am a goodie-to-shoes.



In the end of it all, he said that we were actually the best group he's had. So that was fantastic. (Man I really need to get some new adjectives) So we took the rest of the food we had and made up a huge feast, then ended the day with a movie. Perfect way to end our time together, chill and with no worries. That was our whole trip together.



Wednesday, July 22



Really there was nothing much to my day. I sat on a bus, then transfered to another bus, then sat in a station, then slept on the last bus. Finally around 8:00pm I got into Byron Bay. My hostel ticket said that I would be picked up, so I called to be sure they were still coming since I had no idea where I was going. He said he was 10 mins out making me think that was how far the hostel was. No I was so wrong. The hostel wasn't even in Byron Bay. It was an hour out in Evans Head. The owner of the hostel was Plenko and your very typical surfer. Evans Head became like a home over the next couple days.



Thursday, July 23



The only other person staying at the hostel was Hanna. She was in Australia for nearly 2 weeks and wanted to just get some sun and some surf time, so that was how she ended up here. It was really a good thing she was there. It made my whole experience in the odd little town of Evan's Head so much better.



We started our day with a bike ride. It was Plenko's excuse for going to check out the surf. Before we all hopped in the ocean Hanna and I got into a Kayak and went up the river to the National park. There a made a little blood sucking friend. I have no idea how the leach got on me, seeing as we were not in the water, but out of no where, there was a slimmy thing on the foot. At first I thought it was just some mud but then when it didn't come off I realized what it was. Hanna actually had to work hard to get it off. I was glad to leave that friend behind.



So after a small snack. Hanna was off to the beach and Plenko and I were in the back yard teaching me how to stand up on a surf board. Lucky for us Plenko's back yard was right up against the river which lead out to the beach, so we go in the water and I got my first day of hard working paddling. Once out in the surf Plenko had me stand up then pushed me out into a wave and I rode my first wave in. Then it was my turn to paddle to catch a wave and stand up. I did it on my first try. It was such a great feeling. I was doing that for about 2 hours until I got really tired. So Hanna and I walked our boards back.



Plenko had to go out to his dads so we joined him. His dad works on a sugar cane farm so as a treat for us they let us try sugar cane. They just gave us a stick and told us to chew on it. I don't know if they were just trying to make us look silly, but it was really good. From there Plenko took us to the bowling pub. Hanna and I though he was talking about bowling like with pins, but they mean lawn ball which is where you have a small ball and you have to try to get the bigger balls as close as possible. The highlight there was our little bit of gambling. I don't know why but Plenko was really enthusiastic about us doing this. It was quite amusing.



That evening we stopped at the supermarket to pick up some ice cream, but also some Tim Tams. OH man Tim Tams are the best things ever. They are two chocolate biscuits (cookies) sandwiching chocolate cream call coated in chocolate. I don't know how I'm going to live without once I leave. Because of my love for them Plenko started calling me the Tim Tam Nazi.



Friday, July 24



Hanna and I went back out to the beach to do a little more surfing. It was miserable this time. There were abour 20 people and the waves were only crashing at one point. I spent more time trying to not drown then even on the board none-the-less surfing. So I went back to drop my board off and get a shower, then I went back out just to watch Hanna. Eventually she came into the beach and we just spent the whole afternoon talking.



That night a whole group of guys showed up. They come out there to just get away and fish. So that night Plenko treated them to a BBQ. Since he had grown so fond of us, he treated us too. It was probably the best meal I've had this whole trip. It was a massive steak and tasted so amazing. The steak was seriously bigger than my head, plus a sausage and some salade. Oh I'm drooling just thinking about it.



Saturday, July 25



The three of us went for another bike ride this morning. This time we rode out to the National park where not only did we go to look at the surf but also enjoy some of the wild life. There is so much here it unbelieveable. I mean birds we can't even imagine are normal here. I think people in Australia are just so lucky in all that nature has to offer it.



We decided that the surf looked good at this beach, so Hanna and Plenko suited up. I decided to sit out since I was on the verge of crashing and knew that I had a surf camp of 4 days to come. No point in crashing before that. But, I went out with them anyways and went for a little walk down the beach to the creek, then up the rocks and was able to watch Hanna and Plenko surfing for a totally different angle.



Once back at the house Plenko again fed us. I think he enjoyed getting to feed us, then since I was leaving the next day we had to get rid of all the Tim Tams. Now the best way to eat these amazing little biscuits is to bite off both ends then suck hot tea through them. Then they sit there and melt in your fingers and are some delicious. So here we are eatting all these Tim Tams while watching....Dance Your Ass Off. How perfect is that.



Since Hanna and I felt quite fat after all those Tim Tams we decided to go bike some of it off, by going down to the beach. We biked quite a ways along the beach, but I'm so glad we did. It was just perfect, watching the colors on the water as the sun set behind the hill.



Sunday, July 26



I got picked up from Plenko's by the Surfari bus to go to a little place called Crescent Head. The only other people on the bus were Ben from Scotland and Wowa (w are said like v) from Germany. After we arrived we were fed lunch and were right out into the water for our first surf lesson. It was getting dark but we pushed on until it really was dark. It was a great way to get into the surfing mode.



Monday, July 27



In the morning just the 3 of us got to go surfing again. I was improving really fast. My bad experience at Evans Head was just the conditions. Now my confidence was growing which really helped because then I was getting up more and surfing the waves all the way in. We stopped for lunch but were right back in. It was crazy how much we were surfing. I got to the point where I couldn't even push myself up any more so I had to call it a day. It was hard because I knew that the rest of the group who was coming from Sydney was going to be at the hostel when we got back they were going to take them out, but I felt I just didn't have the strength to do any more that day. Well after a hot shower, some stretching and a bit of a rest I had new energy and was ready to go.



The whole group of us went out and the conditions were horendous. The waves were coming from every direction. Just when I would get up on my board I would be knocked down by another wave. I spent all my energy just trying to get out into the waves that I wasn't able to catch a wave. Yep, welcome to surfing.....



That night though, we all really got to get to know each other really fast. One of the girls Anne started playing the guitar and her sister Becky pulled out her harmonica. We all loved the fact that she had a harmonica, that we all had to learn too. So yep, on top of surfing I learned to play the harmonica. We had a little jam session playing the "Ring of fire" then the drinking began. I wasn't too interested so eventually I was off to bed. (Wow typing this I feel like such a fuddy duddy, but the drinking scene just doesn't do it for me)



Tuesday, July 28



We all were back off to where Ben, Wowa and I first surfed our first day "Point Plummet". We were in the water and all socializing while all getting better and better at surfing. I mean you really can't ask for any better situation. We were all cheering eachother on and just having a blast. Eventually we all got out for some lunch then we decided to go for a walk to look for some whales. Rosco (our instructor) was not confident that we would see any but it was worth a try. Lucky us we saw a whale. Not only did we see a whale but it was doing tricks for us for a good 15 mins. When we first saw it, it was just flapping its tail on the surface of the water. Not only did it look unbelievable, but the sounds was just like nothing you would imagine. Then after doing a few leaps and spitting some water, it began flapping it's fin and it looked like it was waving at us. It was just like nothing else. As it swam off it passed about 10 feet from a little fishing boat and spat water out of it's blow hole. It must have been the most terrifying moment for those fishers. Truely a highlight.



After that amazing experience we all got back in the water to surf even more. We spent a good 6 hours in the water working on our surf. It was so exhausting that it was fantastic.



That night Rosco had some friends come over to jam with him. We were all invited to join in and next thing I knew I was rocking out the Kazoo to "Always look on the Bright Side of Life" and let me tell you, I really rocked that kazoo. By the end of the jam session it was a choice of fighting through the exhaustion or going to bed, and I chose the bed option. It was a really long day, and there were only more to come.



Wednesday, July 29



First thing in the morning one of the guys working there, Paul, was doing some yoga. I decided it would be a good idea to join in seeing as I was so stiff and hurt. Before leaving we were going to do a few hours of surfing again. It was hard work this time because of being so tired, but I learned more fighting through that exhaustion. We all lost track of time and those of us leaving had to rush to get out and get some food before heading back to the hostel. We had very little time to shower before we were going to the train station. Yeah, that's how they got us back to Sydney, was by train. It was a very long 8 hour train ride. Lucky for me though, I ran into Hanna, from Evan's Head, on the train, so we were able to exchange numbers so we could meet up in Sydney.



From the train station I had the wonderful adventure to find the hostel I was booked at. The guy, when I called, told me a park would be on my right and the church on my left and just go down the hill and the hostel would be across the street from the car park. Yeah if only it were that simple. I couldn't find the hill he was talking about so when looking at the church I had no idea where to go. Then I saw the car park, but no hostel. I decided I would walk around the car park just in case. Still no hostel. Finally I saw a sign (that was not lit) that said hotel. I was going to go in there just to ask, when I realized, that was the hostel. I was so excited to find it that I pretty much crashed, the moment I got in.



Thursday, July 30



I took a walk down the park out to the water to see the Sydney Opera House. It has to be one of the best moments of my life. I can't express how unbelievable it was to see the Opera House in person so close. I walked around the basin to go up the stairs to the Opera House and there I got a ticket to go on a tour.



The tour, honestly was a bit of a let down. I learned a lot about the hall and it's purposes, but she dumbed everything down, and half the information I knew and knew better than her. She looked at me like I had 3 heads when I asked if the symphony ever had to use an orchestra shell. Yeah, see what I mean.

Remember Hanna, well she met me at the hall and we went for a walk around the warf and through town. We eventually made our way over to Darling Harbour which is actually the famous harbour in Sydney, not where the Opera House is. I learned something knew. There we went to the IMAX theater to watch Harry Potter. I know, dorky but I'll take it.

It was late went the movie got out so it was straight to bed for the both of us.

Friday, July 31

The beginning of my day consisted of me making up a package to send home. Really not all that exciting. Later though I made it out to the Olympic Park. So that is the location of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. I guess since I made it to the one in Munich it only made sense to go to this one also. Maybe I'll see if they have anything in London already and stop there too. So but back to the Olympic park. I got to see the main stadium where the cerimonies happened. I also walked around both inside and out of the Aquatic Center. Yay, Swimming!!! But I just had a nice walk down the main road. It wasn't very fancy but there is enough talking about it being the location of the Olympics that made it cool enough. Interesting fact, is that all of the buildings built for the Olympics are still used today. That's pretty good. There's also a whole park apart of it that I was unable to get to because of time. It wasn't exactly close to town.

Saturday, August 1

Wow, here we are already in August.....

This morning I ran in Wowa from the surf camp. We decided to go for a walk into town together, to find him some food. In the meantime I picked up my very own Harmonica. Blues Brothers... Here I come....

We found ourselves back in Darling Harbour. Wow it was crowded. It was also a Saturday and they had a boat show going on. Don't ask how they even got all the boats in. I couldn't even make a guess. But I can say, there were a whole heck of a lot of boats in that one wee little harbour. Our main purpose for going to the harbour though was to get some pancakes. Hanna told me about this place called Pancakes on the Rocks and they had pancakes made up any way you can imagin. Oh it was amazing.

After enjoying the entertainment around the harbour we both headed back to the hostel. That evening I spent with some of the people who had been staying in this hostel for who knows how long. When they went out, I went to bed. Early morning of doing touristy things.

Sunday, August 2

Last day in Australia... Well I spent it by going to the Blue Mountains. These are neither blue, nor mountains. They appear blue due to the Eucaliptic oil and they are about as good as you are going to get to mountains in Australia.

So our first stop was the Olympic Park. At least we didn't spend long there seeing as I had already gone there. Then we went to a wildlife park. Lucky for me I had talked to Robin just last night. She told me it didn't matter if Koalas had clamidiya because it doesn't pass to humans in that way so I should have no excuse for not holding a Koala. I didn't get to hold one, but I got to pet 3 in fact and one was a baby. Don't worry I have photos of all of this. I also got to see Dingo Pups, a Tazmanian, more Kangaroos, Wambats, and a Croc. Basically it was all Australia in one park.

So from there we got to learn about the Aboriginal story of the three sisters and the rock formation. We took a walk down 1000 stairs into the Blue Mountians then we took a tram that was really fast right back up the mountain.

To end my last day in Australia I am going to sit and watch a movie. Then tomorrow I'm heading into town to watch the sunrise on the Sydney Opera House.

I'm really going to miss Australia, but I guess that is just more reason to come back again.

I miss each and every one of you. Talk to you all in England!!!