Around The World With 30 Litres On My Back

Hello everyone!!

This is my last email to you from Australia! Im afraid that I have decided now to go home and face English weather, doom and gloom 🙁 But at least its almost Spring and the clocks go forward soon 🙂  Have thoroughly loved my time in Oz and the last 3 weeks have been just bloody amazing! I have spent time in Perth with my old school friend Ben and his lovely lady Kris, met up with another old friend, Tracey who moved out here and is now married with kids, let Andy and Frank look after me, been kidnapped by drag queens (er yeah Im in recovery as I write hahaa) and seen parts of Australia many Aussies have never seen!

First of all I made the decision to stay and make use of my working visa. Unfortunately, despite many cups of coffee, phone calls and me practically forcing my way into production companies for a ‘chat’, TV work is extremely thin on the ground in Perth. Yep, I could have gone to Sydney, where a friend gleefully managed to land a top job within days of stepping off the plane, but in my eyes, starting again in Sydney just wasn’t something I felt 100% about – its a big city and learning to make friends again, build contacts up from scratch, etc… I just didnt feel it was right for me right now when I do it so much in London and I just felt more comfortable doing that in Perth but Sydney is TV central…However, right at the 11th hour I managed to land a shooting gig on a zombie movie and luckily my availability fitted in with them so yippee, I have Australian experience to slap on my CV as well as stuff covered in green body paint and strawberry jam. Yum!

Due to lack of work I decided to be creative with the time I planned to carry on in Australia. I decided that staying in Australia indefinitely by means of getting a day job wasn’t what I wanted to do so rather than sit around waiting for work in the time Id given myself, I headed off to the Outback! Yep, almost 2 weeks messing about in Alice Springs, camping out under the stars without a tent in Uluru and then living underground in Coober Pedy. A very fun experience. Alice Springs was full of flies and has a dry river running through it! I made some great friends in my hostel with whom I went out partying, culminating in being thrown out of Lasseters Casino and so returning to the hostel and making use of a cheap bag of goon (errrr!) which resulted in sore heads the next day. Many Aboriginals live in the Alice so I took the opportunity to use the Cultural Centre and find out more about Australia’s indigineous people but somehow ended up learing more about the Muslim Cameleers who came from India, Pakistan and Afghanistan to creat the Ghan railroads that run through the middle of Oz. I also walked right under the web of a golden orb spider and they are bloody HUGE!!!! It didnt scare me although it did freak me out – its so big, I was just in awe of it, its about the size of my hand. Seeing it ensured that any other spiders I saw from then on would not be a problem because they’d never be as big as that one, euuurrrgghh!

My trip to Uluru was totally amazing. I slept out in a sleeping bag in the middle of nowhere, had ants crawl on me, mosquitoes bite me, frogs jump on me, wind howl at me, rain pour on me… and I loved it!! There were some girly girls in our group who didnt want to pee in the bushes, moaned a little about staying in a creek with no facilities and slapped full make up on at 5.30am. They were really nice but they really stood out – the rest of us just got on with it! We did stay in some campgrounds so we had access to kitchens and showers and we all made dinner together every night and Im proud to say that I now have a great little group of friends who I hope to see again when we’re all back in Europe.

Uluru has real holy significance to the Indigineous people but it wasn’t until I did a 10km walk around the base did it really hit home how spiritual it was. Yeah you see pictures of it all the time but not until you get there does it take on meaning. We watched sunset and sunrise over the rock, hiked through Kings Canyon and Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) and had some very crazy fun in Coober Pedy where Opal Miners have made a killing! We ended our trip through the red centre in Adelaide and with my new friends went to see some of the Adelaide Fringe Festival. I did plan to meet up with Craig the rockstar and Lili from my earlier visit but we both ended up being so busy!

“There’s big rock in the middle of Australia? You’re shitting me!”
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=230372&id=535680087&l=6f4ef4f9f6

And so back to Perth to get ready for the return to England. I have thought and thought about staying on but my reluctance to go to Sydney and lack of work in Perth doesnt give me a heap of reasons to stay here especially when I am running incredibly low on funds and am hitting my last $122 as I write – Of course there are a number of people and things in England to come back to!!! – I have made some tremendous friends here, experienced some really magic and special things, revisited other friends and discovered  how hospitable and laid back the culture is here and for that, Im so grateful, you all know who you are. Im sad to come home and have had many propositions from the gorgeous gay friends I have made offering marriage so that I dont have to come home (hahahaha) and as my beautiful drag queen friend Maddie told me…”Just click your heels together and think of us…you’ll be back”…

And so people, that is the end of my travelling for now but as always, watch this space…
Farrah xx

Get the most troublesome bit out of the way first

We decided to take the very long and very straight Albany Highway all the way down to Albany and work our way back round the coast to Perth . This drive took 5 hours and took us alongside mountain ranges and through English-looking green woods and then through bleak scrub not unlike Dartmoor . Pick up free maps at info centres which surprisingly are MUCH better than the ones you pay for!

Charge up the iPod

Aussie radio stations have a fondness for playing Midnight Oil. Without the MP3 connector I would have had to sing. Ben would not have been happy.

Take loads of water, enough snacky food for 3 days and always fill up on petrol

We always tried to have about 5 litres of water between us in the car and at least half a tank of petrol – there are stretches of road with absolutely NOTHING for miles and miles and no other cars. The roads are long and it can be tiring so its good to stop for a quick snack now and again. However, I don’t think either of us wants to see another can of tuna for a loooong time!

Get some of that antibacterial hand stuff and tissues

You never know when you will need to stop for a wee at the side of the road. Watch out for snakes and kick yourself when you drive round the next corner and find a 5-star deluxe toilet with soap.

Pay attention to the many crosses at the side of the road.

Every so often and usually always under a tree will lie a cross with someone’s name and date of death on it.

Tell Ben that he is a wonderful person

“Please can you look where you are driving!”

Make friends with the many people you will meet in hostels who are living there

We seemed to end up in dorms with people on working visas who had made it their permanent home. This was not a bad=2 0thing – they left their laptops and things lying around which made it feel safe to leave valuables in the room but they bloody woke us up early.

Take the time to eat every kind of cake you would never dare eat in England

Lamingtons, Bestings, Melting Moments. Full of fat, cream and sugar. Eat them, who cares?? The bakeries here are a national institution and make the best cakes for very little money.

Learn to LOVE coffee

Coffee is a major business in WA. Coffee is advertised more than beer and its almost impossible to get a bad coffee. Even a crappy looking petrol station will have a good coffee machine to give you a buzz. Every type of coffee you can think of.

Tell Farrah that she is a wonderful person

“Oh for gods sake!”

Don’t risk getting caught in a bushfire

In Albany , everyone raved about Two Peoples Beach so we tried to go check it out. The road leading to the beach was 16km long with no side roads and lined both sides by forest. Just as we turned in we saw a sign saying the beach was closed due to EXTREME fire risk. We continued gingerly for about 3km then decided that it was not worth the risk – we aren’t locals, we don’t know how seriously to take these things so we decided to leave well alone. We returned to a café at the top of the road and were told by the staff that they had never seen the warning before and that everyone was a bit wary given the situatio n in Victoria . We also missed a bushfire in Prevelly where we based ourselves for Margaret River by a week and when we went to sleep at night we did so with knowledge of our nearest exit – run for the sea!!!!

Stay at the Blue Wren in Denmark and hang out with your room mates

Ahhh, a lovely hostel with a great big golden Labrador and chooks living under the house. Here we met Janine, Shaunagh and Gareth. We went to see the sunset at the beach together and took Shaunagh and Gareth to look at Giant Tingle trees in the Valley of the Giants. I can now tell the difference between yellow, red and Rates tingles. I am such a geek.

Always have emergency back up dinner in the boot

Days are light until 8pm, it didn’t get dark until 8.30pm at the start of our road trip. By the time you get some place and check in its pushing 9pm. Almost everywhere in these rural areas shut at 9. Its good to have a packet of 50c noodles in the bag somewhere. But we didn’t eat them until the very end of our trip….

Appreciate how beautiful life is away from the city despite it being not so easy.

Pictures of Perth : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=217860&id=535680087&l=3c5b7

Look for stars in Pemberton

Pemberton is an old timber t own in the middle of national park territory. Its perfect for looking at stars at night. We took some head torches out so we could find our way home. The locals found this highly amusing. I told them I was looking for mining work in Kalgoorlie .

Climb the Gloucester Tree

Bloody hell. Im never doing that again!!! A huge 60m Karri tree with spikes sticking out, a few people sat at the bottom said they tried to climb it but had returned because the vertigo had got too much for them. It wasn’t the heights that worried me but the strength to climb up without any help!! If you missed a step or fell to the side there was only one way to go – down!! So, wearing my trusty Merrells, I took one spike and then another. I felt my arms pull, I ached but I kept going. And this was after running a couple of k with the mad Frenchman from our hostel.  There’s a lookout built on top and once I was up there I was shaking! Shaking but so glad I did it! Ben went one be tter and also climbed the Bicentennial Tree. Nutter.

Tell Ben that he is a wonderful person

“If you keep looking out of the back window Im going to make you map read. I don’t care if it makes you feel sick, just look at the road!”

Fill your tummy with goodies in Margaret River

Wine tasting, chocolate, olives, marron, venison, fudge, coffee, its all going down in Margaret River ! We visited some wineries. Ben was very gentlemanly and offered to drive. As it happened I didn’t like much of what I tasted. Ben bought a bottle of red which I couldn’t take – I pas sed out after one glass (haha no jokes about me being a lightweight please) But boy oh boy, chocolate!!! But it melted as quickly as we ate it so sorry I cant send you any! Also visited a cave!

Marvel at the beaches along the way

White sand, turquoise water. Keep your bathers on every day, plan time to make several stops at every bit of pretty beach.

Laugh at the ‘chi chi’ people in Dunsborough

Nice town, nice beach but where did all these rah rahs come from?

Walk the jetty at Busselton

Every time you look up you think you are nearer the end. You are not. Its 2km long.

Find your inner peace by swimming with dolphins at Bunbury

Im glad that we left Bunbury til the end. A lovely place and we stayed in a really good hostel too with hammocks and places to chill out. The sunsets were sublime. We woke up early every day to go spot dolphins. One morning we arrived to find that we had missed them by a couple of minutes and they had been interacting for nearly half an hour. BUT! They returned about 5 times that morning and swam up and down past our legs with curiosity. Ben was a happy boy and ended up eating the muffin he refused to eat when he thought he had missed out on seeing dolphins YET AGAIN (Ben always seems to miss dolphins by split seconds on his travels haha).

Make a quick decision on what to do with those last few days before Ben returns to the cold, grey and damp of England

Not enough time to do the coast north of Perth up to Monkey Mia and Exmouth as planned so we went as far as Cervantes and visited the Pinnacles desert which is full of weird limestone formations. The best time to go is just before sunset when the sun is low and to be back in town before it gets completely dark. On arriving in Cervantes we noticed a bushfire!! An electricity pole had caught fire resulting in a power cut for the town. The blaze was quickly put out but it did mean that all the shops shut up for the day, no ATMs worked and that we would have to live by oil lamp that night. However, the power came back on about 9pm and Ben, as determined as he was to not eat those 50c noodles, insisted we see if anything was open. Nope. We had noodles for dinner. They were good.

Tell Farrah that she is a wonderful person

“Will you just shut up???”

Visit all those places the Lonely Planet makes very little mention of

Such as Yanchep National Park where we saw koalas, had the privilege of being jumped past by kangaroos and sat in warm sunshine on green grass by a big lake where pelicans ate fish. And Farrah ate chocolate. Yeah!

Say bye bye to Ben, look back on your photos and decide what to do next…

Until my next adventure, here are some pikchush: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=221804&id=535680087&l=43fa6

Hey everyone

Im now in the deepest greenest gorgeous-smelling Southern Forests area of Western Australia. I made it to Perth and am now exploring the south coast and working my way round from Albany to Margaret River and back up to Perth.

The Indian Pacific was bloody good fun. After a day bushwalking in the Adelaide Hills with Craig the rock star where we spotted koalas, possums, turtles and -eek- poisonous hopping ants, it was time to head west and so I boarded the train which would take 2 nights to cross the Nullabor Plain. I had absolutely no idea what to expect apart from huge expanses of desert. So many people warned me off doing the train at all and when I said Id do the cheap seats they were even more like WHHHAAAAT??? and reviews I read were not favourable. I think Bill Bryson in ‘Down Under’ even suggests its not a good idea (do not quote me on that – I will find out as I just got it for my birthday), but as you know, I never listen to anyone so of course, this was a journey for me! I’ve travelled on overnight trains through Thailand alone and they were fine so I expected that this would be a similar if not better experience. Craig and Lili teased me and said that they heard a huge team of WeightWatchers would be on my train but I got on and it was full of … BACKPACKERS! ALRIGHT!!! PARTY TRAIN!!! The seats were comfy, larger than airline seats and almost fully reclining. I sat next to a Japanese student called Nao all the way and=2 0she was great. The other side of the aisle and behind we had some German backpackers and a couple of guys. And we’ve all exchanged contacts so thats nice. Yes, there were times when you felt the scenery was on pause but I slept all of the 2nd afternoon (as one of the German girls said, ”I cant believe you slept all day!”) Sleeping was not a problem although the first night fully through the desert was quite cold so if you ever take this trip and dont fork out for your own cabin (boring – you’d never meet anyone) take a blanket. The staff were all really cool and friendly. The food wasnt too expensive and it was OK but loads of people take their own. From the train I saw kangaroos hopping away and that was pretty magic. I saw the stars really brightly at night. And we stopped at a couple of places – Cook, a ghost town – Im not even sure why the bones remain – and Kalgoorlie – a gold rush town where men still go to mine and – ahem – enjoy the company of the ladies of the night – I tried to get some pics of dollies but they started screaming and running indoors. I was with one of the guys off the train. We laughed at them and went off to eat pizza.

Some pics of Adelaide and the train: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=213654&id=535680087&l=2fac4

In Perth I stayed with my friends Frank and Andy. I met them some years ago in Koh Samui when I hijacked their taxi (if I emailed you on my RTW trip you’ll know who Im talking about) and they just havent managed to get rid of me since (And I love you so much boys xx). My first story about Perth begins the day I arrived. Frank picked me up from the station and left me in his house to get on and he went to work. I sorted myself out, worked out how to get a bus into town and so on and was about to leave the house when I saw a massive yellow thing jump off the wall. I froze. I ran into Franks room and picked up a Havaiana and threw it at the yellow thing. It jumped!! OH MY GOD!! A MASSIVE JUMPING YELLOW SPIDER!!!! I shrieked and grabbed my stuff and ran out of the house!!! Even though it was boiling hot outside, I was shivering all over. I texted some friends to see if they could identify the spider. I texted Frank. And I texted Andy who was due to fly in from Malaysia that afternoon, warning him there was a yellow jumping thing in the house. I went straight to a bookshop in the city and looked up what it could be, keeping the spider pictures at arms length and sort of half keeping the pages closed. There was something called a grey spider. I thought it might be that but none of the descriptions said these spiders jump. My friends texted back to say that as long as it wasnt black and red then dont worry. But arrrggghh yuk I was pretty shook up. Later on in the day, Andy contacted me to say he was back so I headed back to the house. He asked me where my kangaroo was. I was like, what? And he said ý ellow, jumping thing?’and I told him what happened and he replied ever so calmly…óhhh the grasshopper?? I put him ooutside..’. <sigh of relief and eyeball roll>.

The evening I arrived in Perth, Ben also flew in from London! He was a bit jetlagged but nothing as bad as I was as his flight was considerably shorter than mine, minus the stopover in Singapore and not going as far as Melbourne! Actually, I think I fell asleep before him that night! Perth was just hot, hot, hot! We spent a lot of time at the beaches; Cottesloe and Scarborough, had drinks in Fremantle and spent all day riding bikes and playing with Quokkas on Rottnest Island. During this time Australia also witnessed its worst bushfires ever. Very sad stuff guys. One man was on TV saying ‘I lost my 2 kids mate” . So matter of fact, so, but we’ve got to get on and help each other through this.

I also had my birthday last week and I had a lovely day! Thanks so much everyone for birthday wishes, emails, texts, calls and so on!!! I was rather touched 🙂 Frank and Andy were amazing and made me a very naughty breakfast of french toast, fruit, cream and coffee, Ben managed to bring extra pressies from back home for me and then the boys took me to the Hippo Grill at Hilary’s Boat Harbour and I had an extra special time at the Aquarium of Western Australia and touched a shark and flirted with a sea lion (he was soooo adorable) before meeting up with a very old school friend also called Ben20who I havent seen in 20 years despite us both living in the same village until our early twenties!! He is very well and has now moved out here with his girlfriend. It wasnt weird at all, we had loads to talk about and hopefully we shall meet up again!

So now Ben and I are touring the cool forests (and watching out for bushfire!). We got a hire car and drove 5 hours straight down to Albany (and missed out on seeing the most talked about beach at Two People Bay because of EXTREME fire risk and have made our way through the hippy town of Denmark, hugged some giant Tingle trees and we are now in Pemberton ready to climb the giant Gloucester tree which reaches I believe 60 feet? The beaches down here are amazing. We have hooked up with people that we have been staying with in the hostels and gone to see turquoise waters. We even watched a man fishing a shark the other evening – he cut his tail off but still he wriggled! We are staying in a dorm with some crazy guys – one, French guy, William is going for a run tomorrow morning and is taking me with him because I havent been running since I got to Australia – Its been too hot!! – so um, we’ll see how I do waking up at 7am and running for the first time in 3 weeks… ouch!

Will post some pics up of Perth and our little road trip next time – havent had time to upload them all yet! And by the way, I have a new word – BOGAN! Its what they call chavs overhere, hee hee hee!!!!

Lots of love xxxxx

SNOW!!!

Yep, its all over the news here! Any excuse for you guys not to go to work! Seriously, keep warm just as we are trying to keep cool overhere hee hee!!

So Im now in Adelaide on a very short stopover – I left Melbourne on Tuesday. I was sad to leave but its always good to go when you still enjoy being somewhere. On Friday I was in St Kilda having a coffee, waiting to meet up with my mate Ben and two Aborigine guys walked past and were just staring at me to the point where it felt really uncomfortable and the people on the next table noticed and they leant over and said “you should hide!” I just carried on drinking my coffee and writing my postcard…. about 10 minutes later, I heard a voice… : “Sister… SISTER! Hey sister!!” I looked up and it was the two guys again. They said, “Hey are you Aborigine?” I started laughing and said that wherever I went people thought I was one of them and they started laughing and said I looked like their sister hahahahaha! When they realised I was English they said it was good of me to come over and visit their country and they hoped I enjoyed my visit. We shook hands and they introduced themselves and then they went on their way!

By the way anyone who doesnt have my mobile overhere its +61 404 651 629. I turn my phone off when Im asleep so Linda, dont worry about calling me when you’re drunk!
Also, some pics of Melbourne: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?page=1&aid=212725&l=53783&id=535680087

Im finding more and more as I settle back into a backpacker mentality that you do have to lay yourself open to opportunities and meeting random people and taking up offers that come your way. However, some opportunities you really should not take up, like if some musclehead on St Kilda persistently tries to buy you coffee (I told you there were no hot men on the beach). Some you really should. Like if your friend says you should hook up with some rockstars in Adelaide and they offer you a place to stay (Larry, again, you little sparkler, everyone needs a friend like you!), you should say yes! My friend Laura met Craig and Lili in Las Vegas and was a bridesmaid when they got married (Married in Vegas?? I love them already!!) and she suggested I meet them when I get to Adelaide. We made contact on Facebook and Lili immediately invited me to stay but being oh so English I said oh no dont worry Ill sort myself out and all that so I booked into a hostel but Craig offered to show me around town while I was here so we met up and again the offer to stay came so I accepted and here I am in this rather amazing house in the Adelaide Hills! Craig and Lili are the most kindest people and they have 2 wicked dogs – Max, a Rottweiler and Gomez – Im not sure what he is, but hes small with a lot of hair in his eyes and runs around like he’s on speed 😉 Craig is singer with BBSteal, they are on www.myspace.com/bbsteal Im just touched by all the people I have met who have offered help and stuff and Im finding more and more that Aussies are incredibly hospitable and when they invite you over they mean it! Adelaide is really hot – it hit 46 degrees the day I arrived and yesterday Craig showed me around the beaches, Glenelg, Henley, Semaphore and then we had Vietnamese for lunch. Craig and I have very similar views on politics and stuff so its been good talking to him about issues that most people wont talk about in case they get shot hahahaha! We walked around the Botanical Gardens a nd MH, you mentioned Norwood – we went for a drink there, it was actually a really nice suburb hahahahaha!! Its been really cool hanging out with them and if I hadnt met up with them I would still be in the middle of the City of Churches thinking there was bugger all to do. In fact, the night I arrived, I went for a walk and everything was quiet and closed. Where Melbourne had been bustling and people were out and about, here it was just … dead. It was like a poor man’s Christchurch. Honestly!! The hostel I stayed in for 1 night was nice and people staying there were nice too but despite having 2 fans blowing, the window and door open, it was too hot to sleep! The Adelaide Hills are much cooler..in all senses..!

So this evening Ill be getting on the Indian Pacific for 2 nights – ill get to Perth on Saturday morning (Ben should be flying in if his flight can leave England hahaha!) Wish me luck. Then again, I didnt come to Planet Earth for a simple life – that would be just too easy…

See you in Western Australia!

Fxx

G’day! 

Im sure the news has hit you that Melbourne is melting. I can vouch for that – Im here in Australia and I dont think I have ever had to drink so much water in my life!!! We are talking temperatures of 43 degrees and ma ybe some more, its crippling and today public transport is free to make up for all the problems there have been with train tracks buckling and trams consequently being rammed with people. But Im still having a great time besides, am currently staying with my friends Fiona and Nick up in Brunswick (thank you guys xx), but I was in St Kilda for a bit and am spending a lot of time wandering around, and have been to Brighton. A lot! Yep there’s a Brighton here in Melbourne for when you want to feel closer to home, haha!

So, second time around I wondered if they were actually going to let me into the country. Melbourne Airport, 2.15am or so, march up to passport control, passport stamped, I walk away a little before flicking it open to reveal my new stamp, ha haaaaaa! Im in!! And no questions about how long Ill be staying or anything! I took a flight 1.40pm on Friday, direct via a change in Dubai (Starbucks coffee in Dubai works out at about £5!!!) and then a short one in Singapore. Emirates. They were good but no new films so I watched some of my old faves, All About Eve and An Affair To Remember. And they are pretty old, eh??I had a pretty rough time with20jetlag when I arrived. I finally got to my hostel around 5am, Id jumped on a bus to the city (I was the only person on it!) and was really lairy with a cabbie (girl travelling alone at 4am – you have to be!) who did take me to St Kilda from th ere and thank goodness the hostel had my reservation and stuff. Went to sleep as soon as I got in with thoughts of cockroaches on melatonin but woke up at 9 the following morning (still 10pm at home!!) so I got up and showered but felt so depressed and just exhausted so I went back to sleep at 10. As I fell asleep, I told myself that it was OK if I wanted to stay in bed all day. This was my time so I could do what I want, ha! I did eventually wake up at 4 in the afternoon!  At that point I really had to drag myself out of bed and get with the programme so I grabbed a bottle of water, stepped out and as soon as I got into the sunshine and heard the tinny click-click-click of the pedestrian crossing, I remembered why I was here. I spent my first day refamilarising myself with St Kilda – this is where I stayed when I first came to Melbourne backpacking 4 years ago – went to the beach, busy, busy, walked around, then I got on a tram into the city and walked around there too. Not much going on there, everywhere was quiet. Headed back to St Kilda when it got dark around 8.30pm or so and stopped off at an ice cream place and noticed a Canadian girl also on her own buying ice cream. Now, usua lly as a backpacker you can just go up to people and start talking shit and I thought I should make at least one friend today to alleviate this gloom of having flown direct but you know what? I just couldnt be bothered. So I didnt. And that was OK. I think that ice cream and a banana was all I could eat that day. 

Headed to the hostel – St Kilda Beach House btw – and thought Id quickly check emails. As it turned out I needed to get some kind of code from reception – some bloke on a computer told me – so I went to get one, came back, and the mood I was in, I could have just not told helpful bloke that I had managed to get a code, but I did and conversation was struck! Guy from Brighton (the one in England yeah yeah), my guardian angel! In 5 minutes we went from talking about logging on to jetlag (he had just flown in from 5 days in Thailand so was still a bit shaky) to how long we were staying to life back home. I liked him already, we had lots to talk about, and then he invited me out for a drink! We talked and talked and talked and I was so grateful that somebody so cool had turned up at just the right moment. I even went to sleep happier although the jetlag sleep pattern continued for at least another 3 or 4 days. And as all stories like this go, after that first night, I never saw him again… 

The weekend I landed was a party weekend as Australia Day was celebrated on20Monday 26th, and being a public holiday, everyone goes out raving. That day there was a massive gig called Big Day Out with Arctic Monkeys, Ting Tings, Prodigy and loads of Aussie bands Id never heard of. I walked back into my room aft er a shower on the Monday to find a new room mate, a Kiwi guy who was also a Neil Young fanatic. He offered me a ticket for half the price – still $100 – and said I HAD to see Neil Young (really???) but despite all the advice everyone has given me about taking up every opportunity that comes my way I thought about it and decided not to. And instead I went to Brighton Beach and hung out there and then spent some time listening to my iPod and reading at St Kilda Botanical Gardens. Which was a lovely way to spend the day. 

Yesterday was really nice – I met up with a friend from home, Ben (Larry you are a diamond) and a cousin, Feriel – Ben has just arrived so it was cool showing him the ropes and suggesting places to stay and places to see and Feriel has lived here for 8 years after moving from London so it was interesting getting her take on working here (she works in finance, oo-er) and what its really like to live here and stuff. Im due to meet up with an old friend, Katie, who I met in Bangkok some years ago so that should be cool too. I do have some long-lost cousins here but having trouble getting in touch!

So, for the past few days the temperatures have=2 0soared into the 40s so I have been seeking shelter at every opportunity although the shade isnt even that much cooler. Its crazy going to sit on the beach in this weather (the Aussies might not agree with me) but actually I have to say, the girls on the beaches are looking fiiiine but have not noticed any nice men. Where are the hot guys? So, I went to an open air cinema at the Royal Botanical Gardens the other evening – www.moonlight.com.au and there they all were, running in the park, hubba hubba, sorry I wasnt looking really, no. hahaha! I also went to Brighton to see Slumdog Millionaire – OH MY GOD!!!! YOU MUST SEE THIS FILM!!!! I have a stupid big fat grin on my face whenever I think about it. Brilliant film! It did cost me $16 to see though which is nearly £8. Things are actually not so cheap in Oz. Water is a big expense. A small bottle can cost £1 and if you’re after Evian, good luck. I think I really will have to make use of my working visa if Im going to spend some time here without coming home penniless. But with 20,000 backpackers looking for work in Melbourne, earning $13/hour as a shots girl in a nightclub could be the way to go….! 

Lotsa love, 

Farrah

PS. By the way Shireen – I think you are lying about Golden Gaytime aren’t you? You just want me to get my head bashed in – I cant find it in any sweet shops! And yeah, by the time I post the Havaianas, its cheaper for you to get them online!

PPS. My tremendous chums who emailed and texted when I needed you most – NW, LC, BA, LZ, RH, AK, MM, AA, LW – you are truly special xxx

I made it to Australia, and I love it here!! Even the spiders and mosquitoes dont spoil it much.

I arrived in Sydney and it rained solidly for 2 whole days but despite that I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here so far. Customs on arrival was tough, they asked me who I was going to stay with in OZ, why I was travelling alone and what I did at home. Sydney was cool. Larry and Heather, I did everything you said I should, right down to eating Royal Copenhagen ice cream! I went to Darling Harbour, visited the Rocks, climbed yp the Harbour Bridge pylon, took a ferry to Manly, walked around the Botanical Gardens and sat on Bondi Beach all day. I even got time to go to the Blue Mountains, which I hadnt planned to do, as its just “another national park”, but Im glad I did cos it was quite spectacular. I also went to visit some koalas (so furry!) and play with some kangaroos at a wildlife park, which was fun. I also visited a place called Croydon, which was a bit of a dump and there were lots of car lots… Hmmmn… The infamous Kings Cross was interesting. I wandered down there one night and all the  – ahem – ladies of the night were definitely on something. One woman’s trousers were even falling down at one point, but she was so off her face she didnt know it. I would have laughed out loud if there weren’t so many dodgy people around who looked like they’d thump me one if I did.

Next up was Byron Bay. Byron is a very dangerous place to be if you’re not planning on staying long. I would have ended up sitting under trees with hippies all day, seriously! And I did end up staying longer than I was supposed to, and used up all my time there that I was supposed to spend in Brisbane and Noosa. It has a great beach, lots of surfer types and it was a good place to meet people. I stayed at a place that had its own cinema, pool and a campsite. One night I did camp out with the toads, snakes and iguanas and had great fun letting down other people’s tent pegs in the middle of the night, hehehe.. For the most time I was in a dorm with 3 boys from Essex who were good fun too. I somehow also ended up in Nimbin. Anyone who knows about Nimbin, well I dont need to say much more…

After a day in Brisbane (absolutely nothing to do there unless you’re looking for a job, but nice on the South Bank), I headed to Rainbow Beach to go to Fraser Island. Fraser Island is the world’s largest sand island. I teamed up with 10 other people, mostly English and Irish and we camped out there for 2 nights, braving the big spiders – I did actually run out screaming of a toilet at one point cos there were two huge huntsmans by the sink – and marsh flies – huge! It was cool. I shared driving the 4WD with another guy and we went to Indian Head, where you’re supposed to be able to see sharks and turtles (we didnt), Lake McKenzie, a really lovely big saltwater lake, Lake Wabby, which has huge sand dunes all around it where you can roll down into the water and Eli Creek, which is like a lazy river. We all had a really good time and Im hoping to meet up with some of the gang when I get to Cairns and fly down to Melbourne. Right now Im back in Sydney. I flew back to go to Mardi Gras and will fly up to Airlie Beach tomorrow to go sailing in the Whitsundays.

Does anyone mind if I dont come back?

F xxx