Decided to go travelling alone after getting itchy feet, going straight from school to uni to work as a physiotherapist at the Conquest Hospital in Hastings. As I was going alone I decided just to explore one country and do it well. Experiencing being a working sydney-sider as well as being a backpacker throughtout Oz. I'm only going for six months - some of you are saying only??!!?? But I need to go (and want to) go back for my dad's wedding and also to continue working as physiotherapist (and of course all my friends and family)- I don't want to lose all the skills I have already obtained at the Conquest. Follow me on my journey through Oz!

I've been living the sydney life for nearly a month now and loving it! I arrived on the 13th of january 2005 and, after taking a short trip to the blue mountain, i've now settled in a hostel called the blue parrot. its a fairly small hostel and everyone tends to do things together like a big happy family!
I'm now working monday to friday- funraising for WWF ( no thats not wrestling) the world wide fund for nature- i'm saving the world! I've met so many wicked people already. I've now decided to extend my trip to new zealand, with two girls who grew up opposite the conquest hospital. It's a small world! We're gonna hire a car and drive all round new zealand in 6 weeks. Then fly back to to sydney and start my oz experience around oz!

View from the sydney sky tower

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After staying in an absolutely shanky hostel just opposite kings cross station, it was a breath of fresh air when i took a trip the blue mountains. I went with a german girl who i met in my dorm. The journey took a few hours by train, and we finally arrived in Katoomba around 11 in the morning. OUr hostel was really homely and nice and cheap too. ON the first day we walked to echo point where you could see for miles around and the rock formation the Three Sisters (the first and second photo is of these). In our hostel that night we saw a huntmans spider, and while we were freaking out about that i saw a funnel web spider, thouse things are deadly. The thing was it crawed into a vent on the floor, and there were vents in every room!, i slept on the top bunk that evening, didn't sleep much!

The Blue Parrot is a hostel in kings cross, i'm having such a wicked time here and met so many great people! It's certainly made me first couple of months here so special and i will treasure the memories foreva!

Australia day:
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I've been funraising now for the past 6 weeks, and it really is hard work! For the first six weeks i was rasing money for WWF, knocking door to door in different suburbs of sydney. I've got to meet some really lovely aussies and well as some perculiar characters! Working for charity has been a real experience. Striking up conversations with complete strangers and trying to remain enthusiatic thoughtout, from the first person you speak to, to the last is very draining! It's amazing though- i thought poeple would just sign up if they wanted to or not. But it's really not that clear cut. I certainly learnt that it's all about presentation, and they way you handle yourself.
Well i'm now moved on to campaigning for the red cross which i'm really enjoying, i think WWF do amazing things, but i think i'm more of a people person. To get the job, I had to learn all about the history of the red cross and give a 5 min presentation. It's amazing the work they are doing i watched a video about all the amazing things they have achieved. I'm now a street campaigner, (yes, one of those enoying people in the street that you try and avoid). I've had a successful first week, and only have another week before travelling to new zealand.
I've learnt so much from this job, it's improved my communication skills but also made me realise that i need to give more to charity, I'm so lucky!!!!

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Me in my uniform!

Finally i left Sydney, it was quite emotional leaving sydney. I felt so settled there and made some really good friends. However this is what i came here to do, travel and expereince different things and New zealand was an unplanned adjunct to my travels so even more exciting! As i was half way round the world i thought it would be rude not to!
We arrived in Auckland and headed off to base hostel. It was weird being in a dorm with smelly boys again and they were seriously smelly! Anyway Auckland was quite sereal as its like a mini less lively sydney. I went up the sky tower and took a ferry to a little island and climbed a dormant volcano, Mt victoria which is where i got these stunning views from.

We planned our trip here and decided to do the adventure tour with stray, which was slighlty cheaper than kiwi experince and takes you 'off the beaten track' more. We stayed a few nights in Auckland before setting off early to begin our travels round New zealand, starting with the north island.

Before you read this have you checked out my sky diving pics?? there in the last entry!!
anyway we took the ferry across to picton early on sunday morning to begin our travel through the south. First stop Abel tasmin. Now i know that i've been saying that everything has been absolutely beautiful but this seriously was the most breath taking place i've been to so far.

At abel Tasmin maria and i took a aqua taxi to a seal colony and from there a 4 hour trek, stoping at the beaches on the way. This was one of the views i got which i thought you could only see in bronchures etc.


One of the beaches we stopped at we obviously didn't read the guide to well- sand fly bay- and guess what we got eaten alive!!

Despite feeling when i left queenstown that my trip was almost over i still had a fair few things to pack in on my way back to the north island. Before heading up the stray tour does take you to the southern most town in newzealand, next stop being antartica. Apart form being the home of the most southern Mcdonalds in the world and home of the steepest street- ( which we climbed) View image

there wasn't a great deal to do in these towns but i have to say i well needed rest was due from all the adrenalin overloaded activites we'd being doing over the past couple of weeks. almost forgot we did go to caburys chocolate factory here's me getting a little to excited in the caburys shop View image

With a few days to spare before heading back to oz, maria and i decided to book a 3 day trip to the bay of islands, for hopefully a bit of relaxing after our activity packed 6 weeks. On the way we stopped off at goat's island for a bit of snorkling. Weather not ideal for it but the water was suprisingly warm.

Our stay tour included a trip up to the very tip of New zealand, Cape Regina on this four wheel drive little bus that drove up on the '90 mile' beach (which is actually 64 miles long).

Sorry about the ridicolus pose!!

The driver also stopped off at some sand dunes were we had a go at some sand surfing. It was great fun, although climbing to the top of the sand dunes was really tiring and i think only a few of us managed to do it twice.

For our last day in New Zealand we decidied to do a full day kayaking trip, where you kayak up to some water falls and explore the bay of islands. Really good fun day, quite tiring on the arms but well worth it. and one point when the tide was low in the middle of this river i got beached and had to be hepled back out.

So back on the stray bus for the last time to travel back to Auckland ready for my 6:00 am flight back to Oz. Have to say i felt really sad leaving, i've absolutely loved it here and theres always the wonder of will i ever go back??. Probaly the best time of my life. However i remeber feeling the same when i left sydney so i knew it wouldn't be long until i'm back loving the australian way!! what worries me most is how am i gonna feel when i have to go home??? !!

So back to the land of oz and i have to say i was sorry to go mainly because there is always the possibility that i'll never go back especially as since i've been travelling i've realised that there is so much more of the world i want to see. But back to sydney- my home for almost three months!!

It was a little strange going back to the blue parrot, as almost all of my friends had left to go up the coast, however there were some still some friendly familar faces! Maria headed yp the coast first as we now had diiferent agendas and different bus passess, mine being oz experience. So i waited in sydney until i could hop on the little green bus to start the surf camp!!!

Surf camp

early start leaving sydeny, i was more eager to leave this time, knowing that friends where up the coast mostly in brisbane and i was heading their way!! So off to the camp, which would last for three days. Three days of lots of sun, surf and great fun!!! The camp site was at Cresent head, a quiet little surf town. Up early for our first day of surf which prooved to be exhausting, the main difficluty being actually getting yuorself out there past huge waves with a nine foot foam board. Managed to stand up however by the end of that day!! I met some great people it was great fun and was absolutley shattered by the end of it, my arms felt like they were going to fall off!! i also had the incident where i had to be kind of rescued as i was caught in a rip- slowly drifting out to sea!! (slightly dramatic, the rip was not the strong that day but on otheres it could have been other story!!

I do have photos that i bought however i had an hour and a halfs difficulty unloadng them so i gave up, however you can see them if you go to this site.

to view my surf camp photos

http://groups.msn.com/nickyssurfcamp

and yes that one at the end is me standing up- narly dudes!!