Aymi’s Adventures

Arriving into Melbourne at 6am in the morning after no sleep on the overnight bus wearing thongs (flip flops) was not a good idea.  Luckily walking around with my increasingly heavy backpack kept me slightly warmer whilst I found the right tram to St Kilda and Base backpackers. The guy kindly let me check in early so I managed to get a couple of hours sleep before heading out to explore. Spent the afternoon wandering round St Kilda which was a beautiful place full of little boutique style shops and hundreds of bakeries and delicatessens to tempy even the strongest willed people.

Met up with Phil (who I met in the Galapagos Islands) in the city that night and he showed me round the area, although we did struggle when walking against the gale force winds!!

Spent the next day on the free tourist bus around Melbourne stoping for a closer look at the cricket ground (MCG), lunch at chinatown, afternoon tea at Victoria markets and various other places of interest.

Headed over to Phil & Leanne’s house in Healsville later on and had dinner with them, it was really good to catch up, finally got to see my surfing pictures and bungy DVD (which are now on their way home) and looked through thousands of galapagos pictures. It was a really nice evening.

The next day (after a long lie in and the clocks moving forward) I met up with Pip and Brooke (friends of Renee & Jane who I met in Costa Rica & still miss greatly) for a hot chocolate and a couple of beers, it was a great afternoon.

That night I ended up going out for dinner with Ben (from Sydney, who was away in Melbourne with work – weird or what) and then just chilled out the next morning before catching my flight at 1.15 back to Sydney.

Considering I wasnt looking forward to going back to Sydney I had a fab two nights there with Chris (cool Irish dude I travelled the East Coast with on the Oz Bus). Didnt really do much other than chat for hours over lots of beers and Jager bommers – the drink of Australia, then sleep for most of the day, have a little wander for lunch and then do it all again!!

I was sad to have to say goodbye to him again before heading back to Sydney Airport for the 3rd time for my flight to Bangkok, however I was looking forward to getting out of Australia and back to somewhere I love – Thailand.

View of Perth from Kings Park – okay so my panoramic skills need a little practice! 

My first stop in Australia was Perth, where I had 4 days of soltitude and detox – much needed after all the partying on the KIWI Experience bus!!  Loved the city and it was so nice to be somewhere warm again (even if it did rain on the first 2 days), did all the main sights, Perth Mint, Kings Park, Freemantle & the prison, Nightsbridge (okay so the detox only lasted 3 days) etc etc.  For a big city it had a very chilled out atmosphere to it and plently of things to see and do without everything being in your face. I also liked the free buses around the CBD which made life nice and easy for me – especially playing dumb and managing to get them free all the way from Billabong Resort which was actually out of the free zone – I think being blonde helped!!

Freemantle Prison, Monument in Kings Park

Flew up to Broome still with the cold that i’d had for about the past 2 weeks thinking I would have another 3 days of relaxation, but oh no, the 3 girls from Perth in my dorm made sure that wasn’t the case and I have to say I was a little scared of them (and their lesbian stories), so ended up trashed everynight and sleeping by the pool everyday, although I dont think there was that much more to Broome to be honest, and I was happy to top up my tan a little which is now non existent after New Zealand!

Cable Beach Backpackers, The Girls, Sunset at Cable Beach

Sydney, again did all the usual sights, the compulsary piccies of harbour bridge & opera house, but to be honest I wasnt really that bothered about it.  Bondi Beach was just like any other beach, but it was nice to meet up with Jo there (who I met in South America) and spy on some rather cute bodies and laugh at all the Japanese people taking pictures with people they didnt even know! Stayed with Ben (who I met in Rio) which was cool, he picked me up from the airport, showed me around on his Vespa, taking me to all the best places – he even provided me with slippers to wear in his house!!  The first day I went to a BBQ picnic in Centennial Park with all his friends which was really cool as I didnt feel like a tourist at all – and I got chance to practice some Spanish with the Argentinians who were there. We ate out every night in really nice places – my favourite is still the $7 steak though, washed down by a $3 beer (thats about 4 quid in total) – sometimes the best things in life are the cheapest.

Ben my local Vespa tour guide, Jo & I on Bondi Beach, Picnic in Centennial Park.

My favourite day was when I got up early and went to work with Ben on the Vespa, the view from his office is pretty amazing overlooking the Harbour, the bridge and the Opera house – not a bad office to work in to say the least. Then I took the 8am ferry over to Manly for a few hours which ended up being the whole day. Such a beautiful area with a much more relaxed feel to it than Sydney itself. The day was spent walking around, shopping (well I didnt have a bikini with me and the beach was calling – okay so the dress wasnt all that necessary, but I love it all the same), lazing on the beach and eating fish & chips (still not as good as back home though – I mean where are the mushy peas?!). The ferry back to Sydney was equally impressive, watching the sunset behind the Opera House and Harbour bridge. After 5 nights and my short time-frame though it was time to move on, so I booked onto the OZ Exp bus up the coast to Cairns.

View from Ben’s office, view from the ferry coming back into Sydney from Manly.