Final post

Ok the above 2 pictures were taken on my final night in Sydney as a storm was brewing. I was quite pleased with them. I was feeling quite emotional as its possibly the last time I'll be there.

The following day I had the morning spare so I jumped on the ferry to Manly for one last time.
For thiose of you that have never been on the Ferry...this is the view of the skyline as you are passing through the Harbour...I genuinely dont think you can beat the view.

The below picture is taken near Manly Wharf. You can see the entrance to Sydney Harbour in the distance
One final picture of Manly Beach, then its back on the Ferry...to catch a plane

30 hours later and I'm feezing my cockles off at St Pancras Station...Oh joy!

Indigenous Animals

We saw this Koala on the Great Ocean Road. Literally at the side of the Road...Julie's eagle eyes spotted it and we skidded to a halt.

This emu was in a picnic area in a Volcano crater.

This is an Ecidna. It was pretty much right next to the emu. Just digging itself a hole..oblivious to the onlookers

Finally this Goanna was at Ku Ring Gai Chase National Park ages ago. I forgot to upload it. It was about 2 metres long.

We've seen a fair few Kangeroos...but I havent managed to get a decent photo of them..anyway you know what they look like.

Bushwalking in The Grampians

Back to the mountains for some Bushwalking. The Grampians are about 250Kms NW of Melbourne and offer some great views as you can see.



Some great Waterfalls too and after all this walking Kieran was a bit thirsty

The Great Ocean Road and Flies

The open road was hit again and some spectacular scenary was on the menu in the form of the Great Ocean Road. As you can see from the pictures it was a little misty (still stupedously hot though), but this just added to the pictures as the mist was being dragged off the sea. The 4 pictures Ive uploaded are just a tiny selection as I was a bit trigger happy here

This mist did clear late on in the day

However the day was slightly tainted by the appearance of flies. My god I have never experienced anything like it. These are intellegent flies that want to get into every facial orrifice they can find and wont give in until you are close to madness. Kieran and I were running around flapping at the air constantly. Stopping briefly to take a photo left you completely covered in the blighters. However for some reason unknown to us, they never seemed to bother Julie. Keiran eventually succumbed to a fly net...which looked comical as hell...but it brought lots of jealous comments from other tourists

Melbourne

Ok just a couple of pictures from Melbourne...I didnt take very many too be honest. Spent a couple of nights in a dodgy hostel where I tried to sleep in a tiny bed. Just generally chilled in Melbourne.

Melbourne doesnt have the visual beauty of Sydney, but there's definately more to it underneath. My heart will always be with Sydney but Melbourne is starting to grow on me.

Ned Kelly Country

Once we left the dizzying heights of The Great Alpine Way we entered Kelly Country.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Kelly

We went on a bit of a drive around visiting all his old haunts etc. The above is the Hotel where he hid in a cave in the basement. Not far away from here was where his Armour was built. There was a strange museum underneath the pub...which the land lady insisted we went down to see it with our beers...Seems slightly stramge waslking round Ned Kellys old hiding place with a cold beer.
We next visited Glenrowan. this is the site of the final shoot out where Kell was finally captured. Its a bit cheesy and has become a total village dedicated to his memory


Note the cheesy shot below. This is the exact spot where he was captured...Seems slightly tainted by the puppet

Great Alpine Way

From Lakes Entrance we decided to go in land across the Great Alpine Way. It took us a day to travel across the Mountains..but it was pretty spectacular. It normally snows in the winter here and has great skiing...but snow isnt very common in 40 degree heat

Southbound

Ok after 9 days in Sydney we hired a car and set off south, ultimtely ending up in Melbourne. Unfortunately the weather took a turn for the worse and followed us southbound. You could almost watch the thunder clouds stopping and starting again as we moved. I cant tell you the name of where the above picture was taken. Basicaly we turned the corner and was greeted with the above site. First port of call was a town called Huskisson. Nearby was Hymes Beach that according to the Guinness Book of records has the worlds whitest sand. You can decide for yourself in the below picture. As you can see the weather was a tad poor, but it was very white.

Next was a town called Eden...It was still a tad wet and unfortunately my camera battery ran out of juice so I'm unable to show you pictures. It was a fairly quiet town.

Next was a place I'd been before called Lakes Entrance. Its not far from Melbourne on the south eastern corner of Australia. Very picturesque. A big sandbar blocked all the rivers, producing loads of great lakes...I took loads of pictures, but I'm only uploading one

Alf Stewart to the Rescue

Ok so there we were minding our own business walking through the bush trying to visit some Aboriginal carvings, which too be honest I could have done better, when our path was blocked by an unusual scene. Its seems we had stumbled onto a Home and Away set

We stood around for a bit, as nobody really seemed to care. The plot of the scene was as follows: A couple had become stranded in the outback. (We never worked out the guys name, but the girl was called Kit). Kit had just given birth and it hadnt gone well. Apparently she had a stroke or a heart attack. Oh no I hear you shout...however do not fear because help is at hand...out of the blue appears the Mighty Alf Stewart to the rescue. "Strewth whats going on here?" Hmm i feel I've seen this scene before.

We were genuinely a bit start struck when Alf appeared. He kept looking over at us and seemed quite intimidating so we didnt approach him or anything. Kieran came up with alternative plots involving 3 British tourists saving the day instead of Alf, but we didnt dare suggest it to him

I did however film the whole scene on my camera. I dont seem to be able to post it though, so you'll just have to wait until it comes over to the UK...I may have to start watching it again just to see this scene.

Julie literally skipped all the way back down the hill, until I nearly tripped up and fell down the cliff face. Kieran was already about to run back up the hill to get help from Alf.

Palm Beach and Ku Ring Gai

Today we took a trip up to the top of Sydney's Nothern Beaches. The very serene Palm Beach. We had a wander uip the beach taking various landscape photos. One of which is below

After we'd seen enough sand we decided to venture inland and go bush walking round Ku Ring Gai National Park. It was a short Ferry trip accross Broken Bay. Scenery was pretty awesome on the Ferry

Sydney Pictures 3

That bloomin Opera House again. This time from the top of one of the Harbour Bridge plyons

Circular Quay from the Harbour Bridge again

Sydney Harbour. You can see the Pacific Ocean right in the distance. Actualy its the Tasman sea but..hey it dont matter

The Rocks

Sydney Pictures 2

Flying foxes in Sydney Botanic Gardens

Ibis

Julie and Kieran

Sydney Pictures 1

Sydney Skyline from North Head...Quite a distance away...The weather was a bit murky, but quite refreshing. Picture wasnt brilliant though.

Manly Beach

Freshwater Beach. 6 years ago Julie and I vandalized some concrete near the swimming pool on the far side. I went to check it out again...but they'd completely landscaped the area WITHOUT MY PERMISSION. I was pretty gutted

Pictures from Singapore

Posh 5 star room - Dont touch anything!

Dragon Fountain

Hotel where old lady was offended by my legs

Singapore skyline