Byron Bay

We flew to Brisbane and then got the bus to Byron Bay on the 24th November 2007. We had'nt decided what we were going to do there or how long we would stay so we booked a hostel for 2 nights and met up with Dalia and Eddie.

Hayley and I decided pretty quickly that we would love to stay in one place for a while as we had not yet settled anywhere for longer than 4 nights so we started to look into renting a room in a house. We found a house really quickly it was right by the beach in a bungalow, we shared the house with the owner called Gretchin, 2 canadian girls, a German girl and a couple. We had our own room and could unpack are bags at last!!

We stayed in Byron Bay until the 29th December 2007 it was such a lovely place and we had an amazing time going to the beach everyday and going out every night (after Neighbours) we met loads of people in Byron and saw lots of live music.

We had to move out of or house on December the 24th and decided to camp, with the group of people we were with, for the last week. On Christmas day we had a BBQ on the beach cooked by Dalia we also met up with Dale and Orla who were passing through Byron.

Byron Bay was such a nice place and i would love to go back there, we have amazing memories from Byron and it was very sad to leave.

We left on the 29th December with very bad hangovers and flew to Sydney to meet up with Faye and Mark for new year.

Travelling up the East Coast

Our first stop was Coffs Harbour. We put up our tent (or the boys put up the tent and we watched) and went for a few drinks and sorted out our route. It sounded great but very optimistic so we will just see how things go. Our next stop was Byron Bay. It was a really lovely place, very chilled out. We stayed at Clark's Beach campsite. We walked out to the view point which probably would have had beautiful views if it hadn't have been really cloudy and raining. We went and put our tent up in the rain and headed into town. We went to the Rails then on to Cheeky Monkey's as it had been recommended to us. It was really cheesy but we had a good time and had a dance on the tables.

The next morning we took down the tent (in the rain) and left for Brisbane. We stayed at Clark's beach campsite which was nice but it was still raining. We pitched our tent again and went to have a look around.

We left Brisbane the next afternoon after getting some more camping supplies. We stopped off in Surfers Paradise but the weather was still awful and the place didn't deem that nice so after a few hours we decided to leave. We drove for a while and stopped at a place called Tiara on the 8th of November. It was a free campsite that we had found in a book we has bought which had lists of all the free and cheap campsites around Australia. It had hot showers and BBQ facilities so we got some fish, garlic bread and beans. (Our supplies were very limited) and had a BBQ with some red Goon.

The next morning we planned to get up early so we could get to Hervey bay and sort out our trips to Fraser island and the Whitsunday's. We needn't have set our alarms as we were woken up about 4.30am by a guy in a huge mobile home that was stuck in mud and was revving his car for about an hour.

We spent about an hour deciding which trips to go on and which company had the best deals, we finally agreed on a good one and booked it.

On November the 10th we left we left for Fraser Island. We had booked a self drive 3 day trip in a 4x4 there were six of us included Zo, me, ed, Will and Jonas and Carmel. The roads (if you can call them roads) were really bumpy and scary but Ed done most of the driving and was at most times quite good. We got to Lake Mackenzie and were amazed. It was was so beautiful and the sand was so white. We went in the water for a while but as we were on a tight itinerary (as the beaches were our roads and when the tide came in you obviously couldn't drive on them) we left and headed for our campsite. The Campsite was run by Aboriginals which was really cool. We had BBQ's, watched them do their traditional dancing and they took us on a bush tucker walk. The next morning, following out itinerary we drove to Indian Head. The view was lovely and you can apparently see loads of tiger sharks swimming around (we didn't see any!!) We then walked to the champagne Pools which were like big rook pools. We drove back to the camp and Zoe decided to check out her 4x4 skills on the beach and i have to say they were very good (even better than her Clio skills!!) On our last day we went to Lake Wabby which we walked about 1km through sand dunes to get too. The lake was lovely but had Cat fish in which put me off a bit. We decided to leave Lake Wabby early so we could go back to Lake Mackensie. We swam for ages, Zoe Ed and i decided to swim to the other side as it didn't look that far. (it was) then we had to swim back. I was exhausted by the time we had got back and we laid in the shallow waters soaking up the sun until it was time to head back to Hervey Bay.

We left early Tuesday morning and stopped off at Mackay, we then left for Airlie beach to get ready for our Whitsunday's trip. We boarded our boat "Romance". We chatted to everyone and met Dalia, Eddie and loads of other people. The crew were all really friendly. We sailed for a while, the sea was really choppy and everyone was falling over the boat. The boat was moored by an island and everyone had dinner and drank lots.
The next morning we got up early to go snorkeling which was lovely. We saw loads of fish and colourful corals. The boys reckon they saw a reef shark but we missed it. We were in the water for hours then went back to the boat for lunch. We went to White haven Beach which was gorgeous. We went up to the lookout to take some pictures and then went to swim in the sea. The sea was so clear and the sand was so white. It started to rain whilst we were in the sea but it was lovely as the water was so warm. That evening it was party night. We started playing drinking games and eventually most of the people on the boat joined in. The boat was moored and we all went to this resort to carry on drinking. There was a pool there which everyone inevitably ended up in fully clothed. We went back to the boat and carried on the drinking games until the early hours. In the morning went went snorkeling again which seemed to get rid of our hangovers. We got back to Airlie beach mid afternoon and tried to find hostel beds as it was my birthday and i wanted a change from the tent with the smelly boys. we had no luck as it was "scholies" week and so we had to make do with our trusty tent. We went out with all the people we had met on the boat and got ready to see in my birthday. At midnight everyone everyone sung happy birthday and we had lots of shots. We had such a fun night and went round to a few places till very early in the morning. In the morning i got up and Zo had decorated the tent with banners and had party poppers. She took me for breakfast and gave me my presents (which i had loads of). We went out for dinner in the evening with the boys and went on to a few bars and had a dance.

Our next destination was Cairns, we stayed at a hostel called Gilligan's which was like a 5* hotel after staying in a tent. Cains was nice and we decided to book up a day trip to go snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef. The weather was lovely and topped up our tans quite a bit. We stopped at two different parts on the reef. We saw a Nemo and about a million other different fish. We had had a wicked day and left the boat in a really good mood. The boys said they wanted to have a coffee and a chat about our next part of the trip. We met them in a cafe and they started saying what a good time we had had so far. They said that due to the extra supplies we would need to go on in to the outback there wasn't enough room for us to go with them. We were a bit shocked as we had planned to leave the next morning but we extended our stay in Cairns and planned to go back to Byron for a while with Dalia and Eddie. We said by to the boys the next morning after a slightly awkward evening and went off to plan our next part of our trip.

Sorry it has been a while we are very busy

we will write again soon .....

Australia - The Road Trip

After a 13 hour flight we got off the plane in Sydney it was Friday the 2nd of November. We stayed at a hostel called Wake Up which was more like a hotel it was really nice and in the centre of Sydney. As it was Friday night we had to keep up a long standing tradition and go out and have a drink (or 2!).

The next day we walked around Sydney exploring the city (a little hungover) we went to Darling harbour , the Opera House, botanic gardens, Sydney harbour bridge, the rocks and had a look round all the shops we really enjoyed our self's it was so different from being in South Africa and we felt so free.

In the hostel there was a notice board with lots of things for sale, jobs and people asking if anyone wants to share petrol costs and travel with them. We saw an advert from 2 English guys Ed and Will that said they had a car and wanted 1 or 2 people to share petrol costs and travel round Australia from the 5th of November and back to Sydney for Christmas. We called them and then met up it was perfect as we have 2 months to travel before Faye and Mark are due out to Sydney for New Year. We talked about what we wanted to do and agreed that we would try and make it round Australia and back to Sydney by Christmas.

We left Sydney on the 5th of November and headed for our first stop Coffs Harbour. We have 7 weeks which is 49 days to try and drive all the way round Australia. We are going to camp most of the time and stop at all the main places Byron Bay, Brisbane, Fraser Island, Whitsundays, Cairns, Darwin, Perth, Aires Rock, Adelaide and Melbourne. We are really excited about our road trip and plan to have as much fun as possible. We are also very glad we get to see so much of Australia and if the boys ever let us we may even drive the car which is a Holden Commodore named "the Polar Bear".

Saying goodbye to South Africa

It is the 1st of November 2007 and the end of our first Continent. We have spent the last 7 weeks in South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique and it has been the best start to our trip we could have ever wished for. We have made good and bad decisions but it has always worked out OK, we have had few if not no real arguments or problems and are so glad about everything we have done. We have made friends we will hopefully always stay in touch with and see along the way in the year to come.

South Africa is a beautiful country and we have learnt a lot. Australia is the next chapter of trip and it is sad to say goodbye to South Africa and all the people we have met but this is only the beginning.

Watch out Australia!!!

Kruger

We left Swaziland for Nelspruit on which was to be our last baz bus journey. We went through the Swaziland/South Africa border and got even more stamps added top our passport. We went through customs and the guy was trying to get Zoe's number but luckily she managed to get through without giving him it. We got Nelspruit mid afternoon and ventured out for a tour. It was a lovely place, very pretty and clean. That night we talked to some South Africans we had met about our nearly ending trip to SA.

We got picked up around lunch time by our Kruger tour guide. Once we got there we were welcomed with a drink and set off for our night drive. It was hard to spot the animals in the dark but we had a strong spot light which Zoe was in charge of and managed to see a few animals including giraffes catching their eyes with the light.
We went to our tree house lodge where we were going to be staying whilst on the tour. We were shown to our tree house (which wasn't exactly in the trees but was amongst them on stilts) We had dinner altogether and were told what was happening the following day. We went back to inspect our room and Zoe lifted her pillow up to find a huge frog. We spent about an hour trying to chase it our the hut with Books and magazines but were failing miserably. We decided to go and find someone to help us but when we opened the door we were surrounded by buffalo!!!! There were about 12 of them all watching us. When they had finally gone we went up to the main house to find some help but everyone had gone to bed. By the time we had got back we had lost the frog so decided to top and tail in the same bed tucking our mosquito net into the mattress so nothing could get us. We got up the nest morning and told everyone of our traumatic evening over breakfast. We then set off for our game drive. We were in a huge safari truck which was amazing. We drove round for a bit and saw giraffes first then some elephants which were really close. The guide said that we had to stay clear of the younger one which was still huge and just as he had that it the elephant came towards us. (the driver still took his time to move though) We then saw a leopard resting in a tree but was quite a distance away. Next we saw a group of sleeping lions, the females were sleeping and the male had got up to do a number 2!!! and we managed to get some good pictures of that. We also saw buffalo, zebras, wildebeest, wild cats, crocodiles, hippos and lots of other weird animals. That night we went back to check out hut for animals that had gotten in during the day but it was OK. We were warned that monkeys would try to get in and steel anything laying around!!! We shared a bed again and hardly slept as all we could hear were animal noises then in the morning we went on a 6am bush walk.

We left for jo'burg through a very scenic route which was beautiful. We stopped at Blayde River Canyon and the views breathtaking and we arrived at In Africa Lodge hostel early evening. We went for a look around jo'burg with a couple (Brain and Caroline) who we met on our safari. That evening Zoe and i went out for a meal to celebrate our last night in Africa. We wanted to go for a traditional African food but ended up in an Italian as there was our only choice. We tried snails which were lovely and ate far to much sea food that we could hardly move. We went back to the hostel and chatted to Caroline and Brian before going to bed excited about our journey the next day to Australia.

Swaziland and Mozambique

We arrived in Swaziland at about 6pm on Friday the 19th of October we had booked to stay at a backpackers called Always the Baz bus would only drop us at Legends so we stayed the night there this was the start of our run of bad luck!!

We got up the next day and had planned to travel over to Mozambique for a few days we had met Katie and Dave previously who had recommended hostels in Mozambique to stay. We travelled from Swaziland over to Maputo in Mozambique we got a "taxi" which is basically a mini bus rammed full of as many people possible we ended up sitting next to 3 kids who at the end of the trip were sick on Hayley's leg. We arrived at Mozambique at 5pm and got dropped of at a "bus station"we then had to pull our backpacks out of the trailer with loads of people surrounding us trying to get us to go with them in there taxi it was really horrible and me and Hayley just looked at each other not knowing what to do after being ripped off by a taxi we got to our first hostel in Mozambique called The Base. It was just a stop off as we wanted to go all the way to Tofu which is about a 7 and a half bus ride from Maputo. We had to get up at 5am to get our bus to Tofu, we got to the bus station and where ushered into a mini bus "taxi" we paid the small fee to take us to Tofu we then had to sit and wait until the mini bus was full which took 3 and a half hours!! So before we even left Maputo we sat in a mini bus with thousands of people around us in the market just waiting to leave. We finally left the bus station at 9.30am and left for Tofu we already had numb bums and we hadn't even left yet!

We got to Tofu at 5.30pm and hadn't stopped once we shared the mini bus with men, women, babies and a distressed chicken!! All we could do was laugh after all we had ended are nightmare bus ride in Tofu which was beautiful. We had to walk along the beach to our hostel the water was warm and very colourful it was stunning.

The hostel we stayed in was called Bamboozi and we booked to stay 3 nights the setting was so nice huts dotted around the beach the journey felt worth it now. Are first full day in Tofu we went to the beach and swam in the sea for hours which was warm, we said to ourselves we deserved to rest for the day. The next day we went snorkeling which was brilliant we swam with a whale shark and saw a dolphin close up playing in the sea. In the evenings we drank beer and watched the sun set, we decided after alot of talking that we would do anything not to have that taxi journey again and booked are selfs onto a flight from Inhabane to Maputo which is only a 45 min flight. The airport was tiny and so was the plain! We left Maputo in Mozambique and went to Swaziland which took another 3 hours

We arrived at the backpackers called Sonzela's in the evening which was situated in a nature reserve. We stayed 3 nights and on our first morning we opened the door to our hut and we saw Zebra an Ostrich and dear which were about 15 feet away! It was a really nice place very peaceful and obviously loads of wildlife. During the day we went on walks and saw a crocodile by a watering hole we also walked past Zebras and warthogs. In the evening we drank wine and had food by the fire we also started playing cheat (a card game) and soon got everyone addicted!!

Tomorrow is Saturday the 27th and we are heading to Nelspurit and then onto Kruger National Park to go on safari the park is said to be massive 2 million kilometers!! We have been told to wear neutral colours so pink and yellow it is!!