Monday, August 22, 2005
They think its all over... oh, it is!
Well, thats it.
I leave sydney in around 24 hours to fly home to sunny England.
Humph!
Ah well, it was a beautiful end to the trip. Sydney is a fabulous city, could easily live here (if i could afford it and if i could do something about my sushi addiction!) Just been happily window shopping and dreaming of what i can buy with my NHS bursary! (maybe a suit for job interviews - argh!)
Hope you've all had a fab summer, whatever you've been doing. Maybe i'll change this site now to a final year help spot... all requests on a postcard please!
Signing off... Gem xxx
I leave sydney in around 24 hours to fly home to sunny England.
Humph!
Ah well, it was a beautiful end to the trip. Sydney is a fabulous city, could easily live here (if i could afford it and if i could do something about my sushi addiction!) Just been happily window shopping and dreaming of what i can buy with my NHS bursary! (maybe a suit for job interviews - argh!)
Hope you've all had a fab summer, whatever you've been doing. Maybe i'll change this site now to a final year help spot... all requests on a postcard please!
Signing off... Gem xxx
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Back to civilisation!
Wow, i've had the most amazing nine days! have just arrived in sydney after my outback tour and i'm soooo tired. Think i'll just list what i did in a vague way, feel free to ask questions!
- swam in rock pools / under waterfalls / in hot springs.
- walked around uluru / the olgas.
- climbed kings canyon.
- slept in swag.
- covered nearly 5000 kilometres!
- drank a lot of alcohol.
- cooked damper on a fire.
- saw wallabies, wild horses, wild pigs, emus, camels, buffalo (including the one off crocodile dundee!) but no snakes, no spiders (thank god!)
- sang karaoke on a bus full of strangers.
- jumped off a lot of rocks into rivers.
- swam with crocodiles (!)
- went to the oldest pub in the northern territory.
- met some amazing people.
Also, for those who don't know, Dale has accepted a place at durham to do marketing next year!
Life is good!
Thursday, August 04, 2005
Leaving Cairns!
Well guys, i'm off tomorrow, to sunny darwin and then deepest darkest australia. The weather here brightened up today (typically!) and apparently the cloud has moved up to darwin, great! Looking forward to what the next few weeks hold though! See you all very soon! X
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Pole dancing professionals!
Ever woke up in the morning, gone to wash your hair and had trouble lifting your arms because of aching muscles? Was this feeling combined with the hangover from hell? Then you could have been... POLE DANCING!
Oh god, put me 15,000 miles away from anybody i know (apart from sarah but she's as bad as me!) and all dignity goes out of the window! Its started as a quiet evening, a couple of glasses of wine, then a few more, then a few more... then someone suggeted power hour! power hour is from 11:30 till 12:30 in a trasy bar called Sporties, $6 entry then free drinks. And we had a system. Three people get to the bar and order drinks, as they step back, three more people step forward to get their drinks, when the first lot have finished you switch places again. Thats a lot of vodka and coke in a very little time. Then, there were the poles...
You know what its like, you start on the dance floor, dancing in a sober, reserved way. Well, then i got a bit tipsy and we decided to pole dance, again, very reserved, a bit giggly but not serious! Trouble is, vodka and coke makes you an expert at anything so by the end of the night i felt i could have got a job at Spearmint Rhino i was so good! Actually fell over a few times, expecially when i tried to swing myself round and have many inidentified drinking injuries but hey, it must have been fun for everyone else.
So, to anyone who wants to maintain their dignity, don't drink and pole dance!
Oh god, put me 15,000 miles away from anybody i know (apart from sarah but she's as bad as me!) and all dignity goes out of the window! Its started as a quiet evening, a couple of glasses of wine, then a few more, then a few more... then someone suggeted power hour! power hour is from 11:30 till 12:30 in a trasy bar called Sporties, $6 entry then free drinks. And we had a system. Three people get to the bar and order drinks, as they step back, three more people step forward to get their drinks, when the first lot have finished you switch places again. Thats a lot of vodka and coke in a very little time. Then, there were the poles...
You know what its like, you start on the dance floor, dancing in a sober, reserved way. Well, then i got a bit tipsy and we decided to pole dance, again, very reserved, a bit giggly but not serious! Trouble is, vodka and coke makes you an expert at anything so by the end of the night i felt i could have got a job at Spearmint Rhino i was so good! Actually fell over a few times, expecially when i tried to swing myself round and have many inidentified drinking injuries but hey, it must have been fun for everyone else.
So, to anyone who wants to maintain their dignity, don't drink and pole dance!
Sunday, July 31, 2005
crocs and coppers!
Well, we returned safely from our road trip to cape trib and the waterfalls (just!) Had endless fun on the winding mountain roads (managed to annoy everyone in queensland by driving slightly too slow!). Did so much stuff - went to a koala sanctuary and held them (ah!), went on a croc cruise where we saw loads of wild crocs (seriously, i was like the female steve irwin, so cool!), went on a night treck in the rainforest (saw more crocs, spiders, toads, bandicoots, everything!), lazed on the beach, explored Port Douglas (like cairns but smaller), went to baron falls (apparently quite spectacular after some rain, not so good when its been dry!) and got pulled over by the police!
Don't worry, turns out the car we'd hired should never have been rented out as its registered as private and the guy who owns it is wanted by the police! was so scared when my rear view mirror was full of flashing lights though! Thought they were gonna lock me up for ever (or fine me a lot of money!). But we'd been good girls and the copper was very nice... didn't stop shaking for about an hour afterwards though!
Cairns is back to its usual murky self unfortunately so no sunbathing for a few days. Off to Darwin on saturday which marks the beginning of the end.
Hey! Where did my elective go?!
Don't worry, turns out the car we'd hired should never have been rented out as its registered as private and the guy who owns it is wanted by the police! was so scared when my rear view mirror was full of flashing lights though! Thought they were gonna lock me up for ever (or fine me a lot of money!). But we'd been good girls and the copper was very nice... didn't stop shaking for about an hour afterwards though!
Cairns is back to its usual murky self unfortunately so no sunbathing for a few days. Off to Darwin on saturday which marks the beginning of the end.
Hey! Where did my elective go?!
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Sea turtles and sea sickness!
A note to all budding sailors - a litre of wine in the evening does not mix well with a boat trip on a choppy sea in the morning! Especially when the wine is cheap crap!
Been diving on the Great Barrier Reef! I swam with a sea turtle, it was amazing, so beautiful and graceful and serene! Also dived without a guide for the first time (like driving alone for the first time, lots of fun but bloody scary!) Shame i couldn't enjoy the tropical lunch provided, especially not second time around!
The weather in cairns is slowly improving and we're preparing for the road trip up to cape trib - thats cape tribulation for those of you not so well travelled as me :o) I'm the desingated driver so australia beware but we're gonna go searching for crocs and cuddle koalas and explore the rainforest. Woo hoo!
Have drunk muchos alcohol lately, well, gotta investigate those new world wines, and have been rather ill for the past two days. I'm improving now though so let the partying begin (although maybe a litle more restrained this time, at a club on thursday night i punched a guy in the eye when i was dancing (sorry simon!).
Keep partying everyone, and remember the real reason we're on this elective...
Been diving on the Great Barrier Reef! I swam with a sea turtle, it was amazing, so beautiful and graceful and serene! Also dived without a guide for the first time (like driving alone for the first time, lots of fun but bloody scary!) Shame i couldn't enjoy the tropical lunch provided, especially not second time around!
The weather in cairns is slowly improving and we're preparing for the road trip up to cape trib - thats cape tribulation for those of you not so well travelled as me :o) I'm the desingated driver so australia beware but we're gonna go searching for crocs and cuddle koalas and explore the rainforest. Woo hoo!
Have drunk muchos alcohol lately, well, gotta investigate those new world wines, and have been rather ill for the past two days. I'm improving now though so let the partying begin (although maybe a litle more restrained this time, at a club on thursday night i punched a guy in the eye when i was dancing (sorry simon!).
Keep partying everyone, and remember the real reason we're on this elective...
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Bloody english weather!
let me make one thing clear...
I did not fly all the way across the world for rain!
Cairns is miserable at the moment! Overcast skies, rain (and i mean proper rain, not little showers!). It wouldn't be so bad if there was something to do but Cairns does not cater for indoor activites, or culture of any type. Its amazing how quiet it goes here when the sun goes away.
Went to Fitzroy island over the weekend (when the weather was still beautiful!). Climbed to the summit (not far but steep, nearly died!), went on the beach (managed to burn just my right ear!) and did some snorkelling (beautiful as always, i saw a huge maori fish - thought it was a shark at first!). Came back fully rested then did a couple of days of outback clinics in the deepest depths of cape york. Cairns Base Hospital has admissions from a region the size of the UK so loads of clinics are miles away. The first one (pomporaaw) was an hour and a hlaf flight away and the second (kowanayama) was another 15 mintues flight form that. And apparently they're close together! There's a lot fo GAFA (great areas of f*** all) but you can't deny that australia is a very beautiful country. The clinics were depressing, lots of alcoholism and neglected children but it was useful to see. Back to proper civilised medicine now, or at least we will be when we stop sleeping till 11am!
Diving the reef on saturday - hope the weathers better by then so i can sunbathe on the boat! x
I did not fly all the way across the world for rain!
Cairns is miserable at the moment! Overcast skies, rain (and i mean proper rain, not little showers!). It wouldn't be so bad if there was something to do but Cairns does not cater for indoor activites, or culture of any type. Its amazing how quiet it goes here when the sun goes away.
Went to Fitzroy island over the weekend (when the weather was still beautiful!). Climbed to the summit (not far but steep, nearly died!), went on the beach (managed to burn just my right ear!) and did some snorkelling (beautiful as always, i saw a huge maori fish - thought it was a shark at first!). Came back fully rested then did a couple of days of outback clinics in the deepest depths of cape york. Cairns Base Hospital has admissions from a region the size of the UK so loads of clinics are miles away. The first one (pomporaaw) was an hour and a hlaf flight away and the second (kowanayama) was another 15 mintues flight form that. And apparently they're close together! There's a lot fo GAFA (great areas of f*** all) but you can't deny that australia is a very beautiful country. The clinics were depressing, lots of alcoholism and neglected children but it was useful to see. Back to proper civilised medicine now, or at least we will be when we stop sleeping till 11am!
Diving the reef on saturday - hope the weathers better by then so i can sunbathe on the boat! x
