The GOON TANG CLAN

Hello everyone it is Charlotte D....i have finally decided to write an entry for the blog :) Right well our first stop after Brisbane was Noosa a really beautiful beach resort. After being convinced by the tour company which we booked our trips with to stay at their desired accomodation, we were pleased with our choice - we also had a twin room which was nice to have space to completely empty our bags and be as messy as we liked (which we were). Our first night involved walking along the river looking for food, which I feel we do alot :) We both had gourmet burgers and then icecream...charlotte got a bigger helping than me...i wasnt happy! Anyway after a good nights sleep and a little lie in we headed into the town and to check out the shops and the beach. We also decided to see Noosa National Park and decided on a Coastal Walk which was really beautiful and led us to Alexandra Bay or as we knew it the nudest beach!!! There was certainly a lot to see on this beach!! it was also our favourite beach so far - simply because it was so quiet (it might have something to do with the naked men just appearing from the bushes) but anywho we had a lovely day and both think that Noosa is amazing and one of the nicest places we have visited along the east coast! At the hostel we also met some lovely people and learnt a really good card game called Jap (or jeb)

Leaving Noosa we headed up the coast to Rainbow beach which is where we meet our group and travel to Fraser Island! Rainbow Beach itself is a really small town which only has 200 residents so is really chilled! On our first night we met Pat, Joe and Jake who had met while travelling and we ended up in the same car as them for Fraser Island! Fraser Island, which is the biggest sand island in the world, is basically a 3 day 2 night trip which groups off about 11 drive 4wheel car around the island (we were so excited). In preparation for the trip our group which was charl, me, pat, joe, jake, roger (a dutch guy), Ida and Yanni (two swedish girls) Annika and Chantel (2 German girls) and Joe (a guy from Korea who didnt speak much english but was a legend) had to go on a shopping trip and buy food!! It was a little bit crazy as everyone wanted diferrent things however after what felt like 4 hours we were actaully under our budget by $11! this money went to towards alcohol :)

The next morning involved packing the car and learning our itinerary for the next couple of days, there was also another car leaving at the same time as us so altogether there were 21 people! After all the car had been checked and packed safely we left for Fraser Island on a ferry over to the island! Our first stop on the island was Lake Birrabeen which was so beautiful as the sand was white and the sea crystal clear and it was relly quiet! Driving on the island was an experience and as it was being on a theme park ride when you were sitting in the back! Charlotte E took up the challenge of driving the car along the beach, over rocks and up the sand-tracks - pretty scary stuff!

It's now Charlotte E taking over, (the novelty has worn off for Dunkley!!)
So ultimately Fraser was by far a highlight of the trip, big adventures and challenges but a lot of fun along the way! We camped out on the beach under the stars on the first night and stayed the second night at an aboriginal camp (with much appreciated facilities of toilts and showers...wahey!) Here we learnt about aboriginal beliefs and even had a didgeridoo lesson. We cooked all our own food on the island which was often an interesting process but luckily we had some excellent chefs amongst us :) In those three days we learnt a good lesson in how to be completely self-sufficient and we definitely now know the importance of teamwork!!

The trip definitely had its "good times and tough times": the two flat tyres were a bit of bad luck... but we laughed our way through it all and we took away nothing but brilliant memories :)

When we eventually returned to Rainbow Beach (we made the last ferry by a few minutes!) we had a well needed BBQ and sleep and said our farewells to our Fraser-friends the next day and made our final Greyhound bus journey to Brisbane. Dunkley slept the whole way (as usual) and Evans watched two more movies on the trip!

Australia has definitely proved what a small world it is....(even though we know we are travelling the same route as so many others) it's been so nice to bump into the same people again and again! So in a way it was no surprise that the following day we met up with Patrick, Joe and Jacob again in Brisbane! So we were kept amused for a few more nights by these three and managed to see some more sights of Brisbane.

On Saturday we met up with Bernie and Jill Jack (Brisbanites who we met on our tour of Vietnam) and had an absolutely fantastic day with them! They took us to the Alma Park Zoo where we fed and stroked koalas and kangaroos; introduced Charlotte D to the rather addictive lottery-like game of KENO; and we finished with a trip to a Vietnamese restaurant in the evening for old-times sake. We have been so lucky to meet so many lovely people in Austalia and this was a perfect way to finish our stay :)

Off the beaten track

We have had a very busy week whizzing around some beautiful parts of Australia!

After 6 days in Sydney and more farewlls to some lovely friends we knew it was time to move on....so we travelled to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains for two nights. It turned out to be just what we needed; an escape from the city and some of the most amazing views we have ever seen. We were incredibly lucky with the weather, all the locals said they had had solid rain for two weeks but we had three beautifully sunny days! We took cable cars over the breathtaking canyons and journeyed down the steepest railway line ever! Katoomba was a really chilled out little town but it also felt like we'd gone back in time about 30years! We stayed in a Fawlty Towers-esque hostel, hired $1 DVDs and cooked three of the biggest steaks ever.

From there we took another overnight Greyhound up to Byron Bay and stayed right on the gorgeous beachfront. Whilst there we experienced the wonders of Cheeky Monkey's and quickly got into the chilled out atmosphere and were both on a go-slow before we knew it! We have definitely taken advantage of the Sunshine Coast and Dunkley finally managed to get a tan (although I'm a little suspicious as it literally appreared overnight!!) and we had a lot of fun practising our Body Boarding skills!

We've now made a quick pit stop in Brisbane to meet Evans' old work buddy, Sean who we spent a day on the surprisingly lovely city 'beach' with and sort out our last two weeks in Australia! We've got a lot of exciting things planned so we will check back with what we get up to....

Overall we are extremely healthy and happy...we're glad that the weather is improving and prices declining as we move further north... Dunkley is still about 3 weeks behind on her journal; Evans is realising that mosquitos do like her after all; and goodbyes are still sad but this has not yet stopped us from making friends :)

Pictures will follow soon!

Everybody needs good Neighbours!

After just one week in Australia we have already seen so much and made some really lovely friends (including a famous few!)

Well we were right to be worried about being cold in Melbourne!! It was a real shock to the system after the heat of Singapore so we found ourselves wearing all of our warm clothes at once for our 5 days there! It was a really amazing city, there was always so much going on yet there was always a really realxed atmosphere, but unfortunately we moved North as soon as we had seen everything in a bid for some warmth! (sorry this sounds so ungrateful!)

Quite unexpectedly we found ourselves to be number one Neighbours fans whilst in Melbourne: After a tour of Ramsay Street and a trip to the infamous 'Neighbours Night' I think we were a bit Neighboursed out!! But it was absolutely brilliant, in fact, Dr. Karl himself actually promised to check out our blog!!

From Melbourne we spent a day on The Great Ocean Road with our brilliant guide, Geoff. We actually had beautiful weather for most of the day and managed to see the scenery and landmarks perfectly! One of the highlights of the day was randomly seeing a wild koala when we stopped at the side of the road :)

We have also had some brilliant food in Australia: Parma's, Billy tea and Australian cake, snitzel, pecan pie, and the numerous varities of Cadbury chocolate bars (we are definitely indulging ourselves on this trip: good job we're doing so much walking!). We're yet to get a kangaroo burger on the barbie but it's on our list of things to do!

This week we experienced our first overnight bus journey from Melbourne to Sydney and both of us slept pretty much the whole 12 hours...we're thinking not only is this is an excellent way to not only get from A to B, but also to save on accommodation costs?!!

Sydney has been fantastic, not only has it been nice to have some sun again, but we have stayed in two brilliant hostels and met a lot of great people. We spent a day on Bondi Beach, another with the many animals of Taronga Zoo! We also spent Easter Sunday in the beautiful Botanic Gardens next to Sydney Harbour and have enjoyed a lot of spider spotting (as well as finding time to drink our fair share of 'Goon' and play numerous games of categories!!)

Next week we are heading inland for a few days to Katoomba to see the beautiful Blue Mountains and then we head onwards and upwards to Byron Bay...we will update again soon!

By the way, photos are now up to date on my (Evans') Fecebook so have a look...there are quite a lot so hope it's not too boring!