2 MONTHS GONE

My oh my, has it really been 2 months since the last update? Yes. That is correct.

Since we last spoke i have been all over Australia, currently in a little town called Portland about 4 hours from Adelaide.

We did eventually find jobs in Sydney. Which meant we had to drive 40 hours straight to make it back to the big city in time to begin. It was at a fruit farm, pruning flowers and then the fruit later on. It started out okay, good enough pay for what it was and we had a cheap campsite. Eventually though we had to leave because they were in trouble with the council and then finding somewhere to stay became harder and more expensive. In total it was around 5 weeks before we packed up and left. We had almost two weeks without any work because the fruit was not growing as quickly as expected and we felt we were being treated unfairly. Our friendly employers were becoming not so friendly. So we left. For me it was only two days before i was scheduled to leave anyway but for my companions it was a good couple of weeks. But y'know, some things work out for the better.

We stayed in Sydney for around a week and my friend from the UK flew in. Then we decided to drive to Melbourne and do the Great Ocean Road. This is something me and George have already done about a month into our Australian adventure, but it was amazing and it wasn't entirely the same, we made sure the change it up. Including going to a wildlife sanctuary and seeing the cutest baby dingo i have ever laid my eyes on!

Just before we hit Melbourne we decided to rent a house on Phillip Island, infamous for it's penguin parade every evening. Here we celebrated my 20th birthday and then a few days later got robbed. Yup, this happened to us whilst we were having a lovely walk along a beach and came back to find our lock had been forced and i was short of my wallet. An Ipad and a camera were also in the mix. Not a lot got taken, but the most valuable to us. My wallet has two memory cards full of pictures from the past 7 months, which have now gone forever pretty much and the other two were also full of photos. C'est la vie. We didn't let this hold us back. Just a few tears were shed.

That evening we drove into Melbourne were me and Jordan were booked into a hostel for the night. One of the best i have stayed in so far, might i add. (Discovery Hostel) It was bang slap next door to The Queen Victoria Markets. We went for lunch with a lovely couple he had met on his flight over. We explored the markets, bought an engraved ring for $15! and a dog tag for my dog back home. We also went to the Eureka Tower which is the tallest building in the city and from there we could see the MCG and watch the AFL final! Pretty awesome. We also went to a market called Finders, which was full of independent stores and, dare i say it,  basically Pinterest as a market. Cute little knick-knacks and food and drinks everywhere! I loved the place.

Our next stop was the Great Ocean Road, i have written about it in a post before and nothing has changed. It is just as beautiful. Except this time we went swimming in Loch Ard Gorge and saw an awesome sunset. The weather was in the high 30's for a change so it was a lovely drive.

The next few days are going to consist of wineries, German towns and Adelaide. After that we will all go our separate ways until Christmas! I am going to explore Western Australia, the others are finding work and Jordan is popping back to Melbourne before meeting me in Perth.

I'm excited to see what the next few months bring me! See ya! x

LEAVING BRISBANE, AND BACK IN CAIRNS

Well hello! It's been a while, a few months!

So what has happened since i last made contact with this blog? Quite a lot actually!

I ended up spending two months in Brisbane, a month of which was working for accommodation at Base Central Backpackers. Here i was a housekeeper, which was an okay job and it gave me free rent which saved me $600. I made a tonne of new friends and said goodbye to some other ones, and then eventually to all of them when i decided to pack up and leave just short of a month ago! But we'll get back to that in a moment. First of all, what did i get up to whilst in one city for that long?Many things i can assure you, but quite important to me was the fact that i could finally unpack and not live out of a backpack!

There are lots of little treasures in this wonderful city and although i dreamed of escaping and traveling once again, i wouldn't change this little adventure for anything. Sunday sessions on the green at Southbank played a big part in my ability to stay sane and every weekend we'd go to the bottle shop and purchase the cheapest bottle of wine we could find, pick up some cups and catch the free ferry across the river to the green. Here we could chill out and listen to free music, drink wine and watch the sun go down over the city.

A few times we went to Eat Street Markets which is a big food market (obviously!) which contains may food stalls, serving food from all over the world! My first time i was like a kid Disneyland and it took me a good few loops to decide on what i wanted to eat. I chose yaki soba, langos and a cronut with a syringe on Nutella! Sounds like heaven right? I did try to not get the same thing and also tried the lanksa, currywurst and few other heavenly foods! Some locals do not even know of the existence of this place, we found out, even though it is a weekly event.

We also went to the Soutbank markets a few times, where i purchased a new ring. There was also a food market at the end of the mall every Wednesday where we would go around trying all of the foods.

Towards the end of our time in Brisbane we finally got around to visiting Mt Coot-ha, which is a lookout with spectacular views across the city and surrounds, and therefore became one of my favorite places. Here we were to say our final farewells to the city that became home for a few months.

Me and two friends, one who i've been traveling with ever since we met in our first ever week in hostels in Sydney and one we met in Cairns, decided that we wanted to leave! And that we did. on Gumtree i discovered a camper van that seated five people and slept four, for a reasonable price. The following day we met with the owners to have a look around and then the day after purchase our beloved Trevor. One week later and we were outta there!

Our 3 weeks travelling up to Cairns has bought us to many places we visited on our first East Coast adventure, but now with the ability to drive ourselves we got to see many new sites that Australia has to offer! Lots of lookouts, lot of sunsets, lots of waterfalls and many evenings playing card games. Our waterfall collection includes the infamous Milaa Milaa waterfall known for being the waterfall used in the herbal essence adverts! I have been nominated as chef, which i enjoy. Even though we have minimal room and the smallest pans in the world where i was having to cook for four hungry mouths! But now it's just as easy as cooking in a normal kitchen, though i still cannot seem to get the correct amount of rice and end up with tonnes of the stuff! But somehow we have gone down to two meals a day and eating rather healthy, due to buying mountains of fruit and veg from little stalls along the road where everything is as cheap as chips. Our stomachs have seemed to have shrunk a lot in the past months since leaving the city life.

Now it is back to the job hunting. We are currently in a little place called Ingham staying at a free campsite 20km west, near to Wallaman Falls. (Australia's tallest single drop waterfall, a stunning place) Trying to find farm work is seemingly harder then it seems, although we are at an advantage with our own transport and accommodation. We are thinking of heading down south any time soon, as that's where the promising phone calls seem to come from. But we'll see.

Lots of driving, and being in the middle of nowhere means that i have had the opportunity to read again and therefore since leaving Brisbane i have got back into books. The Girl On The Train, Dracula and now i am currently reading Be My Guest by Conrad Hilton, the man who built the Hilton Hotel empire! It's actually an interesting read and has given me many more facts to add to my random fact collection in my brain!

Oh, before i leave i would like to inform to the fact that i still haven't gotten my laptop fixed and have basically been carrying a dead wait with me for over 3 months. I also ended up braking my phone so had to purchase a new one, and have also been given the crown for most clumsiest and messiest person people have ever met. Saying that though, i have become a much more confident person and can speak to people! Hallelujah!

Anyway, the job searching awaits and i have taken a half an hour brake to finally get round to updating you all, so i must get back!

Thanks for reading!

P.S. Check out my Instagram for photos of all my travels! @wanderlustandfree and give me a follow if you so wish!

THE OUTBACK

Hello!

I know, i know. It's been over a month since i last posted on here. Firstly, i spent almost two weeks travelling through the outback. Starting in Darwin and finishing thousands of kilometres later in Adelaide, which is when i realised that i have a busted laptop screen and still haven't gotten round to getting it fixed because i don't want to spend money on it until it becomes necassary.

So, let's have a catchup shall we?

We decided in Cairns to do the middle, whilst we still had money and weren't desperatley seeking a job. There we found ourselves planning the next part to our adventure.

After a week in Cairns, we took a flight across the country to Darwin. Here was had a good couple of days before our tour started.

The first tour, which took us 6 days and down to Alice Springs was with a company abtly named WayOutback. It was decided into two sections.

For the first 3 days we travelled down to Litchfield National Park, and then across to Kakadu National Park. We spent out time swimming in waterfalls, crusing in crocodile infested rivers (where we saw two saltwater crocs! Crikey mate!), viewing ancient Aboriginal Art, seeking out some amazing views and meeting some awesome people.

The next 3 days we had a different tour guide, taking us down to Alice Springs. Again, we started in Darwin and then drove and drove and drove! Again, we met some lovely people and did some amazing things. Such as swimming in thermal pools, watching glorious sunsets, climbing The Devils Marbles, visiting the infamous Daly Waters, hiking to view Katherine Gorge and also cutting my knee open. Yes, this is something that happened and the following day i passed out at a service station whilst trying to get the bandage off. All fun and games here.

Finally we made it to Alice Springs. One place i have always wanted to visit, one place that isn't high on my list to visit again. It was an experience, and was pretty. But there isn't exactly alot to do without a car and the crime rate is very high. Someone described it to me as 'the bad side of Cape Town, for Australia'. We did end up in a weird little "club" though, which was an experience. On our second, and final, night in Alice we were downstairs and overheard the women at reception telling another women who had just arrived, that she wasn't allowed to go out after 10pm on her own because the risks were too high. Saying all this though, it was a good few days spent with friends.

I preferred the second tour to the first one, mainly because i fianlly got to see Uluru (Ayers Rock), which is something that i have been waiting to do pretty much my whole life. We did this tour with a company called Groovy Grape. The first day we got picked up around 6am and drove straight to Kings Canyon, which is a big canyon with amazing views. It also includes The Garden Of Eden, which is a big waterhole with trees everywhere, in the middle of all this dry sandstone. It was truly beautiful, and a lovely (apart from the uphill climbing) hike. On our drive here we stopped at the only service station, and ended up bumping into a friend we met on Fraser Island and continued to follow up the East Coast... how weird!

We then spent one night at Kings Canyon before continuing on to Uluru. We arrived around lunch time and ate food. Then we drove into the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and hiked Kata Tjuta, also named The Olgas. They are made up of 36 individual rocks, which altogether is bigger then Uluru but equally as beautiful in my opinion. It is also lesser known, due to the fact you cannot take photos for commercial use or for photography that will then be sold.

Sometime between 5 and 6pm we walked up to the Uluru Sunset lookout, and viewed a pretty amazing sunset. Although the one on the second night was better. When the sun is setting, it glows off the rock creating an intense red colour. The next day we woke up early and viewed the sunrise, which made Uluru go a beautiful purple colour. We then hiked around the base of Uluru, and i took some great photos which are unfortunately stuck on my camera because i can't transfer the images onto my broken laptop.

Finally it was time to leave this incredible, spiritual place and head to a town called Coober Pedy, the opal capital of the world! We had to leave at 4am and the drive was near enough 8 hours long, which meant that i slept for the majority of the morning until we arrived at lunch time. After a bit to eat we headed to an Opal Museum, where i spent alot of money of buying jewellry, we also got to take a look at an underground house. This is what makes this place so special in my opinion, about 80% of the people who live here, do so in underground houses. Which just seems so awesome to me! Next on the list was to go to a Kangaroo Sanctuary, one of the only ones in South Australia. Here we fed the kangaroos and saw a joey who was so tiny and adorable. We then went for pizza and then our tour guide and asked a DJ to play for us, so we partied until the early hours of the morning.

The next day was got a lay in... 7am! And after a night spent in our underground hostel, we were as fresh as a daisy, if not then a little hungover. But we had one more long drive, which meant more sleeping! Sometime in the evening we made it to our last camping spot for our outback adventure. We pulled up at our campsite, situated somewhere in the Flinders Ranges. Here we drunk some more and gave one of our new friends a terrible hair cut, much to his dismay.

Our final day was spent hiking through a section of the Flinders Ranges, before driving to Adelaide. Bringing this incredible experience to an end...

If you are travelling in Australia, then this should all be on your list of cool stuff to do because it was phenomenal and probably my favourite part of my year out here so far.

I then went on to spend a week in Adelaide, which has come to be one of my favourtie cities, and am currently back in Brisbane looking for work. Hopefully i will get my laptop fixed soon, and then i have alot of catching up to do with putting photos on this blog. But i will get there eventually! Anyway, thank you for reading! xxx

MADE IT TO CAIRNS

Hello!

Finally we have made it to Cairns, concluding our East Coast adventure! Not that it's fully over yet because this city has so much to do!

Since Brisbane we have visited ... towns and seen some incredible sights and met some lovely people. My highlights include Fraser Island and The Whitsundays. I think one of the main reasons I loved these two places the most is because they were both tours, meaning we were with a group of 20+ people and both groups were awesome!

But everywhere we have visited has been nice in its own way.

Starting from Brisbane, my first stop was Mooloolaba. Home to the largest aquarium in Queensland. Which I found to be a disappointment because it was exactly the same as my nearest one in Great Yarmouth. The town itself was beautiful, and felt like a typical holiday destination.

From here I went to Noosa to meet with the person I am traveling with. Noosa is a lovely place, especially the national park, which we were lucky enough to see a koala in. Also it was a clear sunny day so the sunset was stunning over the beach.
Our next stop was Hervey Bay which we only visited due to it being our gateway to Fraser Island, and this is were we began our tour. We went with Palace Adventures which is a tag-along 4WD tour, meaning we were able to drive our own cars behind our guide. We camped for two nights on the island and saw plenty of dingos, due to then constantly coming up to the barbecue or sitting and waiting next to a car.

From here we went up to Bundaberg, which has been by far the worst hostel I have stayed in but nevertheless we had a good time on our one night there... We went to the rum distillery!

After drinking two free rums we headed to the coach to make our way to Agnes Water and Town of 1770. Aptly named after the year that Captain Cook landed in Australia. Here we stayed at a little hostel called Cool Bananas, which has so far been the best hostel I've ever stayed in! One day we hired bikes and cycled the 14km round trip to 1770.

Rockhampton was our next port of call, arriving at half past midnight and checking out by 10am. It was a full on day. First of all we visited the heritage village before ending the day chomping on steaks whilst watching the rodeo.

After a night of traveling we arrived at Airlie Beach early in the morning. The day was spent chilling at the lagoon and then getting ready to go on the Whitsundays the following day. I fell in love with Airlie and will 100% be back at some point! If you see my previous post, this talks about the tour I did here with Wings.

After this place we caught the bus to Townsville to get a boat across to Magnetic Island. This place is stunning! One day we decided to hire "Barbie" cars with a couple from our sailing boat and drove to the Koala Sanctuary and then to a walking track which took us to a couple of old WWII forts with an amazing view of the island and surroundings.

From here we went to Mission Beach, our last stop before Cairns, so that George could do his long anticipated skydive.

Now finally we are in Cairns where we will be staying just over a week. Leaving on Sunday to fly to Darwin, where we begin our last trip before seeking out work!

I will talk about my plans and about what we've done in Cairns before we leave Darwin, but until then ciao!

EDEN | PHOTO DIARY

We drove across a lovely bridge which took us over a beach in Merimbula. As we were trying to get to the Victoria border we decided not to stop here and continue to the next town along; Eden. 

It was a very hot day so we parked Julie under the shade and walked across the road to the beach in Eden. This is the last town before the border into Victoria.

The beach was very long and stretched along the bay. 

I had to take a photo of the ship called 'Norfolk', which according to the story dropped anchor in the bay on one of its journeys.

PEBBLY BEACH | PHOTO DIARY

Pebbly Beach is a little place just off the Princes Highway, between Bateman's Bay and Ulladulla. Originally we had not planned to stop here but we spotted the name on a map and decided it sounded interesting. So we drove down the dirt track for about twenty minutes until we came across it. It cost $7 to park, due to the beach being situated in a National Park. 

The first thing we noticed when we got onto the sand where the wild kangaroos!

Then we noticed the bluebottles lining the shoreline, due to almost standing on a couple! 

We took a wander across the rocks and the way the stone had been carved by the waves was spectacular. Look how neat those lines are! 

Looking out to sea from the tip of the rocks.

The tide was coming in and the waves where getting choppy so we didn't spend too long at the end of the rocks...

But there was a couple of lovely little nooks that had been created by the sea.

Once back on shore we went back to the Kangaroos. Yes, I know you shouldn't approach wild ones.

This one was very cute and soft. Please ignore how red I am, i can assure you it's just the setting on my camera! 

In the end it was a good $7 spent. 

BROKEN DOWN IN TABOOMA | PHOTO DIARY

Pretty much as soon as we crossed the border into Victoria we came across a fire, and then got stuck in traffic. We were heading to Croajingalong National Park and were meant to go to the Thurra River to see the big sand dunes but we got half way and our campervan wasn't sounding to good so we found a place called Tabooma were we broke down for the night. The only bonus was the spectacular sunset over the lake that we got to witness.

Because we were so close to the lake there were bugs everywhere! The place also had no running water and the toilet was a hole in the ground. On our way down to the lake we came across a wombat who was having a good scratch on a fallen down tree. 

 It was a very clear night and due to Tabooma having no street lights, we could see the stars very clearly. At this point i was very happy that my camera had a setting for taking photos of the stars because i managed to snap this photo, which i'm quite proud of! 

The next morning we had to jump start the campervan with the help from a couple of very kind strangers, and then drove to a town called Orbost were we took the van to a garage. Turns out the exhaust had completely come apart, which is why it sounded like we were in a jumbo jet and had to drive with ear plugs in! 

TILBA TILBA & BERMAGUI | PHOTO DIARY

We came off the Princes Highway onto a 'tourist drive', this took us through two villages of similar name, Central Tilba and Tilba Tilba. They were tiny in size but beautiful, surrounded by mountains and farmland.

On our way to Bermagui we passed a place called Wallaga Lake, and the road goes straight through the middle of the water which gives you an amazing view. Our view included pelicans sitting on a sand bank. 

We then made it to Bermagui and pulled over to take some photos and adjust the GoPro on the side of the campervan. There was a little port in the town as well. We then went to get a cold drink from a petrol station and the mad inside informed us about a natural pool which had been created through erosion. So we decided to check it out. 

We were expecting just a small little rock pool but the natural pool seemed to be a full size swimming pool situated at the bottom of the cliff surrounded by rocks. Quite spectacular and amazing how this place came to be. The sun was beaming down and i kind of wish we had enough time to stop for a swim. 

We spent a good amount of time here, mostly trying to rescue a hat that the wind had blown into the rock pool which you can see in the picture below. But finally we managed to get it without having to get wet. 

WINGS, A WHITSUNDAYS ADVENTURE

Yesterday I got back from a two night sailing adventure through the Whitsunday Islands. It included snorkeling with turtles and watching sharks from the back of the boat.

We decided to go with Wings and were on the boat Wings III and it was one of the best experiences of my life!

I had the opportunity to scuba dive but chose not to because I had to take my glasses off so didn't think I would be able to see anything so decided not to. But actually when I went snorkeling I found that I could probably see better underwater with my glasses off then out of water with my glasses off. Even so I had such a good time in the water anyway and got too see things I've only ever seen in an aquarium.

Sometimes what makes or brakes a good trip is the company you are in and we got lucky because we had an awesome group with us.

Also the crew where awesome too and very friendly. Sometimes swimming in deep water can be a scary thing but you felt safe knowing that they where never far away.

On board we had all our meals included and the chef cooked some spectacular meals. One night we had honey soy chicken with potato's, garlic bread and salad and the last night we had beef stir fry. We got fed many times a day whether it be snacks or meals.

The beds where also very spacious which I wasn't expecting. I shared a double and we had lots of room to lay. It did get a little rocky one morning when we set sail at 6am and got woken by the anchor being pulled up but apart from that I fell asleep like a baby. 

Its one of the best things I've done so far in Australia and I'm already talking about going back for my birthday in September!

LAKES ENTRANCE & METUNG | PHOTO DIARY

The day started with driving to a place called Orbost where we got our campervan fixed. Mid-afternoon we were finally back on the road and so we headed to a place called Lakes Entrance, this place marks the entrance to the Gippsland Lakes. We stopped for a while, using up the free McDonalds wifi! 

From a lookout point along the Princes Highway we got a better view of all the sand banks and where the ocean joins the lakes. 

We then drove to a place called Metung, not entirely sure of the correct pronunciation but we settled with 'Me Tongue' which gave us a few laughs.  

Metung is a secluded little town, mainly full of rental accommodation and holiday apartments. Quite a few of the houses were up for sale. Metung sticks out in the middle of the lakes, with water on either side of the village and only one road in and out! 

THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD | A PHOTO DIARY - PART 1

Our first stop was Bells Beach, infamous for holding the RipCurl Surfing Championships every year. 

We then continued along The Great Ocean Road until we came across this memorial arch, which commemorates those who fell during the first world war. 

A casual selfie in the wing mirror during a short pit stop to attached the GoPro onto the roof of the campervan. 

We pulled over (again!) for a bite to eat in a little village called Lorne, which was beautiful and the famous road drives straight through the middle of the centre! 

The picture above is where St. George's River meets the sea, running under The Great Ocean Road. 

The Great Ocean Road is full of some beautiful scenery! We stopped at pretty much every place we could. 

We stopped overnight in Apollo Bay which was just over the road which you can see in the above photo.