15th November - Gold Coast
Still here and still yabbering away. Heard from Vic in Melbourne and arriving there on 24th. OK Vic? Plan to see around the area for a few days to get my bearings amidst the vineyards and then hiring a campervan to travel back up the coast road to Sydney. Also heard from Vic (male this time) and his wife whom I met in Siem Reap and will stay with them a couple of nights on the way up. They live half way between Melbourne and Sydney. Decided not to travel to New Zealand this time. Weighed it all up and would have needed a month there to see everything I wanted (particularly the south island). Marilyn and Graeme also want to go back and see the same as myself so we plan to try again next year (during the world cup of course). They are also coming back to Scotland in 2010 which is great news. The weather here has been great over the last couple of days and I'm a wee bit burned, as well as bitten, scratched and pummeled. The latter due to a brilliant masseuse. My shoulder has been giving me gyp for a while now and it's painful carrying my rucksack so thought I'd do something before my 3 day trek into the rainforest next Wednesday. Have to say she (deborah) was great and although it's going to take some months before the shoulder is back to normal (it's a frozen shoulder right enough), a regular massage is definitely on the cards. Am really looking forward to this trek. There are a number of bush walks and rain forest walks at this place in Mt Tambourine National Park where I'm going and only one way up and down the mountain to them. The place I'm staying is O'Reillys (what else??) and they are geared up for this sort of thing big style. Have a rope bridge across a gorge (NOT too kean on that) and various lengths of walks suitable for all types (including unfit me). Will let you know how it goes.
Spent today having a swim in the pool in the garden, then at the Surf Club (burger and beer) and watching the guys out in these enormous waves with their surf boards. Made me feel really inadequate. Had a lovely evening meal round at Joel's (marilyn's son) condo on the lake and it was so peaceful sitting outside at the lakeside, watching the lorikeets and various other birds swoop down and feed in front of you. That was until darkness fell and the next thing I knew was a fruit bat (known here as flying foxes) swooping right across the top of my head and into the trees. Nobody "batted" an eyelid so I tried hard not to show my concern and then thought long and hard if I was really cut out for this forthcoming trek. Hmmmmm...watch this space!!
Heard from Emma via her blog (thanks Edith for letting me know she even had one) so have peace of mind again.
Am off now to watch Scotland play South Africa (starts here at 12.30am) and then Ireland v New Zealand if I can stay awake. Yes, I know, some things never change!! what did you expect?
Anyway, with the realisation that Australia is soooooo vast and I'm never going to see 1/100th of it, I think I've made the correct choice of driving up some of the coast line. It will allow me to stop where and when I want and I've heard it's an absolutely beautiful drive.
If anyone has any relatives, friends etc that I can pop in and visit, let me know lol.