the present

hello

well we'd like to thank dave, percy and friends for the present that was sent over to john's house.

we were very excited to open it and find a dvd titled "you can't tie me up i'm just having my lunch"......

HOWEVER, unfortunately john doesn't have a dvd player and the computer doesn't seem to read the disc so at the moment we are unable to watch it.

we've had a few ideas like watching it at an internet cafe. i'm sure we'll work something out.

we are very excited about it and obviously can't wait to watch it. we were gutted when we couldn't get it to work but we are very thankful for the effort you've put in.

thanks everyone. speak to you soon x x x x

photo's from sydney & byron bay

hello everyone, now we're in surfers paradise we can post some pictures. we'll tell you about surfers and john's house later in the post.

unfortunately we can't get hold of the minus 5 ice bar photo, but we've emailed them about it so should have it soon.

however, this was in the bar downstairs which was pretty cool itself, just after we'd been in the ice bar.

we've also got some pictures of our final night in sydney. i'm sure by now you know that we went to see lily allen.

the gig was at a weird little fair ground, called luna park. it was very much in the style of an old and very small blackpool pleasure beach, and was smaller than the carnival fair in brabyns park.

this is the entrance to luna park, it can be seen from sydney harbour and it is situated right by the side of the bridge on the north end.

as we said, the gig was really good. and we were happy to see someone throw a manchester united shirt on stage. however, being from london, lily turned out to be a fulham fan.

we got some good pictures as we were stood right near the front.

this is the fairground and bridge at night.

from thursday til earlier today, we have been chilling out in byron bay. it was a great place to relax on the beach and play in the clear sea.

it seems to us that a lot of hippies travelled through byron a few decades ago and never left. it's definitely got a big hippy / surf culture and chilled out way of life. there are loads of quirky hippy'ish shops and cafes.

this is the lighthouse at byron, we did want to walk up there but it's a long walk and it's been a very hot few days so we just admired it from the cool sea.

this is a picture of the snake capture we told you about.

on our last night we took a walk along the beach and got a few good photo's and some ice cream.

now for sufers paradise...

we arrived today at 12pm after a 2 hour coach ride and john and jo met us at the bus station. it was really nice to see them both and they drove us round a bit before headed back to their house for lunch.

surfers itself was bigger than we thought it would be. there are quite a lot of very tall buildings, including the tallest apartment block in the world, which you can pay to go to the top of.

the beach, what we saw of it from the car, looked nice and there seems to be loads of shops, cafes, restaurants and bars.

john's house is about 1/2 hour walk out of the centre of town and backs onto a river. it's a really nice area and the house is lovely. we have a nice room on the top floor with our own bathroom and balcony... the same room amy's grandparents stayed in a good few years ago.

when we arrived at the house we saw that john was flying an australian and an english flag for us. which we thought was a really nice gesture. we did try and get a picture of us all, but had a few problems so will try again soon.

like we said, john's house is lovely. jo's garden at the back looks onto the river and they have a nice little pool to cool off in.

across the river are a few HUGE houses. i thought one of them was a block of apartments at first. both have tennis courts and bigs pools. they look really nice.

grandad (ces) we've spotted a few pictures of you lying about the house, in your fishing gear, holding up some big fish. it was nice to see your face after so long!

that's all for now. hope everyones well.

x x x

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVE!

firstly, happy birthday to dave! we wish we could be there to celebrate with you but we'll just have to delay it until we get back. hope you enjoyed your birthday drinks the other night and after seeing rooney's goal we think that was a fitting present.

in other news, guess who we saw on australian tv a few days ago and again today... none other than JESSICA WARD (amy's sister)! for those who don't know, jes was on the children's show 'worst witch' and we were pleasantly suprsied to see it was on over here. we laughed about it for a while afterwards. also, 'shameless' is on over here too! so that means jack harry ward a.k.a house patrick was on aussie tv too!

it's our last night in byron bay and we're off to john's house in surfers paradise tomorrow morning, which we are both looking forward to.

like we said, we'll be back in touch with some pictures once we are there.

we've spent the last few days on the beach and playing in the sea, the waves are great fun!

hope everyone is well. x x x

ps. pram, greg would like to confirm that he will still be shouting for dad when there is a spider in the bath (that's what he's there for), despite the fact that he has killed a few big'uns over here!

Lily Allen & Byron Bay

hello everyone, we can't post any pictures until tuesday when we get up to surfers paradise, but we thought we'd give you a quick update.

we DID get to see lily allen! she was amazing and quite funny.... she said that a few nights previous she had met jet, and didn't get on with the drummer chris. she said he threw a lit cig at her so she threw a glass at him! she then went on to say that the following song was just for him... she sang 'not big' and added his name into the song. it was really funny. we can't wait to show you the pictures, especially the ones of where the gig was held!

anyway, we're in byron bay and it's really nice. the beach is lovely... second only to michealmas cay. the sand is white, the sea is clear and the waves are big and fun!

ooo, today we were walking to the beach and saw a big crowd of people watching the attempted capture of a poisonous snake! we didn't get to see it but took some photos of the rescue!

we'll tell you much more about byron when we get to john's.

bye x x x

goodbye sydney

well tonight is our last night in sydney and we've had a great time over the two weeks we've stayed here. the two weeks have gone very quickly, and it doesn't seem like 9 weeks ago that we arrived in australia!

tomorrow morning we have an hours flight up to byron bay where we are staying for 5 nights before heading up to john's house.

last night we met erin at the pub near her work for a drink then went for something to eat. after that we got a bus into sydney and went to minus5, a bar made entirely of ice. unfortunately we weren't allowed to take the camera in, but we do have a photo that we bought from the bar. we're just waiting for them to upload it onto to the net so we can put it on here.
the bar was amazing, we were allowed 30 minutes in the ice room and had a cocktail, the glass it was in was also made of ice. everything in the bar, the walls, tables, chairs, sculptures and the bar were made of ice. it was -15 degrees inside and by the time we left all our hands were freezing, despite getting coats, gloves and ugg boots to wear.

tonight we are hoping to go and see lilly allen down at luna park in sydney. luna park is a very old theme park next to the harbour bridge. amy can't wait to see lilly allen. hopefully there will be tickets left!

we'll post again as soon as we can, maybe if we find a spare 15 minutes to use an internet cafe in byron bay. but we will definitely put pictures up when we get to john's house.

hope everyone is well and made the most of the snow in marple. x

exploring sydney

since we last posted, we have been exploring sydney and chilling out in the sun.

we walked round kings cross, which turned out to be a bit of a red light district... it was like something out of a film. on our way back we stumbled across harry's cafe de wheels in woolloomooloo (what a name eh!), a world famous pie cart. it opened in 1945 and has had a lot of famous customers. we had pie, mash, mushy peas and gravy and it was really good. unfortunately we didn't have the camera with us although we are going to try and go back at some point.

we have also been down to see darling harbour properly and to take some pictures. it was nicer than we orginally thought.


there was a big museum which looked really good but it was quite expensive to get in, but we got a sneaky picture of this pirate ship.

after darling harbour we went down to the rocks, it's an area next to the harbour which is full of narrow cobbled lanes, nice buildings, old pubs, cafe's and shops. in addition to the quirky and kitsch shops there are also the likes of gucci. amy found a really good vintage shop. we had a drink in one of the pubs before heading back.

on saturday erin took us back to the rocks for the markets and also showed us where she got married. the building where she got married is just to the right of the area in the photo below.

erin also took us to paddington, which has become a very expensive and attractive residential area, due to it's location and pretty victorian terrace houses. we had a really nice lunch at a cafe on the five ways, then went to have a look at the paddington markets. paddington's main street, oxford street is meant to be 'the' place to shop in sydney, although it's quite expensive, so we stuck to looking round the markets.


yesterday steve and erin took us up to the northern beaches. it was a really hot day, reaching the 40's! we drove up through one of the oldest national parks in the world where we stopped at a great lookout spot to admire the view of palm beach and the surrounding areas. palm beach is where a lot of 'home and away' is filmed.

we then made our way back along the coastline, stopping at all the beaches on the way.
some of the places we drove through and stopped at were gorgeous. the beaches were'nt packed full of people like bondi and manly.

we stopped at avalon where steve grew up, he used to surf at this beach everyday before and after school!

a couple hours after leaving the national park, we saw this....

it was a bush fire, right where we had driven through earlier that day!

before we headed home, we stopped for a drink in manly.

today... although it is already 1pm, we are thinking of heading down to the pool for the afternoon.

we best be off, or we wont have much time there, hope everyones well. we've seen pictures of the snow in marple and hope it sticks so you can enjoy some sledging!

take care, amy and greg x x x

first week in sydney - pictures

as we've already told you quite a bit about the first couple of days we wont repeat ourselves... just show you the pictures...

this is bondi beach where we went on our first day.

and here's where we went for our meal in china town.

there was a sign saying 'do no touch' so what did we do...

after leaving the others we made our way to the bus stop and who did we see... captain jack sparrow!!! he was drunk and funny and asked us if we'd like to go drink some rum with him... unfortunately we had to decline as we had a bus to catch.

we went to the beach at manly the next day but didn't take the camera, so no pictures of that.

on saturday we did the tourist thing and went to the opera house etc and took lots of pictures... some of which are below.

from the opera house we had a walk round the royal botanical gardens... but still couldn't stop taking pictures of the bridge and opera house!

though we did see some fruit bats and they were massive!

on our way back we stopped off at darling harbour but we were both knackered by then so we didn't have a proper look or take any photos... we may go there again today for a better look around... then we made our way back to the queen victoria building (QVB) where we get our bus from, to have a look round the shops.

the QVB is a gorgeous building.

it's now home to lots of jewellery and antique shops and cafe's. there is also some quirky things like this spiral staircase that leads to a little door in the ceiling.

after the past few days we were really tired so spent most of sunday lounging around and catching up with erin, who arrived the night before.

monday was spent by the local outdoor pool, which is a 2 minute walk from where we are staying. it was nice to relax by a pool as we haven't done since daydream island.

today we are going into sydney again to possibly go back down to darling harbour and have a look round the shops.

we'll post another blog next week just before we leave for bryon bay. hope everyone is well, x x x

we're in sydney!

hello everyone, we arrived in sydney wed night and after a little drama with amy's bag we made it safely to erin and steve's apartment.

amy's bag missed the flight to sydney but turned up the next morning so it's all good.

anyway, sydney is an amazing city. it's massive! we've been here a couple of days and it's been very hectic. george, geo and phil were here on our first day here and jc had come down from where he was staying too. so we headed down to the opera house to meet them, then went down to bondi beach to have a look round. we didn't have our bikinis and swim shorts on so just sat in the sun looking at the sights.

after a few hours lazing around there we headed back into the city centre where we met up with dib and went for some tea and a restaurant in china town, which was expensive but nice. as we weren't sure of how to get home we just went for one drink and headed back to the apartment.

today we met up with dib in manly where she is living, we got the ferry over there and got some great views of the harbour bridge and opera house, though unfortunately i didn't have my camera with me as i didn't want to lose it / brake it / get it stolen while at the beach.

after a few hours of sunbathing and playing in the sea we had a look around the shops with dib for a surfboard... for her not us.

not sure what we'll do tomorrow, probably a bit more sight seeing and take lots of pictures for the blog... we'll probably do a blog with pictures at the end of our first week here, once we've taken lots and have some time to put them into a blog.

we'll be in touch soon, x x x x x

we're off to sydney

tonight around 8pm we fly up to sydney where we will be staying with amy's friend erin, for 2 weeks.

we're really looking forward to seeing sydney and also once again seeing some familiar faces from england. gc, geo, phil and james are currently in sydney for a few days and dibs is living in sydney.

we'll update again once we've arrived and settled in.

hope everyone is okay.

great ocean road - geelong to warrnambool and back

on friday we hired a car and made our way down the great ocean road with gc, geo and phil.


in the morning with bags and snacks ready, phil picked us up in the really nice hire car and we set off. we made our way out of geelong and past torquay towards anglesea.

the road from anglesea down to apollo bay hugs the coastline and the views are amazing.



we stopped for a couple of hours at lorne, which is one of the main tourist areas along the great ocean road. it was packed full of people but seemed a really nice area. we stopped for a drink and a play in the sea. the waves were huge!


after leaving lorne we headed towards apollo bay stopping at a historic spot on the way. in the picture you should just be able to see a tiny metal ball in the sea, thats all thats left of a ship that was shipwrecked there. the grave is for the captian of the ship, who actually died on board before the ship went down.




after this stop we drove down through apollo bay and on towards otway national park. on the way we saw a koala bear in a tree, but unfortunately we couldnt stop to take a picture. we found a sign for a rainforest walk and despite my moaning about big spiders and flying things we took the turn off and stopped to do the walk. i was nervous but we all caked ourselves in bug repellent and set off.


it was actually really good and i'm really glad we did it. we saw a few webs but no bugs at all.



i was still scared though, and i think the boys were too. they kept jumping at little things like leaves and flies, we've got some great video footage on the lads video camera.



we saw this tree and i thought it would make a really good picture. i tried to persuade someone to stand under it while i took a picture and finally geo agreed but made me take it as quickly as possible.


after the rainforest walk we tried to go on the otway flyway but it was closed as it was early evening by then, so we headed for port campbell to find somewhere to stay.

on the way we stopped off at the most famous spot on the great ocean road, the 12 apostles (though theres only about 8 now i think).




there were flies everywhere so we spent most of the time trying to fight them off, but inbetween this the views of the apostles were amazing.



another famous spot a bit further on from the apostles is lock ard gorge, so we stopped to have a look at that too.




this is the blowhole, water gets pushed through the cave and it's quite a sight. the other side of the blow hole is thunder cave. we didn't see it on a particularly good day, some days the waves there are meant to be amazing.






after taking enough pictures of rocks to last a lifetime we carried on our way to port campbell. we thought it would be a busy, quite big port, but we were suprised to see that it was about the size of compstall. all the hotels were booked up so we carried on to the next town, peterborough. again this was a tiny little place and again there was no room at the inn, so we carried on heading for the big town of warrnambool.

we reached warrnambool, all of us praying for somewhere to have a room and more so for somewhere to eat. luckily we found a room at a local motel and were soon having something to eat in a nice restaurant on one of the main streets.

after eating we found an irish pub so went in for a few drinks. there was some live music too which was really good. gc and geo soon decided that they wanted to make it a big night and gc was on the smirnoff black ice in no time!





me and greg left the rest of the lads around 1am and went to bed. we thought that would be the last we would hear of them that night but around 5am we were woken by the sound of geo's voice and a load banging on our door. after a while they quietened down and we all went to sleep.

the next day, suprisingly we all got up fairly early. we thought we'd carry on along the great ocean road but got as far as port fairy and realised it wasn't getting better it was getting worse and that back nearer otways and lorne was far better. so we headed back the way we came.

you would have thought that we had taken enough pictures of big rocks, but no, we hadn't, we stopped at the bay of islands for a few more.


we then stopped off at the otways flyway, which was really good. it's a rainforest walk but really high up in the canopy.



the tower in the background was really high up and swayed when we were up there.



this is the view from the top of the tower.


after this walk we stopped off to see the triplet falls. this was another rainforest walk but it was up and down loads of steps and it was really tiring but felt good after we had done it.



once we had made it back to lorne we soon found that there was no rooms free, plus it was raining loads so we decided to call it a day and go back to geelong for a meal to finish off a really good couple of days.

well done if you have managed to read all this, i know it's been a long one but there was a lot to cover.

hope everyones well, miss you all. x x x x