Matt Preece's Travels

Well you know those lots and lots of small things i said we were going to do in Sydney......we've done them. We've also been to Brisbane and Cairns. Brisbane was a pretty nice place, clean, easy to get around and it was pretty sunny. We went to the Australia Zoo (the one that Steve Irwin owned and transformed. There's statues, pictures and reminders of him everywhere. If he was still alive, we may have seen the legend. Other than that there wasn't much else in Brisbane. We then flew upto Cairns and booked a boat tour of the Great Barrier Reef, was he best £75 i've ever spent i think. The colours, coral etc are amazing. Apart from that there isn't anything else to do in Cairns apart from eat at the $9 all you can eat buffet which we did. I didn't get along with the "chef". Back in Sydney now and we've saw an AFL match yesterday and i think its one i could follow, well try and follow. We also had Yum Cha which was really nice and its quite possibly the best way to serve food. So, once a bit weeks left in Sydney and in that time we'll be seeing Sigur Ros live, maybe going to the Blue Mountains and Canberra. Got a lot of free days. Once those few days have past, theres only 11 days in New Zealand left.

Arrived in Sydney on Monday evening and Dan's brother, Lee was there to pick us up. Drove to Chinatown, parked up and walked for about 30 minutes before stopping at a bar right near the opera house where we met Lee's wife, Lucy. The opera house and bridge look so much better than the pictures, especially at night. Went from there to a steakhouse where you get to cook the steak yourself. Mine was brilliant, one of the nicest i've had. I'm not saying it was down to my cooking skills, but i like to thinks so. Had a few drinks there before heading to our new home for the next 3 weeks. The next day we didn't have anything planned so we just walked around the city all day, saw the park, a few museums and Darling Harbour. The next morning we walked from where we're staying, along the beach and to Bondi which is about a 6km walk. Bondi beach had quite a few surfers considering it is winter. Got the bus from Bondi to the city and just walked around again taking in a few more sights. We found a cheap place for some food so we got a steak & chips for $10 which is good for Australia. Yet another really nice steak. Decided to look for a bar and the first one we came across is Australia's real hidden gem i think. A jug of beer for $6 (£3) which you get 4 pints out of but you also get a free hot dog from the man outside when you buy a drink. Dan being Dan took advantage of this and even though he had just finished a steak 30 minutes before we found this pub, he decided to have two hot dogs. I'm sure we'll visit this place a few more times. Well today we went on a tour of the Sydney Opera house which i pretty amazing when your up close. It's so much bigger than you think it is, especially the main hall. We had planned on going to the zoo as well but didn't have enough time. Got quite a lot planned for the next 4 weeks; wine tasting tour, 2 sports games, the zoo, Sigur Ros concert and one week spread between Brisbane and Cairns and lots and lots of small things. Thats all.

Just for you Amy!

Well the 3 day camping tour of the things in the title was brilliant. 22 of us set off really early in the morning with our guide Bev and her bus amptly named "Bev's Bus" and got too our campsite at around midday. We had some lunch, pretty basic sandwiches but they were good enough. After, we headed for the Olgas and started the walk inside of them. It wasn't that long but it was good. They are huge. We then set off for Ayres Rock where we would see the sunset and the colour of the rock change several times. All the tours that came on huge coaches had huge champagne bottles so we though we'd crack open a few of the can's we'd bought. The display was superb, you cant really explain it. Once the sunset was over we went back to the campsite and started to make the fire and food. THe food was spectacular in itself, a huge cokking tray full of chicken, noodles, peppers, sauces and many other vegdtables. It was suprisingly really nice. Once we'd washed up and tidied everything away it was time to sit around the campfire for a few hours and have a few drinks which was fun. The sleeping situation was an experience in itself. We had basically sleeping bag inside a really big sleeping on the floor of the outback.....no tent. It kept us warm which was good. Got a good nights sleep so i cant complain. We had a little lie in the next day but still managed to catch the sunrise at Ayres Rock. We then went for a walk around the rock which makes you realised how big it actually is. Took us about a hour and a half just to walk half way around it. Didn't do muchon the afternoon apart from see Mount Connar and some salt planes. Once the tour was over we got back to camp just in time to see the sunset although it was a bit of trak to the top of a cliff to see it. Tea time again and the food wasn't as nice but was still ok as we were all starving. Same thing happened again after the food, we all talk for the rest of the night with a few drinks. Dan was asked a few strange questions such as "If you and Matt were in a plane crash that was on a desert island and there was no other food, would you eat Matt?" He replied yes which i was suprised at but then again i'd eat Dan. We carried the conversatrion on and it turns our Dan would eat any of his family and friends apart from Amy and Spot. He'd eat his own mother but not his cat. We all settled down for the night in the same sleeping bags, on the floor of the ourback but there was a little difference on this night, wild dingoes would roam around the campsite. At one point i looked out my sleeping bag and two dingoes walked right past me so i slowly put the sleeping bag back over my head. Another early start the next day as we headed to the Kings Canyon for a 2 hour walk along the top of it which produced some fantastic views of the canyon and the outback. Dan made a new G9 friend "Wolfgang" (thats his real name). Bev the guide gave us lots of information and was a pretty cool and funny person so it made the tour far better. Got back to the bus and headed back to Alice Springs which takes around 6 hours. We listened to music and played some games which passed the time. One game inparticular was quite fun. The aim of the game is to eat a Weet-a-bix (no milk) in the quickest possible time. I done it in a poor 3min 40secs. It is really really hard to do. Arrived back in Alice Springs at around 6pm, got a shower and went to a nearby pub clled 'Bojangles' where we met everyone else that was on the tour. Look at the menu in the pub and there was a parmo. Here i am in the middles of Australia and a Chicken Parmo is on the menu, i had to have it. It was so nice but wasn't quite a Teesside parmo. Once the food was over with we had to move to the "official bar area". Got a few drinks in and really enjoyed the night mainly because of the local. It was a great place with all sorts of people such as aborigonies, young, old, real locals, tourists, football fans etc etc. Really good night. We were advised to get a taxi back as Alice Springs isn't the safest place at night due too a lot of drunk people and drunk drivers. Got back and went straight to bed. Had to get the flight to Adelaide in the morning. Well, Adelaide. Its a great place, i'm not sure why yet but i know i really like it. I got too feed some Kangaroo's here as well and stroke a koala bear, they have fur like cotton wool. Flying out to Sydney tomorrow where we'll be for a month. Will be nice staying in once place for more than 4 days. I'm sure i've forgotten some things but nevermind.

Wll Perth was ok, nothing xciting really happened apart from a train journey where we met this guy who used to own a lot of tv channels and newspapers in Australia befor he sold them all to Rupert Murdohc, he know owns a steel company, prtty amazing, apart from that Perth was pretty boring, the park was decent though. We're in Alice Springs now about to mbark on a 3 day camping adventure of Ayres Rock, Kings Canyon and other thing so it should be a lot of fun. Leaving soon so best be off!

G'day mate!
Well Bali was pretty good even though it was cut short by a day. On the first full day we of course decided to "learn" to surf. Basically they teach you the technique of how to get up in the hotel first then they take you out to the sea. For the first ten minutes you just have to ride the wave while laying down on the board which is pretty easy. After that you have to stand up. Everything they taught you half an hour before completely goes ot the window and you just try and get up anyway possible. Like everything though, practice makes perfect. We were gonig to get more lessons but we couldn't in the end. On the second day we took a tour of the whole island which is actually really big. We saw the biggest waterall on the island, couple of temples, some really cheeky and greedy monkeys and had a bath in a naturally hot spring, it was brilliant. We also got the best picture of the holiday so far on that trip. After that we got some food and walked around town buying quite a bit of cheap clothing, mainly surf shorts for around $3 each. We then went into an internet cafe. 15 minutes passed and Dan walks over to me and says "Want to hear something funny?" I said yes of course. Turned not to be funny at all. We though our flight was the day after when in actual fact it was three hours away, we payed the guy, got back to the hotel pretty sharpish, argued about the bill for a while, packed our bags, booked a taxi and left. Got to the airport on time. We entered Australia with no problems with our Visa whatsoever. Got to the hostel at around 6am and were told we needed to wait till 1pm to book in. Nothing else to do but walk around Perth for about 7hrs. We saw some pretty funny things around town e.g. the homeless people in Perth are quite advanced, some of them have walky talkies to keep in touch and let each other know where the police are. Its quite funny watching them walking around with them. Its pretty cold as well in Perth, just like England. Didn't get any sleep on the plane at all so its about 48hrs since my last kip. Goodnight!