Gday Gday!!

Well it's my turn to write the blog again, again I have delayed it as long as possible but as I sit on one of these long South American buses, I suppose it's time to write about it. Plus we did leave Aus almost two months ago!

We arrived in Sydney on December 13 to an unseasonal cold temp of about 19-20 degrees. This was freezing as we'd been used to 30 plus in SE Asia. We spent the first few days in Sydney with Mum and Bob. Went out for dinner and enjoyed our first steak in months! Also went up the road to the Beach Club and enjoyed a few schooners.

After a few days in Sydney we took Mum's car and headed up to Lake Cathie where we would spend the next two weeks. Was great to relax after 4 months on the road and finally put the backpacks in the cupboard for a while. Our clothes (and even ourselves) finally felt clean!!!

Spent the first weekend with my sister Corinne, her b/f Shon (who both flew over from NZ), Mum and my mate from Uni- Nick. Went out to the infamous local Port nite club- Smuts, always good fun! (rated the worst nite club in NSW- so it must be good!) Also caught up with my mates Jase, Leeroy and Jones and their wives and kids for beers in the following few days. Was to be the first of many over the summer! Mum's partner Bob joined us a few days after for Christmas and of course my big 3-0 party.

Mine was the first of five 30th's for the summer, and started out as a small gathering, but turned out to be quite a big night. Caught up with mates I'd not seen in years. Mum, Bob and Sam cooked up a storm, Bob making his awesome Pizza's and Sam making her yummy Banoffee Pie and Chocolate birthday cake. Of course I ended up having 1 or 2 too many and ended up in the pool! I definitely felt my age the next day, was a tad hungover.

Despite the hangover, it was Chrissy eve which meant it was time to eat some concrete. We went into my mate Wayne's apartment for a few drinks and then out to the local for a few before retiring to bed. Chrissy day was gold as usual, ate too much and drank too much. We spent about 3 hours round the pool topping up the tans as it was around 30 degrees. Early to bed as it was Boxing Day the next day and of course- the Whoop Whoop Cup Wauchope races. We had a few beverages once again and back to Wayne's apartment for a massive BBQ and Spa time.

We relaxed for our last few days at Cathie enjoying the pool and nice weather before it was time to head to Sydney (Dec 30) to say goodbye to Corinne and Shon (who were flying back to NZ) as well as meet up with Wayne and Amy for our new years plans. Amy had organised for us to camp on Cockatoo Island.

We spent 2 nights relaxing on the island, enjoying a few drinks, as well as a tour of the island. We also enjoyed a day in the city, taking a ferry over to Circular Quay, enjoying lunch and a few beers at the Rocks. We returned to Cockatoo Island where we had an awesome view of the New Years fireworks and partied our way into 2012.

In the next few days we made our way down to Amy's parents' (Bruce and Carol Hawthorne) place in Wollongong via Penrith where we caught up with the Gauci's. Had a great couple of days in Wollongong with the Hawthorne's as well as a day trip to the SCG to watch Day 1 of the test match between Australia v India and the start of Michael Clarke's triple hundred.

From Wollongong we went on a road trip with Wayne and Amy down to their place in Geelong in Victoria. We spent the first few days checking out Geelong and meeting Wayne and Amy's friends the Brown's, Justin and Gnomesy as well as visits to the Bellarine wineries with dinner and beers on Pako street. The first weekend we took the train to Melbourne (an hour away) and checked out the sights as well as my awesome 30th present from Sam, Wayne and Amy- tickets to a Melbourne Victory game (Harry Kewell's team) and a Melbourne Tigers NBL game.

The next few days we spent exploring the Surf Coast- Torquay, Bells Beach, Anglesea and a more. We did swim, was a bit nippy to start with compared with SE asia but refreshing!! We also helped out a bit over the next few days with Wayne and Amy's renovations. Sam reckons I got a bit of 'man training' from Wayne, helping him put some plaster up in the hallways.

We also did another couple of trips into Melbourne, firstly to see good old Ramsey St from Neighbours and then for dinner and drinks in Richmond.

Saturday Jan 13 was an early start and up to drive the Great Ocean Road and out to the twelve apostles. What an awesome trip, such great scenery. It's funny, I've been a tourist in so many other countries and hardly seen my own!

The following day was breakky at local cafe with Wayne and Amy and their friends, the Browns. I decided it would be fun to try another eating challenge, I'll try to put a photo up of it. This one was worse then the Vietnamese burger one that I did and you had longer to finish it (63 minutes). I did finish it but have not been able to eat Chorizo since. It might be a while till the next eating challenge.

On our last day (16 Jan) in Geelong we spent a good few hours down in Torquay where we hired a surfboard and I gave Sam a few pointers. Was about 33 degrees so good to get in the water! Had a nice dinner at the local and then it was off to the airport to say our goodbyes and fly back to Sydney. It wouldn't be long before we'd see Wayne and Amy again as the following few weekends were 30th's up in Port and Newcastle.

Mum met us on our arrival into Sydney, and it was straight out to Orange to visit my Grandma and family. Had a nice couple of days before heading back up to Cathie for the next 10 days of 30th's and relaxing by the pool!

Leeroy's 30th was next up (21 Jan). He had hired out the green at Cassegrains winery in Port. Again another great night with mates (and their wives) with lots of silliness as usual!

Australia Day (26 Jan) came round before we knew it and of course BBQ and beers were in order out at Cathie. The following day was 30th no. 3- Jones' in Port. Again a great night and great stories. The following day was road trip time again with Wayne and Amy down to Newcastle for 30th no. 4-Wes. Of course we had to stop at a few wineries for the girls to sample a few! Again a great night at Wes' with lots of silliness and good to catch up with Govy.

The next day after saying our goodbyes it was time to head back to Cathie. We had a nice dinner at Jason and Zaneta's in Port before heading back to Sydney for our last few days in Australia.

In Sydney, we caught up with our mates from London- Garth and Heather. We stayed in Bondi at their nice new apartment and caught up with them over dinner and a few drinks.

The next day it was t20 Cricket time Australia v India and 30th no. 5- Keena's. Drinks flowed, we won and again a great night out!!

Our last day/night in Aus I spent relaxing with Mum and Bob whilst Sam caught up with a friend (Dan Baker) from London whom we used to work with. The next morning 3 (Feb) it was off to the airport with Mum and Bob (who were off to the US on a skiing holiday) and off to NZ.

So if you've got this far you're up to speed on our 7 weeks travel in Aus (and probably bored of my ramblings/asleep). I'm also getting a bit tired of writing this on my phone (I think I'm getting RSI). I'll hand it over to Sam who is gonna blog about NZ and our first few weeks in South America. We'll try and get some pics up soon of it all when we get to a PC.

Hasta Luego!!!