Got back Sunday morning but still a bit light-headed. Back to work properly on Tuesday.
Weather was brilliant except for first few days where long sleeved shirts were order of the day, but rest of hols were a nice comfy 23 deg or so, with a few days around 30, a couple around 35 and one scorcher of a day at 42.
One thing I was really impressed with is the tidyness of all the towns and cities we went to. Absolutely no litter anywhere - really quite weird. Other thing is that every town, however small has public conveniences, and they were spotlessly clean - was quite unexpected.
Beer was cheap - VB and Carlton Draught were my firm faves, together with copious amounts of red wine.
Food everywhere was fantastic and you certainly get a good plateful for your money. Puts our coutries efforts to shame. Dissapointed to see such large numbers of mcdonalds, kfc, hungry jacks (burger king).
Out in the sticks is certainly a good description of where we stayed. Couple of miles along a dusty dirt road, over a rickety bridge, up a hill, down a hill. Weird to have your letter box a good car drive from your house! Also weird to stay somewhere without mains water - Water is collected off rooftop and pumped from river and stored in big tanks. This is what you wash and shower with.
I did get to stay in Melbourne for a few days and thought it a great city. Did all the touristy things like drive around the F1 track, go up the Rialto building, visit aquarium, federation square, casino, go on trams, see all the stadiums and commonwealth games preperations.
Also popped up to Narooma for a few days and did some charter boat fishing a couple of times and some lake fishing.
Even managed to pop into Canberra for a day but wasn't very impressed. Good view from the Telstra tower though.
Got to see all the trademark aussie animals though like kangaroos, wallabies, koalas (on Raymond Island), and all sorts of pretty birds like parrots, rosellas, kookaburras, cockatoos, etc
The only drawback was the insane number of flies that constantly attack you and just love buzzing in your ear or try getting into your eyes. There are also BIG flies and mozzies that love biting you, specially around the ankles. These bites last ages and are very itchy.
So a very enjoyable trip indeed, made even better by a 750 dollar win on the pokies in a local club! So if you have the time and money I highly recommend you pop over there for a long holiday.
Oh well, back to the cold weather of Essex and the daily hassle of work.
Boo!
