Last stop in Aus

After leaving the girls in the hands of a random couch surfing host in Brisbane I boarded my plane up to Darwin. I know you've all probably heard it before but the size of this country still amazes me, Brisbane over to Darwin is longer than flying the length of Europe. Anyway, I've had a very fun week up in the Northern Territory, being on my own again has opened up a lot of random opportunities so heres a few.

Australian football

Waiting for a bus back to my hostel I overheard a group of people saying they had a spare ticket to a football game (I assumed standard english soccer). I asked in my nicest english accent whether I might be able to take it off my hands. One hour later I'm standing at the Darwin stadium with a donated Bulldogs football scarf around my neck watching Melbourne Bulldogs vs Adelaide Port Power. Turns out Australian football and English football are two very different sports. Aussie football is played on an oval pitch, has a similar ball to american football and you hit the ball to each other like volleyball but then score points like rugby. Good game to watch and my new team (Bulldogs) won so all was good.

Jet skiing

After putting a few messages around on couch surfing one local (Frank) offered to take me out on his jet ski for the day. Went all around the Darwin harbour, tried to spot some crocodiles, watched an old Aussie sheila doing renditions of Amy Winehouse in a bar on the other side of the harbour. I had a go at driving and hit 110km/hr, turned a corner a little to sharply throwing the local straight off the back.

Mud crab

One of the local catches out in the harbour are mud crabs. After a night out on the town with some pearl harvesters another local (Irish Paul) offered to buy me a mud crab. Next day I took him up on his offer, along with some donated Red Emperor me and Welsh Ruth cooked up a seafood feast. Crab and fish were exceptionally good.

Other than that I've been working on finding a way out of this lovely country on a boat. And I found one. Originally I planned to travel on a rally of about 100 boats up north to Indonesia. However, I was introduced to Michael Moloney who lives and sails a 42ft catarmerang called Shayler. Hes not actually on the rally. We will be heading out on Saturday morning and will be sailing up the Thailand via the Ashmore Reef (4 days to reach here) then Christmas Island (7 days) and finally up round the top of Malaysia (10 days) to Phuket, Thailand.

It's going to be a very very long journey but when else in life do you get to hop on a 3 week long sailing trip. I've stocked up on books, dvd's, chocolate, vitamin tablets, got a whole hull of the ship to myself complete with double bed and ensuite...living in luxury compared to some of the backpacker hostels in Aus. We've stocked up on several trolleys worth of food and it seems pretty certain we will be catching some huge tuna for dinner along the way. I had a tuna sushi lesson with American Ruth and Tim aboard their catamerang last night so that will be fun to try out when we're cruisin.

Won't have internet until Christmas Island so expect an update in a week or so,

Love from sailer Grace x

Sunning ourselves with excessive goon consumption

Well well well, what a lovely week or two we've been having. Today is my last day with Ro, Ray and Ju, the mighty mighty 4 is soon to return to 1. Since Sydney we've flown up to Cairnes and made our way down to Byron Bay so...

Cairnes
Stayed in Gilligans (the party hostel) where the reception area smells of the acadamy after Ramshackle - stale beer. Continued drinking lots and lots and lots of goon which lead to dancing on a bar with some rather toned and beautiful ladies, Mum you can send me to the nunnery as soon as I home.

Whitsunday Islands
I.E. lush. Spent 3 days aboard an 85ft yacht called Boomerang. Had a little go at steering and winching the sails up. After much budgeting in Aus we were treated to meals that actually contained meat which was very refreshing. Watched yet another cracking gap sun rise whilst cruising to the heavenly Whitehaven beach with a cuppa in hand. White Haven beach was very close to quintisential paradise but still think that Zanzibar's beaches are top of list. We met made friends with 2 english girls Romy and Sophie, they've actually been proactive enough to put pictures onto facebook so make sure you take a look if you can. Don't know about you lot but when I was a kid my favourite book was called The Rainbow Fish and when we were snorkelling I actually saw one which was very cool.

Fraser Island
So for all the geographers out there Fraser Island was formed by LSD (IR people remember that Athena comment?!) coming up the east coast to form this massive (biggest one in the world) island of sand. It's 70 miles long and has tropical rainforests and the clearest most beautiful freshwater lakes all over it. We travelled around the island in a 4x4 convoy with 24 people and me Ro Ju Ray Sophie Romy Rose (also from england) and our german driver Michael were in car 4 - the best car. The trip comprised whale spotting, stop offs to stare at beached turtles and mantarays and quick dips in the amazing lakes.

Byron Bay
Definitly one of my favourite places so far. Only a quick stop over but we went out on the town last night after playing a huge game of flip cup. Met a guy from the under 21 French rugby team called Francois. Cooked the best risotto last night as our final meal, 1 and a half months now before I will be seeing my lady's beautiful faces again. And today me and Ray went surfing. I reckon we were actually quite good, stood up and everything but there were the occasional moments when a 5 year old kid would cruise past whilst you're half drowning in the salty shallows.

Anyway, I've written a little more than I should. Tonight I'm catching a plane up to Darwin, completing my tour of every airport in Australia, and hopefully I will be able to find a spot on a sailing boat to Indonesia.

Love from Grace May Perry Coppplestone.