Sydney

The Muxworthy Family Holiday was coming to an end and we decided to spend our last couple of days together in Sydney, visiting the countries two most famous icons.

We started with the Opera House. You've got to admit, it's an awesome looking building, but somehow it didn't seem as big as I expected . . . until we got inside. The theatres are just enormous, really impressive.

In contrast, the Harbour Bridge was so much more spectacular than I had expected. And we didn't just look at it, or even drive over it, we climbed it! After arriving at the climb centre we were taken into a small room where we had to sign consent forms etcetera and also take a breath test - even though I knew that there was no way I could be over the limit from the amount I had drunk the previous evening my heart still started to beat a little faster at this point - how embarrassing it would be if the bloke in charge had to escort me from the room because I was still drunk! Fortunately, this didn't happen and instead I was given a rather attractive all in one suit to put on. So, after donning our climbing suits we attached ourselves to a kind of metal rod which runs around the bridge and set off. Got to admit that I found the start of the climb a little daunting. You begin by climbing up a series of vertical ladders - beneath you all you can see is the road with traffic whizzing by and then to the right of you is nothing but the ocean. Thoughts of what would happen if you slipped and the safety harness didn't work begin to hurtle through your mind! Then the ladders end and you are actually on the arc of the bridge, gazing out over the city and the awesome Opera House. The views were just spectacular.

That evening Mum and Dad treated us (again!) to a sumptuous dinner aboard a floating restaurant which meandered around the harbour while we dined. The views, food, wine and company were simply amazing and a night I don't think any of us will ever forget. However, as seems to becoming a trend with good nights out we did consume rather a lot of alcohol (I think I might have drunk my body weight in white wine!) and as we got off the boat we noticed one lone passenger was still on board, leaning over the handrail of the deck, doing a strange dance and singing rather loudly . . . when we looked closer we realised it was Adam!

All too soon our family holiday was over. We both had an absolutely awesome time and hope you guys did to. Thanks ever so much for flying half way round the world to see us!

Strewth, we're in the outback!

After the fun of the wine region and the spectacular scenery of the blue mountains we headed inland for the Northern Territories, which is basically the barren, desert like, uninhabitable centre of Oz that is known as the outback in Aussie speak (you flaming galahs!!) We flew from Sydney to Alice Springs (which was named Alice Springs after the commissioner’s wife at the time it was made into a town. Strange though as his second name wasn’t Springs) This is where we picked up the BEAST! A 4.0 litre 4 wheel drive Nissan Patrol that was an absolute monster! We spent a day relaxing by the pool of our hotel in Alice Springs before setting off on the long drive to Kings Canyon (which was not named after Elvis). This would have been quite a dull drive if we hadn't decided to drive “OFF ROAD” for 100km. I had an amazing 2 hours smashing around and generally punishing the beast (not sure everyone else had such a great time as it did get eeerr “a little” bumpy!)

Walking down in Kings Canyon was amazing and it’s hard to believe that places like this have been created through erosion. The visit into the canyon also gave us our first taste of the famous outback flies. Sweet Jesus, I have never been so annoyed by a few flies in my life. They fly around your head until they think it is the right time to either fly into your eye, up your nose, into your ear or into your mouth and they don’t stop until they have been killed doing it. To make matters worse their dying screams must alert all of their friends that they too can die in the same way! You very quickly adopt what is called the Aussie salute, which involves you swiping your hand non stop around your head.

Once the sun went down (and the flies went to bed) we had the most amazing evening. Sitting out under the stars next to a campfire we were served a 5 course meal with fantastic wine. After this amazing meal it was time to retire to the hot tub that was attached to our room and drink some more great wine. Well not quite! Ells, her sister and mom had a very relaxing time while Mike and I fetched them drinks! Oh it’s a hard life this traveling.

The next stop in our outback experience was probably the most eagerly anticipated. We drove (Boooo hissss, no off road this time!) from Kings Canyon to Ularu (or Ayers Rock, named after the chancellor of Australia at the time it was discovered. Again strange as the chancellor was not called Mr Rock!) Anyway watching the sunset and rise over Ularu was amazing and an experience that we will never forget. If this wasn’t enough we decided that we would walk all the way around it. From a distance it doesn’t look that big, however when the sun starts to rise in the sky, the bloody flies come out and it starts to heat up, the six mile walk around the base suddenly seems a very long way indeed. It was worth it though as it was crazy to see all of the different shapes of the rock as it is being eroded away by the very rare rains.

We also drove out to see Kata Tjuta, which is a bizarre collection of rounded domes, some even higher than Ularu. Completed an amazing walk through the Valley of the Winds which included climbing up sheer rock faces and ended in the most spectacular view which definitely made the walk worth every step. Watching the sun set over Kata Tjuta was just stunning, as just like at Ularu, the setting sun changes the colour of the sandstone to a deep blood red.

Having spent a fantastic time in some amazing places with fabulous accommodation, it was time to fly back to Sydney and hostel rooms that we are used to (which is hard when you have been spoilt) for the final part of the Muxworthy family holiday.

Abseiling anyone?!

After our travels around Victoria the four of us headed north to Hunter Valley, famous for it's wine production! Ad got the unwanted job of being our designated driver and luckily didn't take the advice of friends who had assured us that it didn't really matter if you were a little bit over the limit as the the police never stopped anyonw. Typically, Ad was stopped and breath tested in the middle of the day but all was fine as he'd been swilling and spitting!

Visiting the vineyards and seeing how the wine was produced was amazing and tasting (although I definately had far more than just a taste as I finshed off Ad's glass as well as my own!) was even better. The hotel we stayed at also had a micro brewery so we ended our tasting session with a paddle of beer samples much to Adam's delight!

After a couple of days relaxing in gorgeous accomodation surrounded by vineyards we headed back to Sydney to meet my sister. As you can imagine, the reunion included several glasses (or was that bottles Katy?!) of wine - a reunion pattern definately seems to be forming!

Early the next day we headed out of the city towards the blue mountains, stopping en route at a wildlife centre where we got to stroke koala's which looked very cute but can apperently, according to Adam, scratch your face off!. Also got to hand feed kangaroos which was lots of fun until the mad emu (I don't know why there was an emu in the hand feeding kangaroo bit) randomly started to race around with it's neck stretched out which I personally found a bit freaky!

We had such an amazing time in the Blue Mountains. The views out over the three sisters and the forest below were just stunning. Loved walking down the Giant's Staircase (thank goodness we didn't have to go back up though!) and through the forest. Really thankful of the cable car that took us back up and provided with us some more awesome views. Got a completely different perspective of the forest when we viewed it from a cable car with a glass bottom, so weird to look straight down and see the views directly beneath you!

However, the highlight of our stay in the Blue Mountains was saved till last. We were taken out to a remote cliff face and given harnesses that resembled big black rubber nappies to wear - next seasons must have I'm sure! We then walked backwards over a 90m cliff with just a rope attaching us to solid ground - that's right - we abseiled . . . and it was awesome! Our last drop included a drop of about 20m where you couldn't reach the cliff face and so just had to lower yourself down on the rope. This was amazing as you got to spin around and take in the views, only our instructor failed to mention that it was going to happen. Very amusing once you had completed this unexpected act to stand at the bottom and watch as the person whos turn it was next hit the free fall descent and went into a state of panic and tried to air run / shout expletives very loudly!

Who the hell is Ned?!

After a two hour wait at the airport (with Adam saying 'they'll be next' after almost every person!) my Mum and Dad finally came through customs. It was so good to see them again and although we didn't get to the city till about 10.30 we headed straight out to a bar for a "few" drinks and a very excited catch up.

We'd planned to spend a couple of days in Melbourne before introducing my folks to the nomadic lifestyle we have become accustomed to and so what better way to introduce them to Australian life than visit . . . . . the set of Neighbours!! Couldn't believe how small Ramsey Street is and did you know that they just put the Erinsburgh School sign on the fence of some random primary school whenever they want to film in that location?! After visiting some of the sets it was time for us to meet one of the stars of the show - would it be Toady, Doctor Karl, Suzanne (PLEASE LET IT BE STEPH SKULLY!!)? Oh no, we got Ned, who on earth is Ned?! I actually stood pretty close to him and asked Mum when the star would arrive only for her to nudge me and point out that he was already there!

All too soon it was time for us to leave Melbourne and head off along the Great Ocean Road in our Camper Van. After spending about 3 hours being shown by a very annoying little man how to operate every device in the van (including the light switches!) we set off. Got to say that it wasn't the most comfortable of vehicles to travel in, especially for those who got to sit in the back and were subsequently bounced out of their chair every time we went over even the smallest of bumps but it was lots of fun.

The Great Ocean Road was simply stunning. The coastline itself is really impressive, swapping between rugged cliffs and pure white beaches. The road is also periodically dotted with great attractions (lots of which were free to visit much to Adam and my Dad's delight!) and cute little towns.

Highlights for me - well, I loved walking along the sky top walkway through the rainforest in the Otways. It was so amazing to be walking amongst the treetops and looking down at the forest beneath us, not quite so enjoyable though when we were standing on the cantilever walkway and Ad started to jump up and down to see how much he could make it sway! However, the best bit has got to be the twelve apostles (why they're called that when there are only about seven of them I don't know). These rock formations that have been left standing on their own just off the shoreline are simply stunning and even managed to make a complete non geographer like myself wonder about how on earth erosion had caused just those bits to be left (Katy - you would have been proud!).

After about four days on the Great Ocean Road we headed west to a farm where one of Mum's friends children lives. After a few too many beers Ad decided that he would offer to help with milking the following morning and was subsequently woken up at ten to four to honour his promise (he'd only been in bed about two hours!). Surprisingly though he really enjoyed it - maybe because he got to ride a quad bike around and to be fair he hadn't stopped drinking long enough for the hangover to have set in! (IT'S LUCKY THERE ARE NO DRINK DRIVING LAWS ON PRIVATE LAND OR I WOULD HAVE BEEN DOING SOME TIME IN THE SLAMMER!).

Our travels around Victoria ended with a visit to Philip Island, home to the Little Penguins. We wrapped up warm and sat down on the beach ready for the little creatures to appear out of the sea and head up along the beach to their burrows. We waited and waited and waited. Finally a group of about fifteen penguins braved it onto the beach only to turn around and head straight back into the sea as they were scared. This happened about a dozen times - very amusing at first but it was getting pretty cold and seeing the penguins waddle along the beach was falling lower and lower down the priority list whereas returning to the warm van and having a glass of cold wine was shooting upwards fast! We did sit it out though and the Little Penguins (that is their actual name by the way!) were very cute as they waddled up the beach, cuddling together in little groups for protection.

Arriving in the land down under!

Our journey to Australia was ridiculously long seeing as we were already about hlaf way there. We caught a plane from Beijing to Hong Kong where we had a twelve hour stop over before we flew onto Perth. We werwe still not at our final destination however as we were headed for Melbourne to catch up with some of the girls we volunteered with in Tanzania. Before we could catch our final flight though we had a six hour stop over, lucky us!! Ad decided to use this time to wash and shave in the men's toilets, much to the amusement of the female cleaner!

So, after a total of thirty six hours travelling plus a two hour time difference we eventually reached Melbourne, and instead of going to bed headed out for a night on the town with our friends! After a reunion with Liz at the airport we headed into the city to meet the Aussie girls (Miffy and Yo) who had volunteered with us in Tanzania and had flown into Melbourne earlier that day to meet us. It was so good to see Yo, Miff and Liz again and reminisce about Tanzania, over a few glasses of wine of course! Had a fab night (from what I remember!) and looking forwards to catching up with Yo and Miffy again later on in our Australian travels!

Lizzie lives in Melbourne and very kindly offered us a room at her place - so nice not to be in a dodgy hostel, to use a washing machine that you didn't have to sit and watch run it's cycle for fear of someone stealing your clothes the moment it finished and be able to use a clean toilet that you didn't have to que for (actually, forget about the que, it was amazing just having access to a clean toilet - the things you appreciate when you've spent six months outside Western civilisation!). My parents were flying into Melbourne the following week so we spent our time in Melbourne meeting Liz's friends and doing not a lot at all which was simply perfect.

CHINA!

So after a great time in Borneo with our friends, they headed off to a 5 star resort and we travelled to China, a country that has a star on its flag. We only spent just over 2 weeks in China but saw some amazing things and had some awesome experiences. Here are some of the highlights and my general thoughts on China.

Top of the list just has to be seeing and walking along the Great Wall, it really was just amazing. Having seen so many pictures of this icon in books and on T.V etcetera it felt really surreal to actually see it and even more so to spend the day walking along it. We decided not to go to the part of the wall closest to Beijing and instead, in an attempt to avoid millions of Chinese tourists, undertook an eight hour return bus journey to a more remote section! Our efforts paid off and we were able to walk along a 10km stretch of the amazing wall which was virtually tourist free. It was huge and more spectacular than I could ever have imagined, however, Ellie wouldn’t let me take a bit of the wall home as a souvenir.

We'd seen a travel programme about Xian which showed people riding bikes around the city walls - it looked fun so we decided to go along and give it a try. When we got there we discovered that you could also rent tandem bikes - awesome! Riding around the city walls was pretty cool, although very hard work. Ells insists that she was peddling all the time on the 10km ride but I’m really not that sure. AD HOWEVER FOUND IT VERY AMUSING TO STEER IN SUCH A WAY THAT THE FRONT WHEEL MISSED THE POT HOLES BUT THE BACK OF THE BIKE (WHERE I WAS SITTING) ENDED UP IN EVERY ONE – OUCH!!

We travelled to and from Shang Hai by train but decided that riding the MAGLEV was definitely worth the trip out to the airport for. . . . and it was definitely worth the effort. This train reaches the staggering speed of 431km (270m) per hour, simply fantastic. It took us just 8 minutes to travel from the airport back to the city center. The down side was it took us an hour and a half to get to the airport by road!

We managed to find a bar in Hong Kong that offered a drinks buffet. This meant that for 4 hours you could drink as much as you wanted of whatever you wanted! The evening of the drinks buffet was amazing (although I can’t remember getting home) however the following day was not quite so great. I had the worst hangover since we met up with my mates in Bangkok and we had to walk across Hong Kong to catch a 26 hour train to Shanghai. We didn’t drink again for almost 2 weeks!

Seeing the terracotta warriors was another must visit icon when in China and it didn’t disappoint. I had always thought that the warriors were small, I could not believe it when I saw the thousands of warriors that are all LIFE SIZE! There was a WBA fan standing next to me who had never seen such a crowd, although he admitted that he was used to seeing 11 useless statues week in, week out.

Ho(s)tels in China were always interesting. Quite often the receptionist didn't speak a word of English and so miming (involving sleeping and washing routines to discover what facilities the room had) became pretty routine, but obviously never lost their amusement factor! In Xian we found a pretty nice and really cheap hotel without too much stress and so left to go sight seeing feeling very pleased with ourselves. When we returned it was dark and it was at this point we realised why the hotel was so cheap. The street that we had presumed was just quiet had transformed into the sex shop capital of China! While fetching some water later on in the evening I got dragged along the street by several short skirted ladies trying to get me into their shops for a “massage”. My shoulders were quite sore from carrying my rucksack so it could have been quite interesting if I had been gullible enough to go with them!

Eating authentic Chinese cuisine was . . . . . .different! Why when you have the whole chicken to choose from would you order the feet, or my personal favourite, chicken stomach on a stick! And these tasty options weren't just available in dodgy back street stalls, oh no, you could get them everywhere! Seriously though, we had the best duck pancakes I have ever tasted in Beijing, and they gave us the ducks head for free - what a bonus!

In general the people in China were fantastic. They would all try and help you even though most of them don’t speak a word of English! We arrived in Shang Hai by train and before heading off to find accommodation I decided to go and get some cash, leaving Ellie with the bags. This task proved slightly more difficult than expected and when I returned I was concerned as Ells was no where to be seen. I did however notice a large group of about 50 people standing pretty near where I had left her. Panicking now I began to run towards them and as I got closer I realised that they were all “talking” to Ellie and helping her find the hotel that we were trying to find on a map, the only problem being that between them they spoke about five words of English!

In Beijing we visited the Forbidden City, of which most was surrounded in scaffolding, being renovated in time for the 2008 Olympics. Our sightseeing was livened up when we agreed to let a guide that was practicing to be an English guide show us round for free. We became very good at translating sentences such as “woo wee a woof o a gate pwawis i gwowed a errri errri evi! (You can see that the roof of the great palace is made from gold and is very very heavy!)

China was an absolutely amazing place and despite (or maybe because of?) the difficulties in communication and hotel rooms with original features such as open sewer pipes in the bathroom (certainly unique!) is definitely a place that we will be coming back to!