Emma's Australian Bloglet

Final boarding...

2006-11-10T09:25:00.000+08:00

Made it to Singapore... but only just! Aa queue at duty free made me the last one on the plane, but fortunately they didn't get to the point of calling my name over the tanoy!

Off to explore Singapore Changi Airport some more now. It's suffocatingly steamy out there, but it's 10 o'clock at night! I'm glad I'm not here for any length of time!

I get back into Manchester at 6am (bleugh) local time. No "welcome back" calls will be accepted until 12 noon though :)

See you all soon!

--
¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤

Coming to an end

2006-11-09T15:00:00.000+08:00

I'm sat in Perth Airport at the moment, trying to decide what to spend my last few australian dollars on. I've been left to my own devices this week as Ann-Marie's new job started on Monday. However I managed to negotiate the very efficient public transport system here in Perth and seen the Western Australian Art GAllery, Museum and the Perth Mint. I've also bought a lot of souveniers ranging from the rather good to the incredibly tacky.

I'm looking forward to getting home, but not the going back to work part of that. I'm going to miss Australia, I've still got so much more to do and see here, but at least this guarentees that I'll be returning "down under" soon!

--
¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤

A photo catch up.

2006-10-31T13:10:00.000+08:00

Oh dear, I sent a post on Sunday night with a bit of gossip about Ann-Marie and I going out in Manly (a Brisbane suburb) getting drunk amongst the sleasy locals and then heading to the Gold coast and surfers paradise and getting tattoos, but it doesn't seem to have appeared on my blog. Ah well, here are some of the photos you've been missing out on.

Jim and Ann-Marie aboard the Aristocat2 - A catamaran we took around Monkey Mia bay spotting dolphins, dugongs and loggerhead turtles.

The best kind of graffetti, the amusing kind - turning the harmless little bilby into a fanged and clawed monster!

In front of Uluru (Ayres Rock for the politically incorrect/insensitive) at some ridiculously early hour in order to catch a distinctly unimpressive sunrise from a viewing point that, on my camera at least, required a 30-odd degree angle to take the whole thing in. However I have walked round it, which is one thing I can tick off my list, but the evening "Sounds of Silence" dinner under the stars was cancelled due to the thunderstorm we had later that day. Bloody weather had to follow me didn't it?

Tattoos for Ann-Marie and myself (guess which is which!) taken whilst hungover on the beach at Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast, Queensland.

And here we are! A gaggle of Farnworths - taken by Maori Jon, Catherine's boyfriend...

...who is here, with Catherine, as we are about to board the plane. He's just got out of hospital, having collapsed the day after we left, so get well soon Jon.

That's all I have time for today boys and girls, but I hope that puts paid to any doubts about the existance of my Australian family and satifies your hunger for photographic evidence of my trip.

Oh and BTW... They are temporary tattoos. Sorry if I disappoint ;)

Up, up and away

2006-10-27T13:50:00.000+08:00

Another day, another Airport!

Unfortunately the rain that poured after our little trip around Ayres Rock meant that last nights "Sounds of Silence" tour, dining under the stars, was cancelled. We managed to stay entertained, and this morning set off for Brisbane, Via Melbourne, which is where we are right now.

Our flight is about to depart so I'll have to go, but I'd like to thank the anonymous lady who scarpered early, leaving me free internet access for the next few minutes :)

Sometime soon I'll get to a proper computer, instead of these darned stand up machines, and upload some of my pictures. Promise!
--
¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤

A Quickie from Ayres Rock Resort

2006-10-25T15:42:00.000+08:00

Just flown into Ayres Rock. Not literally of course... that would be all over the news.

We've arrived at the resort and are setting off stupidly early tomorrow to get a sunrise view of the 2nd largest rock in Australia - Uluru. The largest, for those fact fans is actually Mt Augustus in W.A. but is apparently not as interesting (Thanks to Dan and his Pub Quiz MemoryTM).

Then tomorrow evening we have a evening meal with a view of the oversized pebble. It's called the "sounds of silence" tour, but I know for a fact that there is to be a digeridoo accompaniment so how "silent" it turns out to be is yet to be seen/heard.

No pictures yet, coz I haven't taken any, but rest assured I shall get them to you as soon as possible.

Off to the pool now... *sigh* it's a hard life.

Danger! Shark Attack!

2006-10-21T16:25:00.000+08:00

Finally some photos! We went on the Kalbarri Explorer at 6am this morning, bleary eyed and getting increasing seasick on the journey out. We saw a whale splashing about which was enough to keep my mind focused away from nausea. By the time we arrived at the first of the stops, I was feeling destinctly peaky and was very glad I'd had no breakfast.

We fished for a while and to my surprise I landed a Trevalli (so I'm told) but managed to tangle up 3 peoples lines in the process. Beginners luck! Excellent.

A bit later, at a different point I landed a small North West (or Sweet Lip) Snapper (darker and a little stripey, instead of light blue. This was good :) still felt a bit ill though.

Then there was talk of a shark tangling someones lines but I was a bit busy. I'd got a bite of my own, and it was heavy. And difficult to pull up. And, crikey! I've got a shark on my line!!!

Lots of struggling and pulling later, with plenty of instruction from Roscoe and Bob (his uncle - no really) We managed to get it on board, remove the tackle in its mouth and pose for a few pics before throwing it back into the water.

Shark, Skipper Bob and Me.
And here's our reward at the end of the days fishing... 4 fish (3 Snappers and 1 Travalli) 8 fillets and tonight's dinner. Can't wait :)

Tour-tastic

2006-10-20T14:53:00.000+08:00

Been out on a tour today round a station house that has been looking after livestock and such since the 1800s. Some funny stories from the people who lived there, like the Prince who decorated all the homestead in gaudy colours and bought loads of really elaborate but essentially pointless earth moving equipment and tanks! Fairly sad as well though, because they are struggling - having had no rain for ages, and the ground about as dry as they'd normally have in February AFTER the Summer, rather than before it.

Tomorrow we're going on a fishing trip - I don't expect to catch anything, but who knows?! I might get lucky! Then on Sunday we go to Denham and the tourist resort of Monkey Mia for a few days, before heading back to Kalbarri, picking up our stuff and going back to Perth... *deep breath* THEN we fly from Perth to Ayers Rock and are booked onto some tours there, then to Brisbane on the east coast (via a 1 hour stop in Melbourne) to see Catherine for her birthday. Then back to Perth where *hopefully* we can chill for a bit!

I'm dead excited coz I didn't think I'd be going out of Western Australia, nevermind to the East Coast and Ayres Rock... can't wait!

Oh, and check out www.personal.leeds.ac.uk/~issehf/Australia for pics.

--
¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤

Kalbarri and onward!

2006-10-19T14:19:00.000+08:00

A 6 hour drive on Wednesday brought me and Ann-Marie up to Kalbarri, via 3 kangaroos; 2 dead and 1 live and kicking and running in front of our car. We're currently in a local cafe for lunch having booked a fishing trip for Saturday morning (6am... erk!). If any of you have tried texting me then I'm sorry but there's no reception here. Its a bit of a one horse town, albeit very beautiful as the short walk to the beach this morning testified.

Just found out that Ann-Marie, Jim and myself are going to Ayres Rock next week! so excited :) Monkey Mia is just up the coast and we go there for a few days on Sunday.

I would send my photos but I've forgotton to bring my USB cable today... Sorry!
--
¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤

Singapore Airport

2006-10-17T08:08:00.000+08:00

Well I survived the first flight, battling a headache, lack of sleep and an elderly couple sat next to me wittering on about how to use the in-flight entertainment system. However now I need some sleep before the next 5 hour stint, but I'm desperate to explore the hidden treasures of Singapore Changi Airport... It's SOOO much nicer than Manchester.

It's 8am here - 27 degrees and foggy as hell. Wierd.

--
¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤

Delays already!

2006-10-16T16:53:00.000+08:00

I've got as far as Manchester Airport and there are already delays! Apparently the entertainment system is broken and will take an hour to fix. I hope they get it working or there'll be no in-flight movies for me.

I'm still coughing horrendously, but there's no turning back now!

In other news, Herman's Hermits seem to be on tour and on my flight. How show biz? Not very.
--
¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤

Counting down...

2006-10-09T00:30:00.000+08:00

Just over a week and I'll be on my way to Australia... quite a daunting thought.

However I've nearly done everything on my "to do" list, including buying glasses and sunglasses. As I mentioned in my last post this has been something I've been meaning to do for literally YEARS (and I mean that in the literal meaning of literally) but this trip leaves me no excuse for two reasons.

Sight-seeing may prove a little difficult when I can't actually see clearly further than 3 metres.
Australia is sunny so I'll need sunglasses, which until yesterday, I didn't have.

So, "yey me!" for finally overcoming that little hurdle.

I also found out that Ann-Marie and I might be going over to see Catherine (my other cousin) if we can afford the flights to Queensland. It's her 30th on the 27th of October so it'll be great to see her around then.

The nervous butterflies are setting in as I can't believe it's so close. I know exactly what I still need to do, but the time for planning is over and it's time to get stuff done. Best go and do it then eh?

10 days to go...

2006-10-05T20:30:00.000+08:00

10 days to go and the final preparations are happening. I'm working out what to pack, what I still need to buy and if I might have forgotten something really important... Hope not!

The most significant things still to get are some new glasses, a pair of standard ones and a pair of "Sunnies". Although this might sound simple, I've been umm-ing and ahh-ing about what pair to buy for literally years so to get two pairs bought in a week is a bit sudden! And it's probably going to set me back £200 which is a bit of a shame as well.

In addition all this thinking is proving a little difficult at the moment as I've got a streaming cold and consequently the attention span of a gnat... Ooh look! A bee!

*Wanders off*