26th - 28th Jan Sydney - Melbourne 'Safari'

So I leave Sydney on Australia Day and head off on my 2 night/3 day 'Safari' to Melbourne.
Before anyone thinks aw cool a safari, its not, and I have no idea why they call it that either!

So first stop is Canberra the ACT - Australia's Capital Territory. We stop off at the Australian War Museum, a look out point over the whole city where you can take in the cities architectural design and Parliament House and have a drive around the city center. Its such a quiet Capital city, you can understand why people assume Sydney is the Capital. Nice to stop in for a few hours but in all honesty not much to really see or do there. Next we headed to the Snowy Mountains, where we stayed in Ski Lodge accommodation. We all had dinner together and then did a 'shot ski' basically shots are put in a ski and there are 4 shots, so 4 of you do the shots at the same time - slightly problematic! My shot glass fell from the ski has I tried to shallow the shot and ended up breaking on the floor! 2nd time round was much better!

The next day we get up early ready to head off to walk to Mt Kosciuszko, the highest peak on the snowy mountains. We get a ski lift up - omg scary!!! Never been on a ski lift before, did not like it!! So after being ridiculously scared doing the sand boarding and being a wimp on a ski lift I have realised that adrenaline fueled activities are probably not best suited to me, no ski diving for moi in that case! We get to the start of the walk and the weather is a bit dismal and cold! About 20mins in it starts to get cloudy and misty, so we walk to the first look out point and then all decide that its best to head back, as we won't get to see anything anyway. Blue Mountains all over again!! Oh btw, going down on the ski lift was much better than going up on it...

Lakes Entrance

So back in the bus we head off for coffee and then on to Lakes Entrance in Victoria, we stop off on the way at a Platypus enclosure where we stand silently and quietly for about half an hour and are lucky enough to spot a couple in the water. Onwards we head to the Lakes Entrance, which is beautiful and the largest navigable lakes in Australia. Apparently Lakes Entrance is like the Bournemouth of Australia, its where everyone goes to retire or on holiday! We check into the RSL club (thats like a workings man club) and the accommodation is like a cheap hotel (staying in luxury on this trip, no hostels!) and head for some dinner. After dinner the group heads off to 90 mile beach - the longest beach in Oz to watch the sunset.

The next day we continue on to Wilson's Promontory, which is a National Park in Victoria. Here we take a hike through the mountains, explore Squeaky Beach (yep it squeaks when you walk on it), and spot some Kangaroo's and Emu's in the wild, before heading off to Melbourne, arriving early evening on the Monday.

I get dropped in St Kilda and picked up by my good friend Matt, who whisks me away so I can crash at his for a few days and attempt to figure out my life! :0)