SydneySide - Part 2

Sydney is great IF you have a great job or a pretty hectic full on one where you can save money. A fellow OzBusketeer just worked and worked in a cafe until she didn't know what spare time was so she could save enough money for her flight back to England. Otherwise you find yourself in a city that you're just looking at. And that's what Sydney wants you to do, it's very Photogenic. Getting around is easy enough but it isn't cheap. The public transport system was adequate and fairly reliable(do not live in the Western Suburbs you'll be stuck in your car for days. The trains were double deckers which amused me everytime I went on them, but weren't as good or as clean as those I experienced in Madrid. Other necessities which are surprisingly expensive is Beer. It was so so expensive. Makes one not want to go out for a pint and get 'pissed up' on cheap plonk that comes in boxes instead. Which is what we did.

So my time in Sydney wasn't actually that fantastic. Other people seemed to enjoy it more than me. But I did come away with a few favourite places. One was The Rocks. Oldest part of the city, few nice little cafes, weekend markets, old houses to look at. Another was Queen Victoria Building where I'd window shop and have coffee in a lovely little Japanese Restaurant in a corner on the top floor and watch the clock changing time. Glebe Point Rd was a haunt of mine not least because I lived there in a hostel for a while but because it is one of the 'alternative' parts of the city. As well as Newtown where many students head, a lot of individual shops and creative minds there. Balmain is where I headed one day where I saw a famous AFL footballer pushing his kid along in a stroller and 'Leah' from Home and Away which MADE MY DAY! I'm a huge fan.

If you're a huge fan of H.a.A. then hop on a long bus to Palm Beach north of city where they film it. I walked outside the surf club with Alf Stewart's name above. It was like a dream had come true. I don't care if that makes me sad – I've been watching that Surf Club since I was tiny and I never ever thought I'd actually get to walk along the same beach as Sally Fletcher. But I did. And it was great. Reality 0 Childhood dreams 1.

Bondi Beach actually wasn't much to write home about. My fave beach area was down by Coogee where a couple of OzBusketeers were living. Manly had a pretty good beach but way too crowded for me in summer.

What I enjoyed most about Sydney was getting to know my relatives and spending time with them. That's why I truly came to Australia. And I did that. But the city itself is rather like any other only you've seen it before, on a postcard.

SydneySide - Part 1

What can I say about Sydney? On a bright sunny day it is beautiful. So when a fellow OzBusketeer and I were wandering around on errands (post OzBus) and it bucketed it down with rain I was more than a little surprised. I did not come to the other side of the world only the have a summer of rain. Had I wanted that I would have stayed in Britain. Clearly something was wrong when I returned Sydney Base Hostel miffed with slippy, slidy wet flip flops.

Sydney was not the sun baked city I'd envisioned but a varied urban settlement like many others. It rains, it sometimes has very strong winds, it can be cold (though not as cold as Melbourne which is as cold as England in winter), it can be very hot. The city has a multitude of attractions on offer. It has a beautiful view of the Opera House and Harbor Bridge as you get off the train on city circle line at Circular Quay. It has joly ferries to Manly, Double Bay and Balmain. It has a restored historic district of The Rocks, the Center Point tower to climb and walk around at great height, Botanical Gardens, parks to eat lunch in summer on, shopping rows, Queen Victoria Building for a special shopping experience and a very high cost of living.

And there in lay the first stumbling block for my year long plan of residing in Sydney. It was way more than I was expecting and my budget had already been stretched since arriving in Darwin but I was determined to live a life in this city. Having waved off OzBusketeers from Base Hostel, a flash-packer place, I moved into a cheaper hostel in Kings Cross, on a street that transvestite hookers favoured. They didn't bother me much, and really the hostel didn't suffer because of the haunt. It was small and sociable and many travelers seemed to 'live' there. This was not what I wanted, I was tired after being on the road for so long and especially over Christmas and New year so I eventually found a temporary flat to move into for that period of time. Next on the to-do list was Job.

Unfortunately Australia was not ready for me. And job it did not want to give. I was specific in what job title I was going to have that year and had I been as talented in many job roles as my other OzBusketeer friends then perhaps jobs would have been more forthcoming. The others went to find jobs in the service industry but that task was not without its surprises. First they had to complete a Responsible Service of Alcohol Certificate for which of course there was a fee. It screamed 'taking advantage' of cashed backpackers when I first saw the course advertised but actually it's just a nice little earner for the Government. If there are slot machines or 'pokies' as the Australians affectionately call them in the place of work my friends also had to complete a Responsible Service of Gambling Certificate which cost them another fair few bucks. I guess this is the Governments way of tackling the huge gambling addiction problem the nation is facing. Unfortunately the Government still insists on shoving the things into every drinking space in the country so I don't see how this can really help. I feel sorry for the addicts who are totally being played by the system. (And they think they're playing a game.) All these Certificates have to be completed before gaining employment and if my friends happened to move states as is 90% likely with backpackers they would have to do the certificates all over again as no states except another one's certification.

Fortunately for me I wasn't going to do this RSA thing as I was a bone fide experienced EFL teacher and I was going to gain employment in a lovely little English school where lots of students come from all over the world to learn English and explore Sydney and Australia. And I went to a good lot of interviews and they each told me the same thing – Australia didn't recognise my qualification nor my experience outside of the country or England. Great. So by the New Year of 2010 I was technically unemployable in a country I was staying in until September and I had run out of money. S**t. By Valentines day the only work I had gained was an hour a week with a 3 yr old and it wasn't paying the rent. I decided to move on.

OzBus11 - The End of the Road

90 days, 26 passengers, 17 countries, 13 busses, 12 currencies, 10 time zones, 3 ferries, 3 (politically necarssary) flights, 1 horse ride, 1 scooter and 1 lost earing later; 8 nationalities including one Kiwi leader had made it to being 3 days away from Sydney. We left Coober Pedy heading for Adelaide where we began the begginning of the end for OzBus11.

Our loveable crazy French Canadian was leaving us here to conitnue his adventures alone in Australia. Also our resident 'bogan' Aussie was returning to his hometown of Melbourne which was geographically nearer to Adelaide than Sydney so it made sense for him to say bye to us here also. The crew arrived at our second to last hostel. We settled in and then made our way to a special leaving dinner. It was a flat time for me as I hate anything having to end. The phrase 'all good things must come to an end' has no meaning for me but it could be a fitting description for that night.

Adelaide was a pleasant city to trundle through. Open, green with various parks, pretty, old buildings still in situ thanks to the 80's financial boom not hitting the city. But all too soon we were on the road again with only 24 passengers on board heading for the tiny NSW town of Narrandera. This is where we'd lay our heads, one last night on the road, before our final, 92nd, day.

Is this a good time to reflect? People ask me, as I know they ask my fellow OzBusketeers – “how did you cope for 3 months with the same group of people and a different place each night?” I find it a difficult question to answer. For us, OzBus was a way of life. It had been since we boarded the bus on the 6th of September at Embankment, London. We all did so with different aims but we had one thing in common. We held within us an accute need for adventure. We wanted something different, not the norm, one in a million.

For some of us it was a spur of the moment decision made with a friend because life was so inain at the time. For others it was a 'crazy' idea that suited their 'crazy' personality. For others being on board a bus through strange countries for 3 months was a test of survival that had to be done to prove something either to oneself or other people. For me? - It was a minute part of a bigger plan of action that I still hadn't figured out at the time. Maybe I still don't. I knew I needed that bus, I needed those people around me, I needed to get to Australia. And by the time I had arived in the vast extreme country, I wasn't necarssarily a completely different person. But I had definitely been added to. OzBus is extension of my life and the experiences I have had because of it benefit me as a person. It's another bus story I can tell future friends and ones that are waiting for me to return home.

Day 92. OzBusketeers wake up in Nerrandera. We arrive in Australia's capital of Canberra for lunch. A tour of Parliament house was impressive. The capital city isn't supposed to be much of a looker. It being purpose built and to stop the rival cities of Melbourne and Sydney from squabling over who's the best. But it didn't look that bad to me. I'd live there for a while to get a better feel for the place before completely writing it off. It was post-war pretty and clean.

After lunch it was a final haul to Sydney. I remember going through beautiful rolling hills of countryside. This was in stark contrast to the deathly orange of the outback. And then......... and then......... “Harry Truman, Dorris Day....” our song came on the radio. We were pulling in to Mrs Macquaries Point in the Royal Botanical Gardens which was the official disembarkation point of OzBus11. Those that couldn't contain their excitement/emotion were dancing in the bus aisle, others were frantically waving out of the window to friends and relatives.

The bus parked up, we all rushed off. Some were greeted by those they had not seen for 3 months, 3 years or more. Others rushed off to the viewing point to see the famous Opera House across the harbour. It was the first view of the iconic landmark and it was the symbol that WE HAD MADE IT! I was surprisingly teary just by sharing the moment of arriving with my fellow passengers who were now my firm friends. We all posed, most of us wearing official OzBus11 T-shirts we had made up for ourselves, as a group with the Opera House behind us. It was someone's poor relative who was roped in to taking 20 odd digital camera pictures of us. After a lot of smiles and teary hugs it was time for a fair few of our crew to be taken away to experiences new by their family and friends. There was just one last short trip tour 'Adventure Tours' OzBus had to make. The few of us that were left, mostly the youngens, were dropped off at a decent 'flashpacker' hostel to sleep our first night as non-OzBusketeers. Goodbye to bus was said, a meloncholy drag of bags into reception, payment made and up into our mixed dorms.

A few of us stayed up pretty late as Rob 'Geography Boy' had an early flight to N.Z. to make. I crashed out in my bunk in the evening though. All of a sudden I felt empty and disillusioned. I knew where I was but at the same time I had no idea. Tomorrow was completely uncertain. Everything felt too immidiate, pressing and though this was technically freedom, it was distressing.

When I awoke the next morning Rob was gone already and strange people were sleeping in a few of the beds amongst my friends' bunks. Day 1 of the rest of my life had begun and I decided to go and find somewhere in Sydney to eat breakfast.

OzBus11 - Daly Waters to Coober Pedy

We only spent a night in Daly Waters because that was all a simple backpacker needed. But what a night of fun we had, talking over beers in a flip/flop decorated beer garden, signing the obligatory T-Shirt proving we'd been there and hanging it next to a few other OzBus members. When our dinners had gone down, and we'd spent the last of our change on drinks, we headed for beds which for the most hardy of us tonight were in the form of Swags. These foam mattresses surrounded by tough canvas which you slot your sleeping bag in were a fab way of sleeping in the bush, Aussie style. I wondered how I'd cope with the amount of criers the Aussie bush has but as I lay my head down looking up at an amazingly large clear night sky, I drifted into a deep, natural sleep. But as usual though it was an early morning start and on the road at dawn heading for Alice (Alice? Alice? Who the f**k is Alice?) Springs.

We were on the road so early that we had to make a special stop for Breakfast. I'm not a fan of rush breakies and was not digging it. The road seemed a blur of large termite mounds and endless roadhouse stops for lunch until we passed a typical outback oddity. A roadhouse dedicated to the sighting of Aliens with a larger than life model outside tempting road weary drinkers in. By 5.30pm though we reached something that perked me up. We were about to cross the Tropic of Capricorn and we stopped for a photo op. Again the marvels of Australia hit me as I thought how amazing it was for an entire country to have it's own tropic! How can you even compare Britain to something like that?

An hour later we had reached Alice Springs. Out of the dusty orange of the outback bush appeared a pop up city of concrete, cars and visible Indigenous peoples. That night we were treated to a rare night in a hostel and made our way to Bo's Saloon for dinner where you could find good steak, a caged snake and the rest of the backpackers in town. Presumably we had all come for the same reason – to see if anyone would look up where we were on the internet as they stream their CCTV (in colour) on their website for anyone, anywhere in the world to check out. Only slightly creepy....

I went to bed earlier than others as I had to get up super early the next morning to phone the parents. I only mention this as it was in my diary as something I did which I presume meant it was an important event as I might have not have spoken to them for a while – too much fun on the road. We had a fairly luxurious morning as it happened, checking out at 10am, ambling through the town only to leave at 1pm. 4 hours later we had already arrived at our next campsite, King's Canyon. It was a lovely easy day compared to the amazing drives we had been doing through Australia so far and previously in Indonesia.

We were at this campsite to see the amazing rock formation of King's Canyon and walk it which meant the next morning we had eaten breakie and left camp by 6am. Our guide Mark was doing a super job at giving us the speal but I'm not great walking a little bit then stopping and listening then walking a bit more so I went off and did the walk myself. Afterwards I learnt that people thought that that was not a particularly good idea seeing as how easy it for peeps to get into difficulty on their own out in the Aussie terrain and unforgiving climate. I argue that I notified the proper authority of my intention to go on alone and thought should have been aired at that point, had water with me, it was a guided walk and there were a fair few others doing the same. I just can't stand being hearded around sometimes, I need to get out and do it in my own time, on my own terms.

I had a good hour back at the walk's base waiting for the troops to arrive and by 11am we had left, watching the other backpacker bus tour companies roll on in. I was beginning to gauge just how big the specific 'backpacker' industry in Australia was. No rest for the intrepid OzBusketeers though as we rolled our way onwards to the highlight of our outback tour – Uluru, the geological formation formerly known as Ayers Rock. Arriving at the campsite at 4.30pm it was dumping our stuff and then jumping back on board to the official sunset viewing area. Official because it was like a Backpacker bus Tour Operator coffee meeting in a car park with Uluru framed by the stretched sky in the distance. Yes it was beautiful and sunsets are my 'thing' just as sunrises are. For me sunsets are a spiritual reflection on the past...... yes, spiritual, deal with it. And I always make a point of seeing the sunrise on the longest day to mark another point in time, the joy of daylight. But at Uluru, surrounded by photo opportunities for Facebook, computer hard drives, maybe some of them would be lucky enough to be viewed in generations to come, I felt inside like the moment was just another moment for a scrapbook. And I was saddened a little that it didn't meet the enormity that the rock itself possesses over the landscape.

The next morning saw us up before dawn to see the rock in much the same way as the evening before but from the opposite side. It did look different that morning, and the sunrise painted Uluru in many different colours in a way an onlooker can note. Better. Once light, we parked up and had a little talk by Mark of the cultural significance of it including a kind request not to walk up it if it was allowed that day. Now, I don't get this part of how Uluru park operates. It is done so by mostly indigenous people to the area who have it in their culture disrespectful to climb onto the rock yet the sheer face climb on non windy days is still in operation and people chose to do this. I have visited Muslim mosques covered up to the nines, disrespected as a woman in Iran and Pakistan because their culture requires me to be so and I come to a Western country deliberately choosing to disrespect a culture? It was illegal for me to walk into a Mosque without a headscarf in Iran so why not ban the climb in Australia. Maybe it's free speech, western living, I don't know but for me their was no choice. If it was disrespectful in Aboriginal culture and Uluru was an Aboriginal sacred sight then I was a guest on that land and had no choice but to adhere to their customs.

I guess some of us were intrigued as to who would and wouldn't climb. A few of us had our own thoughts which being the multicultural, free thinking group we were, aired the night before at dinner but in the end we weren't to know as the walk was closed due to winds. In a way I'm glad that happened, perhaps a view of mine on someone would have changed for the worse and tension would have been felt between some of us more vocal in our beliefs amongst OzBus11. After a very pleasant walk around the rock which is encourage by park rangers we visited the Cultural center which was a glorified gift shop. Not to say that it was a bad thing, I've been to a fair number of gift shops in my time and experience has given me rating expertise. Uluru information center was a freshly developed site presumably with sustainability in mind. Or at least the space gave off that air of thought. A coffee and a walk through later (no gifts tempted me, another skill I've picked up from over exposure to gift shops, I've seen it all before).

At 12pm we had lunch and we had a rare 'free' afternoon. A few of us caught the campsite shuttle into Uluru resort. Yes it's like an Australian version of Disneyland. A pop-up town in the middle of the desert with all the amenities at hyped up prices to suit. It was excruciatingly hot that day. I remember because I was positively relieved to be in the complex with temperature control. At 4pm we were all called back to get on the bus to visit Kata Tjuta The Olgas. We were back a fraction before sunset and most of us raced up to a high point by camp to view it.

The following morning we left Uluru and stopped in Marla for lunch. By a reasonable time in the afternoon we had arrived in the mining town of Coober Pedy. This is another favourite on the backpacker trail and we were introduced to our lodgings that night as a massive dorm in a cave. It sounds rustic but it was actually more geometric in layout. The 'cave' was section off into mini dorms of 2 bunk beds separated from the main aisle which was wide enough for motor traffic by curtains. It was an odd setting but it worked. Because it had been dug out of the ground the room temperature was constant during day and night. In fact most residents in Coober Pedy lived in such a way, in houses dug out from the ground. After dumping our stuff we had a tour of one which had been recreated as part of an Opal mine tour. It was interesting, never even knew Opals were found in Oz. I had recently lost one of my pearl earings and as I only ever travel with one pair I decided to purchase a pair of Opal earings as my new set and momento of the occasion.

Suddenly I wanted all the momentos I could lay my hands on. We sat down to dinner in the only place in town we could which was a pizza joint. We were all sitting together opposite an excitable group of scouts/school kids. Everyone was having a 'swell' time but I felt unusually somber. I looked around carefully at the 26 faces I had been traveling with for the past 3 months, trying to remember everything we had been through together, trying to capture that moment in the pizza place in my mind. Tomorrow we would be leaving for Adelaide and would already being saying goodbyes to some OzBusketeers.

Ozbus11 - Darwin to Daly Waters

At 4am local time the 26 passengers part of the mammoth 92 day OzBus11 London to Sydney journey, left Darwin Airport in the Northern Territory state of Australia. This was it. This was the country of my destination. This was the last leg of a long and interesting experience. This was my goal.

Everyone of the OzBus11 passengers had got on board Martin's bus at Cleopatra's needle on that first day back on the 6th September for different reasons. For some it was the novelty mode of transport, for some it was the fact we were traveling through the rarely seen country of Iran and Pakistan, for others it was India that was the main draw. For me OzBus was a safe and fun filled carrier transporting me to Australia, one of a few countries I decided I was going to spend time in as part of my 'round-the-world-without-a-plane' adventure. It was my half way point, half way around the world and as far removed from anything I'd ever known before.

Australia had always been a mysterious other land where everything was opposite. My very small family in Britain had always had close connections with our reletives in Sydney. Every Christmas it was traditional for us to make the once a year long distance phone call to talk to a few of our clan. In the blistering winds of a Yorkshire Christmas, or the cold dull rain of an East Anglian one, I would always hear of how un-naturally hot it was that year, how the barbie was just getting going outside and no one had managed to get to the beach yet. This complete opposite fascinated me. And even though a few of the family members made it to UK every now and then and many things were sent over from Australia to keep me interested in the country it wasn't until my Aunt, Uncle and Cousin came back from meeting the family in Oz that I suddenly had an urge to go. Before that I could experience what I considered the best of it through Neighbours, Home and Away and Round The Twist, knowing that all those creepy crawlies the country boasts were something I didn't have to encounter.

But making up my mind to some how get to the other side of the world without using air transportation and finally meet the other side of my family was the reason I climbed aboard OzBus11 that first day. And now, I was so close.

It was only a short transfer to our hostel in Darwin where after a short introduction to how everything worked, the tired OzBusketeers made their way to their alloted dorms. I was sharing with ASBO dis-liking Elli, Positive Sam and Dr Tara of all things intelligent. In our small, hot, hot hot room we were over-run with slightly mad excitement and instead of falling straight to sleep in our bunk beds, we amused ourselves for the best part of an hour talking absolute rubbish that caused us to lapse into raucous laughter. We did eventually fall asleep and Phil the Bus God had organized a luxurious late breakfast for us at 11am. It was the best spread we had seen so far – it had toast, tea, coffee and the stunner of the table – Cereal! It was fabulous.

I spent the best part of that afternoon searching for computer shops to fix my computer. Hint – Acers are just like Dells. As in once there's something wrong with them no one except their warehouse people back in country of purchase can fix it. Hmmm, slight problem then being the other side of world. This is the main reason why you're just reading about Darwin now – almost 5 months after I arrived. So I didn't have much luck getting it fixed but as I was walking around the surprisingly wide and cris/cross streets in the warmth of the first summer sun I felt awakened and welcomed to the country. Darwin is sleepier than I imagined it to be and a nice little introduction to an Australian town.

The next day I took myself off to one of the tourist attractions. I visited BAT (British Australian Telegraph) house or Lyon's Cottage as I wanted to view it as a snapshot of what a first Australian settlement must have been like. Thanks to a childhood of being dragged round the historical houses of Great Britain by my parents I now seem to seek old residences where ever I go. But BAT House was mildly disappointing. I was looking for a 'this is how people would have lived in year …' but it was set up more as a gallery of old photographs that had been found of the house and life during the war amongst a few other exhibits. But it was interesting all the same. At 2pm a few of us headed to Darwin's newest attraction – the Wave Pool. Darwin is on the coast but it's waters are fatal so no one can swim in them. So instead of natural surf they created machine made surf. It was a completely fun filled afternoon and I loved being able to splash about in the water.

After a brief noodle dinner in the evening us youngens crashed Jo/Ian's/Linda's nice sophisticated dinner. The waiter didn't really want to let us in to 'the' place to eat in Darwin but under the guise of all their children, we succeeded. Managed to have a decent Martini at this place.

Day 82 saw us having to leave Darwin at 6am. It was the start of a jam-packed almost non-stop drive to Sydney. We boarded the specially Australian bush adapted bus of Adventure Tours who OzBus had teamed up with to give us the best that the outback could offer. Our first introduction to the bush was at Fogg Dam where we were to walk along the dam road until I sign read 'Road closed due to Salt Water Crocodiles in area'. 'Nuff said. So we had a quick jaunt around a rain forest board walk instead. Then at 11am we were at the river getting up close and personal with the crocs on a crocodile river cruise. No not tea and scones on this little boat but a kind request from skipper not to rush from side to side unbalancing boat that could lead to being dumped in water. Somewhere we didn't want to be with one of the oldest and fastest swimming reptiles on earth.

The crew did a grand job of tempting salty after salty to jump up the sides of the windows for meat where we got to see just how large and prehistoric they really are. It was all fun and games with a hint of danger until Skipper told us story of how a mum was holding up her baby to window for closer look and instead of meat it was window Mr Crocodile aimed for hoping for a baby like snack. Shiver, shiver. A bit shaky back on dry land it was the experience of holding a large snake that entertained some and purchase of crocodile by-product memorabilia for others.

We headed to a traditional 'roadhouse' for lunch and after we were back on the road before stopping at the Kakadu National Park Visitor's center. This was a fairly interactive set-up and was a good part of the park to see. By 8pm we were having dinner at our Kakadu Park campsite. Our accommodation now was all in tents with the exception of Adelaide and our finishing point in Sydney. But these tents were proper structures in permanent campsites and because Adventure Tours might have been hoping for a few bookings after OzBus, we had access to the full range of camping facilities.

At 6am on day 83 and by 7am we were on our bus heading for Nourlangie Rock. Here we had an informative talk about Aboriginal art work and were shown some incredibly ancient exhibits painted on the natural landscape. It was incredible to see and I'm glad that the first real information I received was to do with Aboriginal culture – it felt orderly and chronological. At 12pm we had stopped at Pine Creek for lunch, another roadhouse. Then it was on to Edith Falls, a natural swimming hole with a waterfall. No crocs here, well none that would come out and 'get' you according to Mark our tour guide but lots of fishes in the shallows that were working the Thai 'eat your feet' thing pro-bono. But a lovely swim was had by most who wanted it.

At some stage in the afternoon we arrived in Katherine for some supplies before heading to our campsite. It was out of town this one and had turned dark by the time we sat and ate. We rose again at 6am the next day and had packed up and left by 7am and headed for Nitmiluk Park in the Katherine Gorge. Here, myself, Rob the Geography boy, Lara the German, Jimmy from Melbourne, Lou the Irish lass and Phil the Bus God all paddled down the Katherine river in 3 different canoes at varying paces. It was a great way to see a bit of Aussie nature and the natural landscape that seemed to envelope us. At 11.30am it was time to leave to head back to campsite for luncheon. After this we were on the bus again to head to the Hot Springs just off the Victoria Highway. Here the crystal clear waters pumped from the earth's surface at a lovely 32C make it a fabulous place to relax. I was at a welcoming calm in the pools and savored every brief moment of being there, before this experience had passed and it would be just another memoir jotted down on a page in my diary in 2009.

On the bus again and we rolled along the highway before turning off into a strange one man town just as we were losing light. There was a pub with a massive traffic light outside, a couple of odd signs that were clearly out of place, a few empty looking buildings, a couple of cars, a campsite next to a well lit pub. This was Daly Waters. A backpacker's must see in Oz.

Ozbus11 - Bali

Bali is somewhere I had visited before aged 11 and remembered it as being this exotic almost paradise location. When I got there as a 23 year old I was going to remember it for something else – Aussies, nightlife and surfing. It was the first place on our trip that we'd actually encountered other tourists and the fist time we'd met Aussies on the tour. The capital on the south side of the island was a hedonistic array of surf shops, reflexologists, spas and bars. A place that I found on the first day though was an Eco Warehouse boasting the biggest array of sustainable DIY and building materials in this hemisphere called the Little Tree. It was newly opened and at the back they had an organic vegetarian cafe which me and Rob enjoyed lunch at. My diet had taken a battering of various McDonald's when I couldn't eat spicy stuff and other meat laden dishes when I could so I was keen to become more vegetarian to maintain a balance.

The evening of our first full day in Bali the whole of Ozbus11 had dinner in the hotel restaurant. Then a few of the youngens went out to experience the Bali nightlife. And what an experience it was. Suddenly in these more than recognizable I got a sense of returning to the Western world and in that, leaving some of the adventure behind. But I did enjoy the frugal sense of going out and spending time enjoying oneself.

Day 75 saw me get up at a reasonable hour and head to the beach enrolled at one of the many surf schools dotted along the coast. I had visited with Irish lass Lou and Germanic blondie Lara when they booked their lessons and decided a beginners morning session was in order. It had always been my plan to come to Australia pursuing Surfing after being introduced to it in the South West of England and I can tell you now – lessons in Bali are a far sight cheaper than in Australia. So the lesson in Bali went well – standing up on the board isn't the hard part for me and I've got the technique pretty much after a weekend session back in England 2005 and a morning in Bali refreshing it. What I find difficult though is having the stamina for catching the wave over and over again without getting super tired. Guess that's just my lack of fitness but at the time of writing – I've been in Australia for almost 5 months and the closest I've got to surfing is taking photos of those actually doing it on Manly Beach.

But it was all good fun in Bali and nice to do something challenging. That evening a few of us made our way to the beach to watch the sunset with a beer and I had dinner in a tiny off street eatery with just the right amount of cuteness. I used the morning of our last day in Bali doing boring administrative stuff like emailing, trying to get photos off my laptop for a OzBus11 souvenir book but my laptop had refused to get better since Mt Bromo. Then it was time to pack. For some reason, just because my bag knew that we were in Bali for a couple of days, it took the opportunity to expel all of its contents forming a volcano of clothing at the foot of my bed. I was sharing with Dru again and she must have been shocked at the mess. At 6.30pm a light dinner was laid on for us before we all loaded onto shuttle buses at 7pm to the airport. It was an agonizing wait in the lounge for a 10.45pm flight to Darwin. Once on board, a few of us got a little shuteye until we landed at Darwin Airport, NT, Australia.

Ozbus11 in Java and Sumatra, Indonesia

Our ferry over to the islands of Indonesia was fairly indescriptive. It was a different kind of ferry to the ones we had been on before. It was a sit down one, with no outer decks but also no windows so you couldn't see how you were positioned on the sea. It was fairly crammed inside with seats but this ferry company provided passengers with 80's music videos and a film for entertainment along with a snack lunch. We left Melaka, Malaysia at 8am and arrived in Bergalisk,on the island Java 12.40pm local just in time for some horrendous rain. At the port we jumped on our Indonesian bus and arrived at our hotel in Pekanbaru seven hours later.

It was a one nighter there and at 6.30am we were on our way again. Now I write this a long time after we were there and my memory of the country is mostly marred by long days, group politics and the impending sens that this amazing journey was soon going to be over. However one of the highlights for me and something not a lot of other people really got was an experience on day 66 of the OzBus London to Sydney tour. At 9.35am we arrived at the Equator in Tugu. This was an enormous symbolic event for me. Firstly it symbolized that I'd left one hemisphere behind – the north I'd known all my life and this new and exciting, opposite southern one. Secondly it's a point on the world map I have always wanted to step foot on. Ever since daydreaming in Geography class, flicking through my school atlas and pointing at all the weird and outlandish locations I hope one day to see with my own eyes. And when I though of this, at the time, all I had around me was four walls and an expectation from other people of how my life would turn out.

So there I was, finally having reached the Equator and loving it! A couple of snack stops later it was evening and we had come to Jambi in Sumatra. Another one nighter (and Indonesia was simply littered with these and severe daily drives) and we left at 8am to arrive in Palambang at 3.30pm. Which didn't seem so bad and obviously meant we had some decent time to spend exploring – only I don't recall there being anything in this town worth exploring. I think the most exploring we did was attempting to find somewhere decent to eat (for those who didn't automatically turn to Pizza Hut just because it happened to be available). At 6.30am on day 68 we left and at 4.30pm we arrived at Bandar Lumpung. This was our Sumatra/Java border and at 8.45am the next morning we arrived for the ferry.

Indonesian ferries are interesting. I don't think our roll on/roll off boat was particularly overloaded but we did notice other ferries coming in with their cargo doors already down! Alarm bells! I don't think our one did that and the only bad thing I remember of it is that the deck with the toilets on smelt really bad. At about 12pm we arrived in Java and continued on to Bandang. I probably enjoyed this island more than the last but I think mainly because we got a chance to rest up a little on this one. We left 7.30am the next day on the way to the Green Canyon. Here we were loaded into traditional boats and taken to a swimming hole with currents, and boulders to jump off. It was a little bit of paradise and I didn't even find out there were leaches in it until I was in Australia which is great.

Day 71 we were taken to a National Park and even though we weren't changing towns we were changing hotels which was more than slightly annoying because of all our one nighters. At 7.30am we left Pangadarran and headed for Yogyakarta the cultural capital of Indonesia. This was a delightful two night stop over and on our 'free day' we went on a cultural tour of the city which included: The Sultan's Palace where every artifact symbolized sex according to our guide, a batik demonstration studio, a Buddhists temple where Rob the Geography boy assured us that big mass of black cloud wasn't headed for us and then changed his mind when were all stranded at the top where a torrent of rain was deposited on us. Suddenly I was cold and wet with only summer clothes on. I am not a cold and wet person – I have no central heating. Basically I'm amphibious and cold blooded – I need the sun to live. When I am cold and wet I tend to go into hibernation. Getting back to the bus from the temple was a bit of an assault course but lucky for me there was a tall French/Canadian who rescued me from a few deep puddles. Back at the hotel the weather had taken it's toll on me and I decided to miss out the cultural dinner that had been laid on for us. Besides I wanted to get some precious sleep before a 5.30am departure the next day.

Day 74 we arrived at a small hotel complex besides a crater besides an active volcano called Mt Bromo – oh yeah! It smokes, it smells, it's majorly cool and I got to ride across the crater on horseback. It was here that I found my laptop had ceased to live throwing my already sporadic OzBus updates into disarray. Bromo was a fabulous three night rest for the Ozbus group. We all got to wind down a little and enjoy ourselves in a relatively isolated location. All the places in Indonesia before had simply been towns or cities. We left on day 75 already excited about our next ferry trip to Bali.