Beer, Bundie, Blood and Bronco riding!

Michele on the dance floor

Pie Shop in Darwin!!

So we have finally arrived in Australia.

After a lazy afternoon of eating lunch, a little bit of shopping and vegging by the pool, everyone got changed (except for Lana who decided to travel in her 'beach and swimming' gear. We all met up at the Hotel reception about 7pm and boarded our luxury minibuses to head to Bali airport. Everyone seemed to be really excited at the prospect of finally reaching Australia and the night seemed to fly by. Once at Bali airport we were quickly checked in and after 3 or 4 security checks and paperwork checks we sat and waited for our flight to board.

At 10.50 pm Bali time we finally took off and left Indonesia. Watches, clocks and mobile phones were updated again to the new time zone and most people took advantage of the flight to get some rest.

We were woken up by the announcement that we were due to land soon and just after 2.50am we finally landed in Australia.

Surprisingly the Australian customs were remarkably easy to get through and the baggage was quick too. Mills had a nice surprise when she emerged from the arrivals lounge and saw her dad waiting for her!! Not long after landing we were sat in a Shuttle bus for the short journey to 'Youth Shack', backpackers hostel in the heart of down-town Darwin.

The Hostel is pretty good and even though there are 7 of us blokes to a dorm, we all managed to sleep well into the morning, getting up about 10.30am.

Myself and Mark then headed out to a local supermarket to get some supplies in and we were glad to see real food on the shelves, that we actually recognised! No more green eggs that appear to have been sitting there for days... There is also a pie shop across the road that sells pie, chips and gravy, plus Aberdeen Angus steak pies!!! I think I’m gonna like it here!!!! haahaa!

Some of the group still haven’t emerged yet, but I’m sure that during the day we will see everyone out and about somewhere whilst we explore the local area. I think it will be a mellow couple of days here in Darwin before we start to head south toward the centre of Australia and then towards Sydney.

On a more exciting note, I just found out that Keri – my 'cousin', in Sydney has now booked us new years eve tickets for the best club in the city!! Woohoo!! Cant wait till NYE!!

Well its day 2 in Darwin and all my premonitions about a 'mellow' couple of days have already gone by the wayside. Yesterday morning was spent doing a little bit of shopping with Lisa, Bev and Donna and getting told a pile of bullshit by a bloke in the mobile phone shop about international sim cards!!

Then, after lunch we headed out to meet up with Mills and her dad who were in a local bar. Once we had found the bar (Jaime didn’t know left from right, so we walked half a mile in the wrong direction!!), we sat around having a quiet drink – me, Mills, Lisa, Jaime and Mills dad (Armour – sorry if I got your name wrong, I got a little drunk!) chatted about the bus and generally whiled the afternoon away. I kept having to leave to check out if my bankcards had arrived and to try to sort out another way to get money – which thanks to American express I can now get dosh from atm's again!! The afternoon turned into evening and after another short break to grab a steak pie from 'Tommos pie shop', we continued to drink as a bucking bronco was set up in the pub. Mills dad also introduced us to Bundaberg - Known ad Bundie! Its an australian rum and goes down really well!!

The bronco competition started and a few of us put our names down. Unfortunately, I missed my turn when I went to the toilet, but luckily the bloke running the competition allowed me to have another turn. I was then disqualified for having my feet hooked under the bull's horns! I wasn’t as unlucky as Jennifer Parsonage though as she managed to fall off, bang her head and got a cut by her eye. She did manage a good time though and got through to the final round.

In the final round Jennifer Parsonage bravely mounted the bull again and put in a good performance, even with her bad head!

After the bronco competition ended, the music was turned up and the drinks started to flow even more, so we all drank and danced until the early hours – again!! The night was Jaime’s last night before she leaves the bus tomorrow so we all tried to make it a good night for her. She will be missed a lot on the bus, especially by the Lisa, Donna, Bev and Mills, who have been out with her nearly every night when Jaime's wild side emerges!!!

After we were thrown out of the pub, we wandered home and then waited whilst Lisa returned to pick up her phone that she had left behind. We had time to have a few bites of Lisa's kebab and sat around by the pool, helping Jaime to fill in her departure questionnaire!! It was then time for bed.

So another night passed us by in the blink of an eye. It is all going too fast now and we only have 10 or 11 days left together – god knows what we are going to do when we finish!