First Impression

Upon, inspection, Dave decided the beds were fine!

We landed late at night so therefore we couldn't really check out the view from the taxi on our way to our hotel. It wasn't a long ride, but as Malta is such a small island, no trip would be that long!

First impressions of the hotel Soreda in Qawra, St Paul's Bay were good, it was classed as a 4 star and the lobby seemed to be a good representation.

Unfortunately, our good impression fell dramatically upon entering our room. We had booked a self-catering suite and the size of the rooms were good, but it was in need of some TLC! The walls were cracked and peeling and our bedroom window over looked some pipes. The room was clean, but we were not too sure about the sofa. Unless it was just the pattern, none of us were keen to sit on it.

The room in our opinion did not meet the standards of what we thought was a 4 star hotel. It was our first night though and we had arrived late, so we put it down to tiredness, we didn't plan on spending too much time there anyway!

The hotel did boast two outdoor pools, an indoor pool, gym, jacuzzi, evening entertainment and restaurants, so we looked forward to finding out about those!

Also, we had our complimentary buffet breakfast to enjoy in the morning.

Soreda Hotel, Malta

Malta

At the airport.

Please accept our apologies for the lack of posts. We both have been extremely busy of late. Amongst other things, Steph has had exams, Andy has had Football commitments and we both have had a party to organise and lots more organising! All will be revealed soon.

For now, as promised we will start to tell you about our trip to Malta.

We went to Malta in late August 2007 with Steph's brother and our friend Claire. We only had a week there, but think we made the most of our short trip.

We had an afternoon flight, so no early mornings which suited us just fine. We decided to pack on the day we were flying out as we thought we had plenty of time. Little did we know! As we rushed to pack, our lift had arrived in the form of Andy's patient mum, we realised we hadn't packed any towels, so another rush to get them! We find that you never get enough towels from the hotel, so we always like to pack our own.

We were flying out from Birmingham, but by the time we were on the road we had plenty of time.

At check-in, we almost thought that Steph may not be allowed to fly as the attendant had to get her passport checked. Steph is coming up to her 10 year expiry and the passport was showing its age and it was a bit dog eared! We waited a nervous 15 minutes! When the attendant arrived back, he just got on with finishing checking us in! We asked him that we gathered the passport was ok? 'No problem' was the reply.

Ok, panicking for nothing! Steph decided to apply for a new passport on our return anyway!

We always like to try and arrive early, so as usual we had a bit of waiting around. We hadn't had lunch so we decided to do that and then a browse around duty free.

The flight was pleasant enough and it wasn't full either. We had a friendly lady sitting with us all, she is a regular to Malta, so we got some tips and advice!

It's All About the Dogs

Bye Bye Australia

Our time in Austraila was immense. We had no hitches and our plans couldn't have gone better. With two months spent there, I think we saw as much as we could in that time. There are many more sights to see and places to visit in Austraila, which hopefully I will get to see again as I would love to return and Andy is very keen to visit for the first time.

In the coming days we will be posting about our recent trip to Malta and a big surprise that happened to me!

Atherton Tablelands

Atherton Tablelands

Atherton Tablelands

The Atherton Tablelands comprises of some wonderful, lakes, craters and rain forests. There is a huge variety of flora and fauna including birds, butterflies, reptiles, plants and ferns each with many different kinds of species. The Atherton Tablelands is made up of thirteen regions.

We decided to hire a car with a couple of friends to explore this area of natural beauty.

I think photos will be able to say more than words.

Green Island

Green Island is 45 minutes from Cairns shore. We opted to go there as part of our snorkeling trip at the Great Barrier Reef. We took a small speed boat there instead of the larger boat we took the initial trip in.

Green Island is a relatively small island surrounded by coral reefs. Apart from being an exclusive resort, Green Island is also a National Park and takes great care in its balance of visitors.

While on the Island, we took the rain forest walk. This consists of trails of boardwalks that wind you around the island's rain forests. You can hire a guide or do it alone.

The beach has gorgeous white sands and warm, clear waters, ideal for snorkeling and swimming. There are water sports available and also an Underwater Observatory.

We enjoyed exploring and relaxing on the Island, a worthwhile excursion from your Great Barrier Reef experience.

The Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef contains the largest collection of coral in the world and is an obvious site of natural beauty. The Reef is also home to 1500 different kinds of fish and 4000 different types of mollusc that live amongst its 400 types of coral. The dugong and green turtle can also be found at the Great Barrier Reef, but are threatened by extinction.

We paid through a cruise trip to go snorkeling at the Reef. We chose a smaller boat and company as to try and avoid too many crowds. It worked as there were no other cruise company's around us when we reached our snorkeling area.

The company supplied our snorkels and wet suits, although wet suits were not needed as the sea was so warm. I had an underwater camera, but the pictures weren't great as the water was quite cloudy. I did manage to see plenty of coral and fish though. Some quite big fish accumulated around the bottom of the boat, so we snorkeled around there for a while.

We were told about the reef sharks, but not to be alarmed by them as they have no teeth! We swam around for ages, but were aware not to swim too far from the boat as the captain had placed some rules before we were allowed into the water.

When we returned to the boat, the captain had his binoculars, staring out into the ocean and then double checked everyone was aboard. I asked him if everything was all right and he said that he thought he had seen a large fin! Our captain thought he had spotted a shark not far from the boat! It turned out to be a very large sea bird on closer inspection! I was quite disappointed as I would have loved to have seen a shark (from the boat though!!).

Cairns, The Lagoon

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but we've been away in Malta, which will be featuring in the blog after Australia.

Cairns has no beach, so they built a man-made Lagoon. There is a sandy area around the Lagoon, boardwalks and an esplanade. The water in the Lagoon is salt water from the sea, which is filtered through to reach safety standards. The area is patrolled by lifeguards and is safe place for all.

We spent the odd day here and there relaxing at the Lagoon. There are plenty of shops, restaurants and cafes surrounding the area.

Cairns

After Townsville we decided our next stop would be Tully for some banana picking. We didn't need any extra money, we just thought that it may be an experience. When we arrived in Tully we found out that its the top place in Australia that experiences the most amount of rainfall. It certainly lived up to its statistic! I don't actually think it stopped raining the whole time we were there! We did try to go banana picking, but after the early mornings and the constant feeling of being damp we decided after a few days to head straight for Cairns. We hadn't actually planned to leave when we did, it was sort of on a whim, but we were very pleased with our decision in the end.

Upon arrival in Cairns, the sun was shining and it was pleasantly warm. We headed straight for the airport to see if they had a list of hostels like Sydney airport did. In the airport we came across this hostel called Utopia and enquired about accommodation and whether we could do some work to enable us to get our accommodation for free. We were in luck, the hostel ran a minibus to ferry guests around and were looking for two drivers, we accepted.

This driving job worked out well for us as we had decided to put the camper van up for sale as soon as we could in Cairns. With free accommodation, we could advertise the van and save our money.

Utopia was a brilliant hostel and we enjoyed our time there immensely. We made a lot of friends and enjoyed trips out. Chantal, the receptionist had two cats, very cute and mischievous! Kept the hostel almost free of pests!

I will post about our trips in and around Cairns in the coming days.

Townsville

We continued north after Australia Zoo, stopping briefly in places like Surfers Paradise and Brisbane. We stopped at a remote garage on the way to buy a new tyre for the van. The mechanic commented on how perfect our English was! Turns out he thought we were Swedish!

Our next stop for some time was a place called Townsville. We ended up staying here for quite a while as we just loved the place and had made some friends quite quickly. We managed to negotiate a good price with our campsite as well.

Townsville is the largest city in Queensland and considered to be the capital in Queensland. There are lots of places to visit while in Townsville, such as Mission beach and Hinchinbrook Island National Park.

While we were there, we also stumbled upon a Greek festival. We tried Greek delicacies and watched some traditional Greek dancing, it turned out to be very entertaining!

From various discussions with the locals at our campsite, we learnt that 'trainers' are called 'runners' amongst other sayings!

This is where we tried Vegemite as well and in my opinion it tastes nothing like Marmite and apologies to any Australians, but it tastes absolutely horrible! Nothing beats good old Marmite!!

The nightlife in Townsville is very good, there are plenty of bars and clubs and we enjoyed many a night out there!

If travelling through Queensland, Townsville is not to be missed!

Australia Zoo, Croc's

One of the main attractions to Australia Zoo is of course the Crocodiles! At the Zoo there are Saltwater and Freshwater Crocodiles. Saltwater Crocodiles eat to their size, so the bigger they are the bigger the prey that they would eat. Freshwater Crocodiles have a more narrow snout, which is one way of knowing the difference between Saltwater and Freshwater Crocodiles, apart from the obvious, their habitat!

Crocodiles are dangerous in whatever situation, but at the Zoo the keepers know what they are doing, especially during feeding time. In the wild, warning signs should be taken seriously and respect to your guide's instructions should be adhered to.

Feeding time at the Zoo is a must. The keepers educate you on the Crocodiles and you get to see just how enormous and powerful these reptiles really are.

All in all, Australia Zoo is not just about looking at animals, its about educating the public on conservation and endangered species. We all would prefer animals to be living in their natural habitat and not in Zoo's, but unfortunately in this day and age it is not possible.

Australia Zoo, Even More Animals

Top: Kangaroo.

Kangaroo's are the largest marsupial alive on earth today. Kangaroo's have excellent sight and hearing and their collective group is called a 'Mob'

An interesting fact about Kangaroo's is that they can't move backwards very easily.

Second Top: Wallaby.

In this picture is a Red-necked Wallaby. Red-necked Wallaby's are protected by law in all states in Australia. Wallaby's are predominantly nocturnal animals.

Third Top: Exotic Parrot.

Parrots are intelligent animals and if kept as a pet, special care is needed to keep them occupied and away from boredom.

Bottom: Otter.

Otters are extremely swift swimmers and can be found on every continent in the world. Otters are part of the Mustelid family which also includes animals such as Skunks and Minks.

Australia Zoo, More Animals

Top: The Cassowary.

This bird is native to North Eastern Australia. It is a huge bird and they do not fly. They are quite territorial birds and will attack if they feel threatened. They just about eat anything from fruits to rats and frogs.

Bottom: Camel.

Camels are not natural to Australia and were brought over in the 1800's as beasts of burden for the more rugged areas of Australia.

Australia Zoo

Top: Harriet the Giant Galapagos Land Tortoise.

Harriet was born around 1830 and was brought to England by Charles Darwin. After a short time in England, Harriet moved onto a few homes in Australia. She lived at Australia Zoo for her last two decades before she died in 2006. Seeing Harriet in 2003 was amazing as she was living history and such a magnificent creature.

Second Top: Dingo.

Dingoes are Australia's wild dogs. The difference between them and domestic dogs is that they don't bark, they only howl.

Third Top: Tasmanian Devil.

Tasmanian Devils are the largest living carnivorous marsupial in Australia. They have very sharp claws and individual, distinctive white marks on their chests. They are also very fast! This was the best picture I could get!

Bottom: Koala.

Koala's are marsupials and not bears! Koala's main source of food are eucalypts, which do not give them much energy and that is why they can sleep up to 20 hours a day!

Australia Zoo, Kangaroo's

Once we were on the road in our camper van after picking up some supplies, we made our way to Australia Zoo. Australia Zoo is home to the 'Crocodile Hunter' the late Steve Irwin. Unfortunately, on our trip to the Zoo in 2003, Steve Irwin wasn't there, he was probably on one of his many adventures. We were a little disappointed as it would have been great to have met him and his family.

The zoo itself is immense with many species. Its not all about the zoo either as the Irwin family are very much concerned with conservation and protecting wildlife and its habitat.

In the zoo our first stop was the Kangaroo enclosure. Inside the enclosure are four different species of Kangaroo, Eastern Grey Kangaroo, Red Kangaroo, Western Grey Kangaroo and the Red-necked Wallaby.

You walk inside the enclosure with the Kangaroo's free to roam around. There are feeding areas where you can hand feed the Kangaroo's. Respect should be given the up most priority to these mammals as you are walking in their territory. In my opinion they are great, gentle creatures.

Admission to the zoo is £20 per adult (approximate). Family, Pensioners and Student fees are available.

Campervan

We noticed this camper van outside of our hostel one day in Sydney, it had a for sale sign so we rang the number to find out its price.

The van was owned by a group of lads from England and were flying out the next day so needed a quick sale.

We took the van for a test drive and made sure the right documents were with it. Neither of us were mechanically minded, so we just hoped that it would be ok. The lads wanted quite a lot for it, but we didn't want to pay that much, we gave them our price and they eventually sold the van to us, we had a good bargain. As we had ourselves a very good deal, we thought that if anything does go wrong at least we hadn't spent a fortune on it.

The van was basic but great and we couldn't have asked for anything better!

As it turns out we didn't have any major problems with it, we had to buy one new tyre and it over heated once, but a kind American family stopped and got it going for us again. When we eventually sold the van at the end of our trip, we made a profit!

The van got us all the way from Sydney to Cairns.

Sydney

We spent the first couple of days exploring Sydney and looking for a camper van. The first site we headed straight for was Sydney Harbour, The Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.

The Opera House is huge! Its considered one of the wonders of the world and it was certainly spectacular close up. The building was designed by Jørn Utzon and opened in 1973. We spent some time walking around it. The Darling harbour was next where we would find Sydney Aquarium and the Australian National Maritime Museum. The aquarium is one of the largest in the world with 1000's of different species living in their natural habitat. Our next site was the Harbour Bridge, which we decided to walk along. The bridge's construction was completed in 1932 and provided an important quicker route of access between the city centre in the south and the residential area in the north. Its a great point to take pictures from as well!

Walking around the city is endless with its numerous cafes, restaurants, shops, pubs and clubs. Lots to see and do, but you'll end up with sore feet, so comfy footwear would be a good idea!

Another interesting part of Sydney is Kings Cross. Its renowned as the red light district of Australia. We walked though Kings Cross as we had heard there was an indoor car park there, where travellers were selling their camper vans. We found the car park, but unfortunately we couldn't find a van that we were happy with. We returned to our hostel to look again.

Australia

We landed in Sydney in May 2003. We were quite relieved to get off the plane as we didn't have the most smoothest of flights! Our landing was delayed because of bad weather and we had to go back out to sea to circle until the runway at Sydney was reopened. The turbulence was quite bad and our seat belts did come in use! Nevertheless we landed safely in the end.

Australian customs is quite strict with what you bring in and we had our polo mints confiscated, but we were sure that we would survive without them!!

We hadn't booked any accommodation in advance and found that we hadn't needed to. Sydney airport had what I would describe as an accommodation library. There were loads of advertisements for hostels and hotels. We chose our hostel and were picked up by them.

Our plan was to explore Sydney and then buy a camper van which we would use as accommodation and to eventually get us to Cairns.

Perkins Trophy Night

Last Friday was the Perkins FC's presentation night. All the players recieved a medal with an engraving saying 'Perkins Club 06-07' as next season they are playing under their new name Reman FC.

The usual category trophies were handed out with a 'jokey' one for one player. He's nicknamed 50p head, as his headers are all over the place, so he was awarded a figurine trophy with a 50p stuck to the figurines head!

All in all it was a successful evening.