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Day 2
As the second movie was coming to an end, I looked around the cabin, which was in darkness. In our section of the plane, I could see more than a hundred people, and all of them were asleep.
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Day 1
One of the biggest draws Australia has as a holiday destination is simply the fact that it is a very, very long way away. It is actually about as far away as you can get from London unless you have around £14m and are willing to let the Russians blast you into space. This is one of the main reasons I chose it. The other was the fact that David had suggested it some weeks before. In fact, now I think about it, it was probably his idea. Nevertheless, the hugeness of the distance involved is often underestimated, which is why, sitting on a QANTAS flight from London Heathrow to Singapore, I wondered for the sixth or seventh time why I was not blessed with the ability to spontaneously fall asleep whenever convienient. We may be travelling across twelve time zones, but dammit, it’s dark outside and I want to sleep. Essentially, when travelling from the UK to Australia, you get roughly two shorter-than-normal days, depending on what time you leave. On the way back, you get just one monster one. Staying awake, it seemed, was going to be more unpleasant than I had thought.
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Australia 2000
DayLocationSummary9Mission Beach – Airlie BeachBus trip, the continuing adventures of Phil the bus driver10Airlie Beach DingoPhil gets arrested, stay on Cattle farm at Dingo11Dingo – BargaraBack on the road with a new driver, spectacular lunar eclipse12Bargara – NoosaHired bikes for the evening in Noosa13Noosa – BrisbaneMet Cat & Luke, David’s friends, Theatre Sports14Brisbane – NimbinTour of Nimbin, permiculture centre, solar power plant15Nimbin – BellingenCinema in converted butter factory16Bellingen → NundleSheep farm. Evening entertainment and sheep sheering demo.17Nundle – SydneyNothing much18SydneyMet Deirdre & Geoff, my relatives, visited Palm Beach (set of Home and Away) and the Sydney IMAX19SydneyTaronga Zoo20SydneyPowerhouse Museum, Skytour, Dinner in AMP Tower (revolving restaurant)21SydneyBoat tour of harbour, tour of opera house22SydneyAquarium23SydneyBlue Mountains24SydneyStayed in with Deirdre and Claire, went Bushwalking25SydneyNational Maritime Museum26In TransitClimbed the Harbour Bridge, boarded the Indian pacific Train27In TransitToured Broken Hill, brief stop in Adeliade28In TransitTour of Kalgoorlie, brief stop in Cook29PerthKing’s Park with Lotta, (J+D went to Freemantle)30PerthTour of Pinnacles and sand dunes, sandboarding31Perth – Ayers RockBase tour of Ayers Rock32Ayers RockClimbed Ayers Rock (J+D went to Olgas as well)33Ayers Rock – King’s Canyon – Alice SpringsTour of King’s Canyon, finish day in Alice34Alice SpringsOld Telegraph Station, rock climbing35Alice SpringsOld Gahn Train Museum, Road Transport Hall of Fame36Alice Springs – DarwinHot air balloon over Alice, street market in Darwin37DarwinAviation Museum (J hired buggy, D hired bike)38DarwinMeet Veronica, Parap street market, David tattoo and skydive39Kakadu National ParkRock art, boat safari40Kakadu National ParkWaterfalls, swimming in Twin Falls gorge41Darwin – SingaporeCinema in Darwin, fly to Singapore42Singapore – LondonFly from Singapore to London