Day 73 – Sydney to Alice Springs

The first of many early starts this week, Valerie dropped me off at the airport just gone 6am which was super helpful of her as getting a bus or train at that time of the morning would have been near impossible. I was the only person at the check in counter making it quick and easy, my luggage has gone up to 16.6kg… I’m not quite sure where it’s come from as I’ve only added a dress since my last flight but oh well; at least it’s not over.

The flight left on time and arrived on time, I could get used to this! The package I booked includes my airport transfer so I went and got my ticket from the desk and jumped straight on the bus. These have been so easy in Australia; I hope it’s as easy in Asia! I was dropped right outside my hostel but unfortunately I had to wait just over an hour to check in, good news was they had free wifi so that occupied my time and I even managed to write a little bit more of this blog.

It was cooler in Alice Springs than I first expected, don’t get me wrong it was bloody hot but not as humid as I was expecting. I walked into the little town which was only about a 5minute walk from my hostel on the hunt for a fly net, a supermarket and a large lunch so I didn’t have to go out or buy anything for dinner.

Success! Fly net was about $6 and I spent about $12 in Coles on water and other things. I then found a little pub to have some lunch in which was alright too. I made my way back to the hostel, sorted out my bags as I was leaving my big bag here but it had to be in the locker before 7pm meaning I needed to be organised! I took two little rucksacks with me on tour so one for all my clothes and stuff whilst the other one would be the stuff I wanted to take on walks with me. The evening was spent chilling, reading and sleeping.

Day 17 – Shopping & Friends.

Today I decided I wasn’t going to set an alarm and that I would wake up whenever my body wanted too. I woke up about 10.30, which isn’t too bad! After breakfast I wondered down to the tram stop to get on the free City Circle tram to Spencer Street. As I walked to the tram stop I realised I’m only a stones throw away from Victoria State Library and the shopping centre next door, it was funny to look at things and feel like I knew where I was because I recognised it from when Chrissy and I came here a few years ago.

I got off the tram and walked down Spencer Street because I knew there was an outlet mall right behind the station, what I didn’t realise was they had a Coles underneath which meant I could do clothes and food shopping at the same time! After looking in some shops and leaving some items I wasn’t sure about I found Supre! Supre is the Australian topshop/forever 21 and this being an outlet store made it so much cheaper. I spent $12 on 2 tops that I’ll probably wear as dresses and another top. That’s about £7, bargain!

Am I the only one who loves going around supermarkets in foreign countries? I just love exploring and seeing things that we don’t have and what UK food items they do have. I wanted to buy some things that would last a few days and I could mix and match if I wanted to. My main meal was going to consist of a bunch of stuff with rice mixed all together with some cream cheese as they don’t do Crème Fraiche over here. It ended up being pepper, carrot, mushroom, spinach, onion and some ham (which really wasn’t needed). It tasted delicious! 

That was after working out how to light the gas stove with the girl next to me… seriously it’s not as straightforward as it should be! We decided to sit together after we cooked and watch the tennis, quickly finding out she’s into it and also she comes from Winchester! After dinner I went back to my room and found a new girl had arrived, she had spent the whole day at the tennis so we already had something to talk about. She originally comes from Derby but went to uni in Bournemouth. So by the end of my first real day in Melbourne, I have 2 new friends, GO ME!