oops!

So I didn't realise it had been so long since I had blogged :o( whoops!

Last time I blogged I was just coming to the end of my contract with SSQ and it was moving on to other things! So here is an update from the last 2 and a bit months!!

I finished work with SSQ on Friday 16th and had a lovely leaving lunch and afternoon of drinks with the girls which was all very classy and refined until I decided to drink my body weight in cheap cosmos at the Shadow Lounge so I was home and in bed by about 9pm!! A bad nights sleep and it was up and time to start the Dukan diet! not the easiest on a hangover but by heck does it work! But I will come back to that!

I then had a nice week off with a trip out to the Symphony Under the Stars (a free classical concert which I very much enjoyed as alot of it was the music from Carmen which has some awesome fmaily memories!). I then started my next contract which was as a PA for the Head of Aviation at Griffith University - I just can't excape from the blooming planes!! I worked with them for about 4 weeks and it was lovely, nice and relaxed and had the bonus of being only about 10mins from the house which was great but as I wasn't going out much (bad side effect whilst trying to master the dukan!) I started to get a little bit of cabin fever as my life was pretty much home-work-home and that was it!

When the contract came to an end it was only a couple of weeks until Mr & Mrs M were due to arrive and I was getting rather excited! I hoped to get a bit more work but nothing was around so a large amount of time was spent chilling out and not doing much - not bad to do that in Australia really ;o)

After 2 weeks of chilling out it was time to go and collect Mr & Mrs M from the airport and start their month long stay in Australia. We had one night in Brisbane where we had a lovely meal at Tukka (an Australiana restaurant) before getting up and heading off on our drive down to Sydney the next day.

First leg of the trip was down to Byron which I have to say I was pretty much in love with - such a nice place to just hang out and relax! We were there for 4 nights where much time was spent hanging by the pool. walking on the beach and finding some sweet places to visit in the surrounding area! Twas most lovely!

We sadly had to leave and we headed on down to Coffs Harbour for our next overnight stop. I was less than impressed by pretty much everything we encountered from the standard of the hotel, the road works, the cbd itself - I was very glad to leave the following morning but we did have a lovely evening in an Italian restaurant down by the jetty area which was the highlight of staying in Coff's - I will not be rushing back there in the near future.

Next stop was Port Macquarie which was much nicer and we had a lovely afternoon walking around the town before heading over to a Koala hospital which was really sweet - I am pretty much obsessed with Koalas now - they crack me up the positions they fall asleep in! After a quick swim in the roof top pool we then headed to a lovely fusion restaurant for dinner which was most delightful and walking distance which was fab as it was getting a bit tiresome driving and not enjoying a glass or 2 of vino! ;o)

It was up fairly early the next morning as we had a 4 hour drive to Pearl Beach to meet up with family friends. We stopped at Raymond Terrace for lunch looking over the hunter river and then on we continued. It was lovely to see them and Pearl Beach is a very quaint little village and the house has beautiful views out on to the beach.

It was a nice couple of nights and then on the Monday morning we headed into to Sydney where a swim in the pool at the complex was needed to cool off before we headed over to Bondi to see the Sculptures by the Sea. I remember being told about it last year when I was on the East Coast tour so I was really pleased to see it but it was blooming hot and about 38degrees at 7.00 at night! So what else to do but to head to Icebergs swimming club for dinner and a drink to cool us down! The best bonus and much to our surprise as it is right at the end of the season we saw a whale playing! It was awesome!

The next day was fairly relaxed with a walk around Sydney CBD before heading back to Double Bay for dinner at the boat club - oysters mornay - YUM! Then back to the unit for a relatively early night as it was an early start to the airport the next day for Mr & Mrs M and friends to head to Tasmania and for me to head back to Brisbane.

All went beatifully smoothly and got home in time to commence a delightful time of not working for a week and a bit :o( I was hoping to get some work in before Mr & Mrs M came back to Brisbane but the temp market has significantly slowed on the run up to Christmas! Then on the Friday before Mr & Mrs M got back I got a call....6 hrs work which has turned into a 4 week contract starting on 9th Dec...phew! Xmas was going to be rather quiet if that hadn't come about!

Anyway I digress, Mr and Mrs M returned and we spent a couple of days up in Noosa which was timed to perfection as we were moving house that weekend! A lovely couple of days in Noosa (one night with too much alcohol and a rather public cry from me!) before we headed back to Brisbane to celebrate Mrs M's birthday with a lovely meal at Jellyfish which is on the Brisbane River and was truly fantastic! I even tried Jellyfish (gristley and horrible - never again but had to try once!).

The following day we headed off quite early to get the boat to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary (told you I was obsessed!) where we had a lovely day and a bit too much sun on my part - I was glowing after the first hour on the boat and had to buy a t-shirt to cover up my slightly pink shoulders! After a lovely walk round the sanctuary where we saw koalas, kangaroos, dingoes, bats, tasmanian devils, a platypus and a number of other animals we headed back to the boat into the city, walked through Southbank and the Botanic Gardens and then had a dip in the hotel pool before heading to the new place for the last dinner of the holiday with DG & SP.

I dropped Mr & Mrs M back off at the airport yesterday morning and then proceeded to make myself rather homesick by going Christmas shopping for the family during the afternoon before heading back for a quiet night at the flat.

So that pretty much brings you up to date! I am working for the next 2 days in the City and find out later today about the new contract so fingers crossed for an early start date! :o)

That was a lot longer than I meant it to be but that is 2.5 months for you!

Lots of photos will be going on to FB once we have internet connection at the flat next week. I am off to get my lunch and will blog again soon about my return travel plans as it is less than 12 weeks until I leave Australia now!

An eventful couple of weeks...

So since I last blooged it has been an eventful couple of weeks.

A while back (June!) I applied for a job with Tennis Australia to work at the Australian Open, the only thing I heard from them was that 2000 people had applied for the multiple workstreams and that they would let us know the outcome at some point in July/August. When it got to the end of August I was getting less hopeful but when I was on the train on the way home from a few drinks after work I got an email from them saying I had been shortlisted and that the group assessment was taking place on 6th September in Melbourne. So once home (having basically bounced all the way!) I booked my flight to Melbourne and spent much of the weekend very excited trying to tell anyone who would listen (including random people in restaurants!) what had happened...oh yeah I can keep my cool ;o)

The weekend between hearing about the job and going to the assessment centre was the start of the Brisbane Festival which commences with a fantastic fireworks display called Riverfire with display points on the top of buildings in the CBD, barges on the river and a number of bridges including the Story Bridge.

My lovely friend Renee and her partner Francis had invited us (me, DG & SP) round to their apartment block which has a view I am jealous of on normal occasions let alone on Riverfire night! So we went round with wine and nibblies for a night of fun and fireworks....little did we know that although this would be the case the night would take a bit of a turn. After oohing and aahing over the fireworks out on the balcony we were all chatting away and eating the yummy nibblies when I accidently threw some French Toast over the balcony (we were on the 11th floor) so we started joking around with the neighbours below and DG was handing them down her home-made pate when someone (can't remember who) noticed a bit of a commotion going on - a couple of ambulances and sadly quite a lot of blood. A man was lying on the floor being worked on by paramedics and very sadly for him and his family, after a good period of time, he lost his fight for life. It turns out he was one of 2 deaths from balcony falls that night but they haven't released any information about him.

I have seen dead bodies before (during my aborted attempt to be a nurse) but I have never seen someone lose their fight for life. 2 things stick out for me, 1 - I don't remember hearing any screams or the ambulances turning up and 2 - he was wearing socks....I don't know why those 2 facts stay with me but they are the ones that do.

Anyway, once the body had been taken away by the coroner we made our way home. A couple of drunken phone calls to family and friends later and it was time for bed - just as well I had been drinking as I don't think I would have slept very well. We all spent much of the next day in our rooms - quiet times and I tried to do some prep for my upcoming interview....not sure that I got anything done though!

On the Tuesday of that week I headed off to Melbourne for my interview thing. Arrived in Melbourne at lunch time and walked around for a while to get a feel for the place before getting a taxi to the hotel I was staying at that looked over the AO site. Quick shower and a change and off I went.

I arrived at the arena and got my name badge and photo taken and then it was inside for a brief presentation on the Open and the possible roles. It turns out there were about 400 applicants for the events role so I was very pleased to make it into the top 20! We were then split into 3 groups and had 2 activities. The first to build a tower as high as possible from 30 pieces of A4 paper and masking tape (we did pretty well and got about 1.5m!) and the second was a group interview where we were asked to sell ourselves and were then given a scenario and were asked to explain our approach. I don't think I did too badly and they have said 2 weeks until we hear anything so I hope to hear something by Tuesday next week.

Having said all that, and I can't believe I am actually saying this, but I am actually in 2 minds as to whether or not the job is suitable for me! I guess the 2 weeks works for both sides, for them to get references etc and for the candidate to decide whether they actually want it! I am still in the decision process as I am not sure I want to write off the rest of my year over here - I still have so much to see!! Will let you know when I make my decision!

After the assessment centre I was able to meet up with the lovely Jess for dinner. I met Jess on the tour I did of QLD in October and it was fab to catch up with her again. Very much looking forward to doing that again when she gets back from Canada!! We had a lovely evening of chatting and silliness before she (well her Dad) dropped me back at my hotel.

The next day was spend wandering around Melbourne - I absolutely adore it and can't wait to go back again at some point in the near future!!

Back in Brisbane life has been ticking along nicely, I finish work tomorrow at Smart Service Queensland (I have been organising a very well received conference on social media and its uses in government - I even had tweets congratulating me on such a good job!) and I head into the unknown world of temp work again!!

So as I said an eventful couple of weeks so I am heading off home for a nice glass of wine - have to get it in now as I am planning on starting the Dukan diet this weekend and no wine allowed for a few months....I don't think my body will know what has hit it!

A piece of paper...

So after 10 weeks of 14 hour days on a Monday and a Wednesday the event course I have been doing is finally over and I got my grade today and I got a distinction with 86.5% overall!

The course itself wasn't particularly ground breaking and having been in the events industry for over 10 years now (eek!) I could have taught a fair few of the lectures but what I really enjoyed from it was the opportunity to lead the group I was working in and doing a creative pitch to a charity.

The concept was fairly straightforward, they wanted a community fundraiser to raise money, awareness and to increase the community support in Queensland so we came up with a fundraising campaign that ended in an awareness week.

The charity was Redkite - a children's cancer charity so our fundraising campaign involved nurseries and primary schools registering for a fundraising pack that enabled them to organise their own fundraising day where during the day they flew kites. Nice and simple and it went down a storm with the client - it will be interesting to see if they decide to run with it!

Anyway it looks like I am in the right career....lucky really as I don't plan on changing anytime soon! ;o)

4 days as a Sydneysider!

After work on Tuesday instead of the normal trip home I headed off to the domestic airport and bound a plane for Sydney.

I arrived in Sydney after the 1.5hr flight excited to see what the capital of NSW was like...the trip from the aiport to Central station was very simple but a little expensive ($15 for a 9min train journey!) and once I got there, found the correct exit and headed off to my accommodation. From landing at Sydney to getting to the hostel took me just over 30mins - pretty impressed with that!

I have not stayed in a hostel before but thought I would give it a go as it was cheaper than a hotel and would have people in similar situations to me - travelling about! I got up to my room which I was sharing with 7 other girls and tried to make my bed in the dark (it was about 11pm and I didn't want to wake anyone up!), this was aided with a brilliant tip from my sSister Ellie to take a sleeping bag liner - such a good idea! The next discovery was that the communal bathroom on my floor was being refurbished so we had to use the ones on different floors - boo!

Anyway I headed to bed as the next day I had an early start as was meeting at 8am for a wine tour of the Hunter Valley. We (me and two others) were picked up from outside the hostel and after another collection stop we headed off to the Australia Wildlife Park for morning tea and a visit with some local inhabitants! Some cute and one that I was feeling very brave with!

So after having fun with the animals it was back on the bus and over to a chocolate and fudge factory - delicious fudge (bought some but don't have any left!) - before heading onto the first Winery at Warraroong Estate for a tasting of wines under the label of Swish Wines and Tin Soldier. The last time I went to a wine tasting (well properly!) was when I was about 12 in New York - this one was lots more fun and we tried about 13 wines...most delightful, I even tried red wines. I ended up buying a case of wine - just hope it tastes nice when it gets here as I can't remember it clearly any more!

So after this winery we headed onto to two more, Tempus Two and Tamberlaine. Tempus Two is a larger brand and Tamberlaine is an organic winery - both were nice but not as good as the first - no more cases bought and no more photos as it was raining! After we had finished at the wineries we headed off for our last stop at a brewery - no idea what it was called as had drunk enough by this point and I am not a big beer/lager drinker! We then headed back into Sydney for about 7pm where I had dinner and an early night as was shattered!

The next day I woke up and the sun was shining so off exploring I went - Darling harbour for breakfast, Sydney Aquarium and Centrepoint Tower for 360 views of Sydney.

The aquarium had quite a lot of animals although I felt a bit bad as the tanks were a bit small for the large mammals - they had dugongs which are wicked but they didn't have much swimming room :o(

The Centrepont tower was awesome and had some great views:

So after the tower I headed up to the botanic gardens to get my first official view of a bridge and a house that I was told were a must see ;o)

I walked round Farm Cove to get a better view and decided to stop and have a glass of wine at the Opera bar which turned into lunch and most of the bottle - it was a little mesmorising and quite difficult to walk away from....well until a crazy decided that trying to proposition me was a good idea - only problem with travelling on your own - you can attract the crazies - anyway the bridge was stunning and the Pinot Grigio went down well too!

I then caught the ferry round to Darling Harbour and walked home taking lots of silly photos which have been edited out of the ones on FB! Why I think I can be arty after a few glasses of wine I don't know!

A quick dinner in Chinatown and then back to the hostel where I had a chilled evening chatting with one of the girls from the room - don't know her name but she was from somewhere near Memphis!

The next morning I woke up to hear the sound of rain on the window :o( not good - decided to go and get breakfast in circular quay and see if the weather improved at all! It started to perk up a bit so bought my ticket for the Taronga Zoo and off I went...the weather turned on the journey and it got colder, wetter and just to top it off the wind picked up. I battled on in my jacket to see the lovely animals - so many photos but here are a few:

After the zoo I headed back into Sydney (its on the other side of the harbour) and thought about walking back to the hostel - about halfway through my feet were screaming at me and I was soaking (yes it was still raining!) so I headed to the nearest train station to get the train back to Central - this may sound easy but in the cold, wet and dark it was not as straightforward! I eventually found the citycircle trains and got to Central where I proceeded to leave through the wrong exit to the station and it took me about 40 mins to work out where I was and eventually make it back to the YHA. By this point I was cold, tired, wet and my feet were killing me so all I wanted to do was go home to my nice bed in my nice room in Brisbane - tried to change my flight but couldn't - just as well really as the next morning the sun had come out and I had a lovely day walking round the Chinese garden of friendship and then met up with the lovely Sam from my NT Contiki tour and we whiled away the afternoon with lunch and a coffee in Darling Harbour - tres pretty!

So having said goodbye to Sam I headed back to the YHA to get my luggage before heading to the airport for my nice and simple flight - it didn't quite work out that way so with a delayed flight, no airtrain because it was too late to a bus, train, bus combo to get home I finally made it home at just past 11 last night about 2.5hrs late!

I had a great time and really liked Sydney and am looking forward to going back and enjoying it with other people when Mr & Mrs M are in Australia and also when Inge and Lucy arrive later in the year!

and on to the next adventure.....

Tomorrow night I am flying to Sydney! Yes I am finally taking a few days off work and going to see a bit more of this beautiful country I am currently calling home!

It has been a busy couple of weeks, my course has come to an end (finally!) and the event I was originally brought in to organise went off without a hitch - actually it was a resounding success with people actually tweeting me to tell me how much they enjoyed the day!

I am waiting on the results from the course but I should know next week what I got - we came 2nd in the presentation by 1 point and the lecturer really liked our idea (slightly borrowed the concept from when I worked at the Meningitis Trust but adapted it to a different charity!) - fingers crossed for the distinction people!

Anyway getting slightly off track so as everything has calmed down a bit and my contract has been extended until mid September I thought I would take a couple of days off - Wednesday is the city based public holiday for the Ekka (big old agricultural show/fair type thing happening this week in Brisbane) so I added some rec leave on the end to have a nice long weekend. I was originally going to just take some time and catch up on sleep but then I changed my mind and booked a flight to Sydney and a 4 night stay at the Sydney Central YHA! Who needs sleep?!?!

I am a little nervous as I am off on my own but I am sure (fingers crossed again people!) that I will meet some lovely people and will have a fab time. I am hopefully meeting up with the lovely Mia from the NT tour at some point and will see how the rest of the stay takes me!

I have one thing planned and the rest I will organise when I get there. I fly out tomorrow after work and get into Sydney at about 10pm go straight to the YHA and then the next day I am off on a wine tour around the Hunter Valley. It mentioned chocolate and fudge as being part of the tour so I was sold! - oh who am I kidding, it mentioned wine and I was in!

I am flying back to either the Gold Coast or Brisbane on Saturday - still to be determined as am waiting to hear if a group of us are going to be staying in Coolangatta on Saturday night for a chilled evening with a few (!) glasses of wine!

I am bound to have lots of photos to show when I get back so keep an eye out!

Update

So I know I haven't been blogging much lately, not a massive amount to say to be honest!! I am either working, studying or sleeping (or at least that is what it is feeling a bit like at the moment!).

I am currently doing a night course 2 nights a week in Event Management. Thought I would do a little bit of professional development whilst I am over here, and the networking opportunities were a pull as well for the Brisbane event scene! As much as I am enjoying it, I will be very glad to be finished in a few weeks and can get back to a normal life with no 14 hour days!

The course has been okay so far, I am really looking forward to the PR modules (although they have been moved because the original lecturer couldn't do it any more!). It was something I wanted to study as part of my marketing/events degree but couldn't because it clashed - explain that one if you can!!

I am working with a good group of people from varied backgrounds and I hope that we do well in the pitch presentation we have in a few weeks time. I also have an exam (first one in years) although it is multiple choice so I am hoping I will be okay! Anyway come the middle of August I will have a Diploma in Event Management after my name to go along with my degree. I know it sounds backwards but the degree was super early in the educational scheme of things!

Aside from that I have also started a new job. I am now working for Smart Service Queensland (another Gov agency - yay!) organising a conference for 200 people on social media and how it can be used for the Government.

Its a great team and we have lots of giggles and fun (and lots of morning/afternoon teas!) and I am really enjoying it, the contract runs until mid August at the moment and then I am back into the world of agency temping until Mr & Mrs M come over in November for a month.

And the best bit, I am waiting to hear on a job with the Australian Open Tennis - there have only been 2000 applications so I am sure I will walk it! Three month contract - yes please!!

Anyhoo, I really need to get my act together and get over to the gym (another addition to my weekly activities) but am struggling this morning after a lovely night catching up with Renee and Melissa - beautiful dinner, beautiful view of the city and beautiful company!

Queensland Disaster Heroes 2011

So the reason I have been crazzy busy and absolutely shattered recently is because I have been working for the Queensland State Government in the Department of Premier & Cabinet as a project co-ordinator working on the Queensland Disaster Heroes programme.

It has been a great couple of months and fantastic to get back into the events industry, properly organising events and all!

The programme has been to recognise all those people who have been nominated by their peers for their work during the floods and cyclone that have ravaged Queensland over the last couple of months.

There have been 10 events which have coincided with Queensland Week and I have been looking after 4 of them in Lockyer Valley (Gatton), Townsville, Emerald and Toowoomba. They are fairly straightforward ceremonies but have meant so much to so many people that it has been an absolute pleasure to be involved in them.

Lockyer Valley was the first event and the most nervous I have been about work for about 4 years, which is the last time I stage managed an AV event! It all went super smoothly and I spent much of the ceremony dancing around backstage doing the victory dance with no shoes on when it all went right. We then moved on to Townsville where the event was held in a marquee (I can't believe I came to the other side of the world and one on the first events I did had a marquee involved!!) which again went really well, then it was off to Emerald (inland Central Queensland) where the event went well for the people viewing it but wasn't quite as smooth for me when I had to run round the outside of the venue to pass on a vital piece of information to the choir! We then moved on to Toowoomba for my final event and I was so pleased with how it went (although there was less dancing as I had regained my professionalness by then!).

Although all areas that had ceremonies were hit hard by the disasters it was really amazing to see see how they have bounced back since January and the strength and resilience of the people was phenomenal. Many people said how they didn't think they were a hero and part of our job was to explain that someone thought they were and that was the most important thing!

For those that I spoke to before I left about what I could do to help when I got here, it may not have been aid work or anything like it but recognising those people that went above and beyond the call of duty was a fantastic thing and I am so glad to have been involved!

I, of course, met some lovely people both out at the events and also in the office where I worked and I will be sad when my contract ends on Friday to not be working with them all everyday. A truly lovely group of people!

Just the one shot to show our silliness on the event with Kate and Prue....this is the one from our first event in Lockyer and I have 3 more of the team at each event that I did....definitely one for the photo album when I get back home!

Territory and Outback - Litchfield & Darwin

So our last 2 days of tour - we got up bright and early and jumped on the bus and headed off to Litchfield National Park to see the termite mounds....I know it sounds weird but they were cool - 2 types of mounds can be found here - cathedral (or castle - can't remember!) and gravestone - I will let you figure out which is which!!

It was a very quick stop before getting back on the bus and heading to the beautiful Florence Falls for a swim in the lovely cool water and watching the boys climb and jump off like the crazy fools that they are!

A quick bite to eat and then back on the bus to head towards Darwin with a quick stop to make a small purchase..



(which is now safely installed in Mr & Mrs M's house in London!) before getting to our lovely hotel and preparing for our night out of general drunken debauchary (and a slightly moody half an hour from me because I didn't want the tour to end!). It all started so well and then ended up as a bit of a sweaty mess!!

Next morning it was up and off to a museum and a quick city tour of Darwin before heading out to get some lovely shots looking over the bay...

Then back into town and it was a fond farewell for some, whilst others disappeared without a trace! Caroline and I then pretty much walked the city before heading back to the hotel to meet up with the remaining crew to head out for dinner and say our goodbyes.

Contiki Territory & Outback it was a pleasure (and an experience) to spend 2 weeks with you guys and I have very fond memories that are going to last a lifetime! That bloomin swag is definitely one of them!!

Territory and Outback - Kakadu National Park

So I need to finish off the blogs about the NT Tour, been crazy busy with work but will fill you in on that one later!

Last time I blogged we had arrived in Kakadu at the lovely Aurora Kakadu South Alligator Hotel and had hit the hay for the night after getting the boys to remove the dead frog from our room...I really need to learn to

The following morning we got up and headed off the first of 2 cultural centres that day. The first was the Bowali Visitor Centre and mainly focused on the flora/fauna of the area and after we had spent some time here it was back on the bus for a short ride before another hike to see some aboriginal art work in situ.

It was great to see the real thing on the rocks and get a better understanding of what the different art stands for. I have probably said this before (but I can't remember and can't be bothered to go back through the blog!) but we only ever get the children's version of the aboriginal stories as the elders of the traditional people don't communicate the full stories to many people. It is still fab to see it in real life though - amazing that it has lasted so long!!

A few pics from the art near Namanjolg's Feather - Daberrg...

I can't remember which way round it was but I think we then headed to the Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural Centre for more information on the local area and the importance of it to the locals. It was then back on the bus and off for lunch at a hotel before our fab crocodile cruise around Yellow Waters.

We saw quite a few crocs on the cruise as well as seeing the amazing wetlands that they live in. The ones we saw were pretty much sunbathing and we learnt information about them from the guide such as they can't open their mouths very quickly so they tend to sit in wait with their mouths open ready to snap at anything that might get too close....it was not going to be me!! One of the crocs was maHOOsive and we could only see half of him half his body and tail was underwater and the guide reckoned he was a good 4m long...eek!

Pictures of the beasts and the birds that inhabit the Yellow Waters area...

After the croc cruise we headed back to the hotel for a chilled night in the hotel and a dip in the pool...which whilst hanging around we were all fairly surprised but pleased to see a kangaroo hop through the garden area of the hotel (didn't have my camera on me). Another lovely dinner of caesar salad (with a cold poached egg which I still don't understand!) and then off to bed as another early start in the morning as we headed on the final leg of our journey to Darwin.

Territory and Outback - Katherine & Edith Falls

We arrived in Katherine to our hotel where it was quick shower and change before heading out to the pool for a pizza party - very much fun. Half of us chilled whilst the others played a game of Kings (never heard of it before the tour!) which ended with Falk being chucked in the pool...quite comedy.

The next day it was off on a 2 hour cruise of Katherine Gorge - very beautiful and only one crocodile so happy days...its amazing what mother nature can produce....





It was absolutely stunning and there are lots more photos on my FB page...

After we had done this we jumped on the bus as we were heading up to Kakadu that night so after some more time on the bus we were able to stop off at Edith Falls.



Being at the end of the wet season (which from what I can gather has been rather long this year!) we weren't able to go to the normal swimming pool so we went for a bit of a hike to go to a plunge pool which didn't have croc's in it...and boy after that walk did you need a swim....was super hot and when we got there I was in that water super quick...

There was a current from the waterfall that took you on this nature made water slide which was great fun, although I did learn that doing front crawl in a strapless bikini is not the best plan! So after exposing myself slightly (luckily underwater)I decided to jump out and watch the adrenalin junkies from the tour do some climbing/jumping action by the falls...




It was then time to head back to the bus....needed a quick shower after the walk - was blooming hot by that point and then onwards to Kakadu National Park where some of the tour went on a sunset scenic flight which I decided against - not that great in big planes so little planes are a definite no no! The rest of us had a quick trip to see a Uranium mine in the area then it was back on the bus for all and on to our hotel in Kakadu for a yummy dinner of fish and chips and then a bit a chill by the pool - only a little one as there were lots of mosquitos which seemed to like me so I headed back to the room.