And so to Oz...(via Dubai)

And so, the end is near and as I face the final curtain that is the 7 hour flight to Dubai, I really bloody don't want to go.

Mainly, however, because I can't be fagged to pack my backpack and head for the hills.

I've had an awesome, awesome time back in Blighty though.

Last weekend I saw some of my best friends in London for Lizzie's birthday. An awesome theme (Superheroes and stars) got us all dressing up and in the mood for a bit of wine-fuelled catching up.

You know you have fantastic friends when you just fall back into conversation with them as easily as if you'd been speaking to them the previous day.

And catching up with Leah and Polly, two school friends who I haven't seen for yonks, was also like that. A picnic on a scorching hot day in a gated park in west London soon got us up-to-speed as we ever were on the comings and goings.

I met my brother Jonathan in town on Sunday and we watched a bit of the London marathon, wandered over the Thames and along south bank watching the budgie man (really, really weird) and having a drink at the Tate Modern.

After checking out his bachelor pad in Islington, we met Sally Seex for a flipping great curry at Rooburoo's on Chapel Market.

Then it was back to Gloucestershire.

The weather has been stunning during nearly all of my stay - warm, sunny, sometimes a bit fresh and sometimes as hot as a summer's day. It has meant drinks in pub gardens, tea in mum's courtyard and lazing around on the banks of the Thames in Oxford.

Craig and I popped to Oxford for the day on Wednesday and spent a perfect day just wandering and drinking coffee, having lunch at Europe's oldest coffee house, and sitting in Christchurch meadow in the sun.

We went to see Beth in her house in Jerico for a glass of vino and then headed to my brother Kieran's beautiful Cotswold stone cottage in Charlbury, a village north of the town.

After a spot of top nosh and a beer, we headed to a local pub with his friend Kate to watch a very, very serious musician do his all-American country, bluesy, I-don't-know-what guitar playing. Managing to get quite a few stares and a shush from the audience for my loud talking, we created a bit of a scene by not really being that interested in him.

Last night, I went to my friend Claire's for some wine and dinner with our friend Kate and then we went out for (a lot of) drinks and a dance in Cheltenham - missed most of the people I was supposed to catch up with but did see Craig and his mate Dan and had a great night.

The rest of the week has been filled by drinking tea with my sisters, thinking about packing and not doing it, thinking about renewing my travel insurance and not doing it, researching and booking hotels in Dubai (I now know more about the bloody hotels than the city) and generally having fun.

I can't wait for Perth, I really can't and to experience the weirdness that is Dubai for three days. But I'm really very, very sad to go. And I still haven't found my camera memory card. grrr.

Great Ocean adventure

It was time to do the Great Ocean Road - to whizz along the southern coastal road of Victoria by the sea shore and through the lush forests east of Melbourne.

We hired a yellow car for the purpose - a snazy little Hyundai Getz (top car) and dragged one of our roommates from the backpackers along for the ride.

Poor Dave - the Canadian chap had to spend two whole days with us while we sang Britney, obsessed over food and swerved along the Great Ocean Road. He coped remarkably well.

It should have been an early start for us but, well, being us it was 10.30am before we hit the road - and promptly got lost in the city centre trying to find the freeway. I had to negotiate Melbourne's right-hand turns - no mean feat when signs say "Use left lane to turn right"...

But the sunshine spurred us on and we were soon on our way to Geelong (pronounced jerlong) before a stop at Subway for sandwiches and then onto the route to Torquay.




Here we stopped at Bells Beach - made famous in the surf dude film Point Break - wandered a lot and then hopped in the car. I was designated driver but we made quite a few stops at viewpoints along the way.

The scenery was stunning when I could take my eyes off the twisting and turning road along the mountainsides with waves pounding the beaches and cliffs below us.

It just stretched on for miles and miles of beautiful coastline and changing landscapes of green hillsides to scraggy bushland around us.

After a late lunch stop at Lorne for delicious foccacias and warming coffees (the weather had turned cold, windy and grey), we continued our route with Danielle taking the wheel at the next town.

This was where the road turned inland to wind through forests and the Otway range of mountains. We detoured to a lighthouse on Cape Otway and saw Koalas in the trees around the site.

The lighthouse was closed by the time we arrived, but we took a walk up the hill through bushland (with signs to watch out for snakes) but there wasn't much of a view.

Then we hopped back in the car for another windy route through the hills to the 12 Apostles - one of the highlights of the route.

We arrived just before dusk to see the eight stacks of rock highlighted by the setting sun. We watched and waited for sunset, seeing the 'apostles' bathed in a golden glow. Sunset itself was rather a disappointment...




...the sun sank low in the sky as a bright orangey pinky ball before just disappearing without pomp, ceremony or so much as a pink smudge on the horizon.

The trio then made our way wearily to the next town - Port Campbell - to find Dave a backpackers. Unfortunately there was no room at the inn. Or the caravan park. D and I were planning to sleep in the car but Dave, bless his heart, is rather a tall guy and the car was pretty small.

Luckily, a chap at the caravan park made a call to a woman who lives on a hill, up a windy dirt track and sorted Dave out with the room at the back of her house for $75. He had to take it - there was no choice. The hunt for food proved fruitless - another town with shops, cafes, takeouts, closing before 9pm and only expensive restaurants were open. So we made do with chocolate bars and crisps from the pub and drove Dave up into the middle of nowhere in the pitch black.

By this time, D and I were freaking out about sleeping in the car in a layby or middle of nowhere - and driving to this scary place in the dark wasn't helping.

However there was a warm welcome at the house and a lovely double bed and ensuite room for Dave with a TV, kettle and coffee-making stuff - even towels and soap. Rather luxurious for backpackers. We told the lady we were sleeping in the car and she took pity on us and brought two mattresses in for D and I, saying it was good karma for her son's travels.

So we spent the evening in comfort and warmth playing snap and giggling. Sadly Dave snored loudly ALL NIGHT - half-wakingly blaming it on Danielle at one point and oblivious to my thumps and punches.

After buying chocs for the lady of the house, we popped to buy our food for the day at 'the supermarket' (a corner shop) and survived off peanut butter and jam sandwiches all day.

Then it was off to London Bridge and Bay of Islands (more rock formations and stacks) and then retracing our steps back towards 12 Apostles for the Loch Ard Gorge.



The coastline is renowned for ship wrecks thanks to the perilious seas of the Bass Straits and here, at the start of the last century, the Loch Ard ship was wrecked with the loss of all lives but two. A young man Tom Pearce saved the life of Eva Simpson in the gorge from the stormy seas and climbed out up sheer cliffs with a broken arm to get her help. So that was a nice story and a lovely walk in the heat along the headland.

Then we drove back along the Great Ocean Road, taking it in turns to drive and take pics and singing along to mine and Dave's (very) limited collection of CDs.

It was a massive rush to get back to Budget rental by 5.30pm but we ended up making it there at 5.55pm - five minutes before it closed up and we had to pay for another day. phew. We waved goodbye to our little yellow car with sadness... again soon my friend. Again soon...