Sydney and a spectacular NYE

We were very excited to be spending New Years Eve and my birthday in Sydney and had been eagerly waiting to see the glamorous city.

Having driven 1200km from the farm to Sydney, a 'road-trip' that we had idealised but turned out to be just long and draining as our journey was made more difficult by pouring rain for the first 1000km,  we were pretty exhausted when we arrived. We were staying in the QT hotel which is centrally located, luxurious and wonderfully quirky. That evening we took a picnic and went to Sydney's moonlight cinema.

The next day was MY BIRTHDAY!!!!! After opening my presents, we went to spend the morning at Bondi Beach. We started with a large breakfast at a beachfront cafe, before spending an hour sunbathing alongside thousands of others.

In the afternoon we met Steve and Della, Megan and Finley (Alex's friends from home) from home at the Opera bar, where we got our first glimpse of the infamous Opera House. The bar was very busy but boasted a great view and we stayed there until dinner. The most appropriate place to eat that night turned out to be the 360 revolving tower restaurant, with views over all of Sydney city. Alex ordered kangaroo loin tartare, and sent it back when he realised what it was. After that we both ate pate for starter and pork belly for main.  The restaurant finished off by bringing out a small birthday cake.

Our third day in Sydney was spent on a trip to the Blue Mountains, so named because of the blue mist created from oils in the trees. The mountains were beautiful and we spent a few hours walking through forests to get to different view points, walking past waterfalls and small caves on our way. A ride on the world's steepest railway was also included.

'The Three Sisters'

That night we had to decide on a plan for New Year's Eve. Sydney effectively shuts down with so many people flocking to the harbour, camping out to get the best spot. Originally, a boat trip seemed to be the best idea. However we found tickets online on Gumtree being sold for an event called Wonderland. We had never heard of it and couldn't find out much information on it, but it was advertised as being in a prime spot, directly under Harbour Bridge, with a great view of the Opera House. We bought them and crossed our fingers.

On the last day of the year we took a trip to Manly to see Steve and Della for lunch. They had just had a surf lesson and judging from their faces weren't going to be entering any competitions soon. Manly beach was very pretty, nicer than Bondi probably, and the food at the hotel matched. 2 towering burgers later, we took a ferry back to Sydney city to join the rest of the world there for one big party.

We went to Wonderland in the evening, the event turned out to be a VIP ticketed arena. The original tickets had been issued through ballots, won through competitions or, apparently, sold for $600 each. We paid $150. The tickets however would have been worth $600, the view from the arena was amazing and it hardly felt packed at all, compared to the surrounding areas. Various firework displays and entertainment was put on throughout the night until finally midnight came. The bridge, sky and opera house erupted with fireworks for 12 minutes. The show was brilliant and we couldn't believe how lucky we were.

Once the New Year had arrived, we quickly headed for the exit and back to the hotel. We were kicking off 2015 with an early flight to our next destination; Tokyo, Japan.

Fraser Island and Noosa

Having left Brisbane we headed North to a very rainy Rainbow beach. Nevertheless we embraced the bad weather and walked along the beach that got its name because of the 'rainbow coloured' sand-dunes surrounding it.

The following morning we began our 3 day tour
of Fraser Island. This was a a 4WD tag-along tour, meaning that 8 strangers were put in a Toyota Land Cruiser together and expected to trust each other's driving abilities. Throw in the fact that we were learning to drive on sand without any real guidance and I've described the adventure tour that we found ourselves on. Initially we were a little disappointed as we were placed in a group with other couples yet they were all at least 10 years older than us. They turned out to be a lot of fun and consequently reminded us 'not to judge a book by its cover'. At camp the evening ended in a competitive game of 'goon ball'. Goon being a 4 litre box of 'wine' costing a very reasonable $11. Alex's invention of 'goon ball' meant that once the 4 litres of 'wine' are drank, the goon bag is then blown up and used like a volley ball. Genius.

Fraser Island was a very beautiful and unspoilt place and we were able to visit Lake Mckenzie, Lake Wabby, Eli Creek, the champagne pools and enjoy the stunning views from Indian Head during our time there.

Our next stop was Noosa.

We stayed in a hostel called Flashpackers which, true to its name, was the flashiest hostel we stayed in throughout Australia. During our time there we went on a great coastal walk around the Noosa Heads peninsula, met Charlotte (my friend from home) and her boyfriend, Derek, for dinner and most importantly went on a 3 day canoeing trip through the Everglades. In a group of 14 people, we took our canoes and set off down Noosa river to our campsite and home for the next 2 nights. All our food was there ready for us, as were our tents. Aside from a lot of canoeing, we also went on a long trek to the Cooloola sand patch, a desert in the middle of a forest. We got back from the trip pretty exhausted and very hungry, so treated ourselves to giant burgers that evening which we enjoyed with Charlotte and Derek's company once again.

After leaving Noosa we travelled back to the farm to spend Christmas with friendly faces, before driving over 1000km south to our destination for New Year's Eve and our finally stop in Australia, Sydney.

The Best of Brisbane

Our time in Brisbane has come to an end and we are very sad to be leaving a place that we have become very fond of.

Here are some of Brisbane's best bits...

During the G20 Brisbane held a coloured light festival. All the grand buildings in the city were lit up with bright lights along the river. It was quite spectacular to see and we followed the trail around the landmarks of Brisbane. At the beginning of the trail there was a large screen where we were able to choose colours and a pattern for the lights to appear in. Our selection then instantly appeared along the CBD's buildings on the opposite side of the river.

We have enjoyed exploring Brisbane, going on the city ferry, bike riding to New Farm Park, breakfasting, lunching and basically dining out at any given opportunity, as well as gazing at the story bridge, which is lit up each evening.

Brisbane has thrown some pretty crazy weather our way including sticky humidity for weeks on end making our 1.5 mile walk to work each day fairly unbearable and a number of storms including a frighteningly destructive hail storm which we believe made the news at home.

In order to truly make the most of our time in Brisbane we decided to explore the surrounding areas as much as possible. We returned to Byron Bay with Brook and her sister and barbecued at sunset. This was a very lovely idea until the sun actually set and we were left without any light to cook the food with.


We rented a terrible car from 'rentabomb.com' and ventured to a number of the surrounding National Parks. We went south to Mt Tamborine where we walked the 'sky walk' and ate scones in a tearoom located high up in the rainforest. We drove the lengthy scenic route to the Glass House Mountains. Here we trekked a number of the trails and had lunch at the Glass House Mountains Lookout cafe. We also explored Nightcap National Park with Brook and her sister hiking the stunning 8km Minyon Falls loop.

We ended our time in Brisbane by dining on the Kookaburra Festive River Cruise, feasting on turkey and delicious Christmas puddings whilst cruising under the Story Bridge, which was perfectly lit up in Christmas colours, past the Kangaroo Point cliffs and along to South Bank. It was a great way to finish off a wonderful chapter in our travels.

The working life in Brisbane

Our first two weeks in Brisbane have been great. We moved into our ultra modern apartment and it's safe to say that we are hardly 'slumming it'. Our room mates are a couple called Brook and Rhys, they are about 4 years older than us and have been really welcoming and friendly.

We are staying in Bowen Hills and are approximately a 25 minute walk from the CBD and thus from where we are working for the next 6 weeks having bagged ourselves internships at Morgans, Australia's largest stockbroking firm. This sounds relatively fancy yet, as I'm sure is the case for most internships, we spend our days doing admin based tasks, filling in forms and data entry. We interweave these tasks with plenty of tea-drinking and clock-watching, willing the day to go quickly. Either way its exciting to be working and earning some dollar. The office is located right on the river front so its really lovely to be able to spend our lunch time enjoying such a great view. I decided to comment on this saying to Alex 'I really like the fact that Brisbane has a big river running through it'...he turned and replied 'Do you mean just like London Bex?' Yes I suppose I do.

The view from work

Having experienced my first proper 'Friday feeling' we have been making the most of our weekends. We've explored various areas in Brisbane, including a very cute market called 'The Finders Keepers Market' and having drinks at a lesser-known roof top bar with gorgeous fairy lights. Brook and Rhys drove us to the Gold Coast where they attempted to teach us to surf in a very strong current. Alex handled this well, whereas I nearly drowned. To top off the surfing experience I then majorly freaked out when a big jellyfish decided to hang out next to my surfboard and I. Thankfully Alex came to my rescue! We also went for a great lunch and then explored Byron Bay, watching the sun set at Byron Bay's iconic light house, which we've been told is Australia's most eastern point.

With G20 being held in Brisbane, this Friday was declared a bank holiday for those that live or work here, so we spent our extended weekend enjoying the Gold Coast theme parks with Brook and some of her friends. Friday we went to Sea World, which sadly was rather disappointing in comparison to the Sea World in Orlando. Nevertheless my highlight was patting the sting rays, this was amusing and they are surprisingly both soft and slimy. We best described them as 'squidgey'.

Today we got 'Wet & Wild', enjoying a great, yet exhausting day at the water park. Our favourite ride was a bit of an adrenaline rush; the rider is locked into a small standing pod, a timer counts down and then the floor quickly drops away and you fall, fast!


Tomorrow evening we plan to check out the 'Colour Me Brisbane' light show.

The remaining part of our stay on the farm

Remembering that our stay on the Rackemann farm is an exchange, our hard work for accommodation and food, a vast number of our days were filled with fence building (,with many barb wire cuts and grazes a long the way,) and cattle herding. It is calving season on the farm currently so every few days a new calf was born. They named a calf after each of us so they'll be able to remember us when they see them grazing around the farm, until they end up as hamburgers anyway :/! During our stay we helped out when the vet came and preg tested the cattle. As I'm sure you all know how this procedure plays out I decided to take a backseat role scribing the cow's ID number and recording the results from the vet. This put me safely out of the firing line for the amount of cow poo that was flying around... Alex wasn't so lucky.

Other than 'farm work' we went to the local Wondai horse races and won a staggering $6.70. I also went and volunteered at Tommy's school for a morning helping the children with their reading and literary skills.

For Alex's birthday we drove to Australia Zoo for the day, which was a scenic, 3 hour drive from the farm. This was a lovely way to spend Alex's birthday. We saw the otter show, the tiger show and the big 'Wildlife Warriors' show. Our favourite part was 'Roo Heaven'. Here you can purchase 'roo food' from a vending machine then are free to approach the kangaroos and wallabies to feed and pet them. Alex also spent a good half an hour trying to get the kangaroo selfie below.

Pam and Greg are an elderly couple, both still keen travellers and outback farmers that currently live in their crazy caravan on the Rackemann's land. Greg helps out on the farm so we saw a lot of him, yet Pam is pretty immobile so sadly spends her days doing crosswords in the caravan. We figured it would be nice to invite them over for a 'birthday tea' for Alex. Pam loves quizzes so we asked her to prepare a quiz for the evening as we knew how much she would like this. This led to an eventful games night including bingo and a number of quizzes that were actually really good. The quiz question that has really stuck in our minds follows:

True or false?
In Japan they grow square watermelons because they are easier to stack.

TRUE. Crazy.



To end our time on the Rackemann farm with a bang and also as a nice surprise for Maddie and Tommy, Alex and I planned a secret halloween party. We got creative and made, painted, drew and fashioned a number of decorations and some very budget costumes with bin bags and sheets. We created games including 'pin the tale on the witch's cat' and a mummifying game involving lots of toilet roll. I wrote rhyming riddles and hide them over the house which led to a very messy obstacle course and set of challenges created by Alex. Overall it was a great success. At least if all else fails in life we know that we'll make excellent children's party planners.

In further when we look back on our stay at the Rackemann farm I know that we will remember it fondly.


Next stop, Brisbane. Next chapter in our journey, WORK.

Our first week on the Rackemann farm

Following on from our stay in the town of 1770 we got on a 2am bus to Gympie. We arrived there at 9am the following morning where we had a delightful breakfast in a small café whilst we waited for Carl to come and collect us to take us back to his farm 2 hours inland.

The Rackemann farm has been in Carl’s family for many generations and today it consists of cattle, barley and peanuts. Despite farming being the family profession Carl spent his professional career playing cricket for the Queensland Bulls and for Australia. After retiring Carl became a coach before buying the farm from his father, although his parents remained living and working on the property for the rest of their lives. Carl moved back to the Rackemann farm, situated about 30km from Kingaroy, with his wife Louise whom he had met whilst playing cricket in England.

Carl and Louise have since built their own property on the farm, yet Alex and I have been staying in the original farmhouse where Carl’s parents lived and where Carl grew up. It is clear that the property has definitely been well loved through many generations; it is completely jammed full of things, mainly crazy ornaments covering the sides, the walls and hanging from the ceiling, in particular slightly strange frog ornaments seem to have been collected. There are also hundreds of family photos and the odd few dried snake and lizard skins scattered around, kindly in unexpected places.

Carl and Louise have 2 children, Maddie who is 12 and already acting like a teenager through and through, and Tommy who is 8 and adorable. Tommy sets Alex Star Wars homework each evening.

Since we have been here our tasks have included taking and picking up the children from school, they both attend school in Kingaroy, which as I have stated is 30km away. We are allowed to drive their 4wd vehicles (some very old and tricky to drive and some very new) both on the farm and into Kingaroy, which is pretty exciting and thankfully we are beginning to get our bearings. We have also been dismantling old fences and building new ones, herding cattle to be weighed and preg tested by the vet. Alex had the pleasant job of cleaning out the cow poo in the cattle truck and he also did multiple moisture tests on the barley with Carl (apparently the moisture levels of barley have to be below 12.5% before it can be harvested and consequently sold).

We also took part in Kingaroy’s annual charity event, Relay for Life. This event has over 40 teams and each team must keep their individual baton moving around the track from 3pm on Saturday afternoon until 9am on Sunday morning. We joined a local youth orchestra team, as they were short on numbers, and Alex played saxophone along side them at different times throughout the evening. A photo of Alex playing alongside 2 young girls in fancy dress made it into the South Bernett Times the following day. Our main walking slot was from 3am-5am as I think the children’s enthusiasm had tired by this point. Overall the event raised over 100K for a cancer charity.

Totally exhausted we returned to the farmhouse the following day to find a foot long lizard living in our room. Alex squealed loudly whilst I named it Lucy. As neither of us were brave enough to remove Lucy from our bedroom we having been sleeping beside her ever since, although secretly I suspect that Alex sleeps with one eye open.

[Photos to follow in the next post due to further camera issues, shock!] 

Whitsundays & 1770

 After Magnetic Island we headed south to our next destination, Airlie Beach. Here we stayed in a very lively hostel called Magnums; we went for dinner with some girls that we had met on the bus and then met up with a couple that we had spent some time with a few weeks ago in Cairns. As always, drinks flowed and we had another great evening.

After a few chilled days in Airlie Beach we set off for our 3-day boat trip around the Whitsundays islands. Our boat had 18 people on, the majority of which were young couples from various parts of England and China so we met some really interesting people, which we hope to keep in contact with. During our trip we went snorkelling, tried paddle boarding and Alex went diving again.

As part of our trip we went to Whitehaven Beach, which was simply paradise. It had the clearest, tropical water we’ve ever seen and the softest, whitest sand. The sand is known to be one of the purest forms of sand in the world and for this reason is heavily protected, we even had to wash the sand of our feet before we were allowed to leave. We also climbed up to the lookout for Whitehaven Beach; this is apparently the third most photographed spot in the whole of Australia.

After the trip had ended around half the group met up that evening at a bar in Airlie Beach. The Bar turned out to have a pub quiz on that evening so we all entered. We came second winning $150, which we wisely spent on 15 ‘aqua bombs’ at the bar. Oops?

Our next stop was the town of 1770. To reach this destination we, along side many of the people that we had met in the past week or so, boarded an eventful overnight bus. The bus diver managed to bang his head on the bus door and badly cut his head open, and the bus had some kind of engine fault resulting in us having to stop at the side of the road and wait for a mechanic.

The town of 1770 marks Captain Cook’s first landing in Queensland. That said, the tiny town seems to have progressed very little from Captain Cook’s first landing all those years ago as we’ve found ourselves to be pretty isolated and with very little to do. 

Nevertheless we went on a scooter tour. We were given leather jackets (mine was bright pink, of course) and fake tattoos to help us capture the biker look. Although we were both fairly unexcited about this trip, we embraced the experience and it turned out to be a lot of fun. After a frightening small amount of practice on the scooters we were let loose on the roads and our 3 hour tour began. Despite obviously seeing the ‘town’, or lack of it, we saw at least 50 kangaroos and got to watch a stunning sunset.