NORWAY Day 9 - Randsverk to Ryfoss

Our last full day in Norway! And to mark the occasion we'd planned a 9 mile hike along the Besseggen Ridge, apparently one of the most scenic in Norway.

Waking up to wind and rain made us dubious about doing a ridge walk, but we packed up our delightful and very large chalet anyway and set off towards Gjendeshiem. This walk was different in that it was a one-way hike - with a boat to do the other leg. We'd done our research and discovered that the boat went at 9.30, and catching the boat out and hiking back would eliminate any uncertainty out of our day.

Getting there at 9.15 we were dismayed to find the car park was full, and with a slight hint of our Trolltunga experience were made to park (for 100k) on a car park 3km from the boat landing. So much for getting the 9.30 boat we thought! Thankfully the bus to the boat landing was more frequent and infinitely cheaper (free) than Trolltunga's "maxi taxi" and we did make it to the landing for 9.30 - to find that actually there were lots of boats, but these were all booked up until 11.45! Not wanting to stand around for over two hours we made a quick decision to hike the opposite way and try to make the 16.30 boat back.

The hike started with a big and rocky climb, which wasn't overly challenging given it was so early in the day. Rounding a hill, this got even steeper and narrower, in places requiring chains pinned to the rock to heave us up. An hour or so in the track got much wider but very exposed, with dustings of snow on the (windy) sides of the rocks. We wrapped up and headed onwards, just pleased that the low cloud, rain/snow and high winds hadn't materialised...

The next major landmark was the snow-covered summit at over 1700m, marked by a huge cairn. Using the shelter of the cairn for a few pics of the stunning views of the surrounding park area, we then carried on down the ridge.

The ridge was narrow, and by this point we'd started to encounter those who'd actually managed to catch an early boat and hike in the other direction. However, neither of these could spoil the sensational scenery - the sun light up the two lakes either side of the ridge, Lake Gjende a sky blue as it is glacially-fed and the other a deep navy.

Scrambling down off the ride a couple more climbs kept us entertained with spectacular vistas before the descent into Memurubu. Here we were pleasantly surprised to be able to hop straight onto a boat at 15.00 and return via bus to Eric. 

Onwards from there we went to Ryfoss - mainly to make inroads into the journey to Oslo rather than anything else. However, the roads (51 & 16) we took were delightful, so our drive was punctuated with a number of stops to admire our surroundings as well as cows crossing, rainbows and snow-poled roads. Our accommodation, marketed as a B&B, turned out to be a large house, decorated with great taste and even better, without any other guests! After enjoying the sunny garden, we cooked ourselves a retrospectively carby dinner and settled down for the evening, tired out from an incredible final day's hiking. 

NORWAY Day 8 - Lom to Randsverk

From our cabin near Lom we drove out towards the national park, our aim of the day being a hike up Mount Galdhopiggen, the highest peak in Northern Europe! There are two options for doing this - take the non-glacial route from Spiterstulen (a big climb but without the need of a guide to cross the glacier) or go guided from Juvasshytta (much less of a climb as Juvasshytta is quite high up.

We chose the latter option for the novelty of crossing the glacier - and by Norway standards this offered great value too: 200k per person for the guide and 100k for the toll road, so about £21 each overall. Driving up presented the usual amazing scenery, and at Juvasshytta we were greeted by freezing temperatures and the sight of people skiing. In September!

A hasty retreat to the car after arranging the guide had us layering up (good move!) before we set off across the rocky and fairly flat area to the first of many snowfields. Thankfully the snow was well compacted and we hiked 3km to the glacial area with relative ease. The slight upward slope kept us warm too.

Next, we were all tied together on a long rope via knots at intervals attached to the harnesses we were all wearing. The harness was a chest-type harness - not particularly favourable for women in terms of comfort I thought! However, on other occasions I've used the sort of harness you step into, which I'm told is particularly uncomfortable for men, so fair's fair I suppose...

Roped-up, we set off across the glacier in a long line. The trickiest bit about this was trying to keep the perfect distance behind the person on front of you - so the rope didn't drag on the floor but also so you weren't getting the occasional yank. This was easier said than done as the slow and slightly erratic walking speeds of others made for a stop-start trip. Needless to say the thick gloves, headband, buff and hood were all on at this point.

Once we'd reached a rather steep rocky edge, we discarded our rope, and glad to be free, made our own way up the edge to the summit. A faster pace and very steep climb kept me warmer, but the cloud made visibility very poor - at times we were just following the steps of those in front which was a bit disconcerting! The sound of voices alerted us to the fact we had reached the top, and a cosy cabin was very welcome as we waited for the rest of the group to reach the top.

Unfortunately there were no toilets to relieve my desperation so I distracted myself by using the incredibly fast wifi to catch up on life in general. Upon leaving the cabin we made a rapid descent through the snow to the rock edge and reclaimed our rope to hike (a little quicker thankfully) across the glacier. I was very thankful that no one fell down a crevasse in the blue ice below, but was also happy to leave the rope - which made for surprisingly unsociable walking - for the final time and make our own way back to Juvasshytta and Eric.

Overall this was an exhilarating experience, and so cold! Today was Peter's 27th birthday and he said it was without a doubt his coldest ever.. 

NORWAY Day 7 - Hornindal to Lom

Thursday began with delicious buffet breakfast before a tunnel ridden drive to Geiranger. We could have gotten the ferry from Hellrsylt but we still felt we'd done enough ferries so instead we opted for a scenic drive.

Once in Geiranger, we set of on a hike to Strorssefossen waterfall. In typical Norwegian hike style this was an out-and-back hike where the out was another gut busting climb. The crescendo of thunderous water falling led us to our target though, and an incredible amount of water was gushing over the rock. The best bit about this hike was that the path led us to a damp but safe cave behind the waterfall, so you could watch the waterfall gushing down in front of you.

Back out on top, the sun was out and we sacked briefly before heading (via Eric to ditch our jumpers - a first!) to hike to another viewpoint. The path started off as an actually easy tractor track with some cute llamas (or alpacas, I really need to learn the difference!) , but we knew this was too good to be true, and before long it started a series of chicanes down the side of the fjord. Not wanting to lose the valuable height we'd gained, we instead opted to a path to "Losta", whatever that might be. We didn't quite get to "Losta", but we got some fabulous views over the Geirangerfjord.

Next on the view trail was Dalsnibba. A 110k toll road took us on a hairpin drive up super-high, the highest road in the vicinity apparently! At the top they appeared to be doing some construction, but that didn't ruin the panoramic views around Geiranger, and neither did the biting cold!

Feeling lucky to have caught Dalsnibba on a clear day, we descended back to the road and headed on towards Lom, gateway to the Jotunheimen National Park. This poor town had a very critical write-up in the guidebook, but we thought it's stave church had a lot of character, and enjoyed wondering the Bygdamuseum - a collection of old light buildings in a forest setting. Saying that, I am certain that the highlight of Lom for Peter was when we lucked upon the bakery three minutes before closing and ordered a custard tart and cinnamon roll. Having paid (£5) and left, we looked into the paper bag and discovered they'd doubled our order and added a couple of gigantic tea cakes for free! And that was pudding sorted for the rest of the trip... 

NORWAY Day 6 - Olden to Hornindal

The next morning we were up early as we were contemplating a hike up Mount Scala. The weather, however, had other ideas, and being in a cloud did not set the tone for a fab day's hiking so we quickly changed plans and drove to Loen Active where we hired bikes for four hours.

The bikes were mountain bikes and looked pretty nice (we were feeling smugly as they looked better than the ones the four people before us had gotten). However, the seat posts needed a lot of raising and my handlebars it turned out weren't well attached to the stem. What made it most difficult was that the tyres felt like they were at about 30psi!

We set off towards the Lodalen Valley, having dispensed with an overly chatty man with pink hair from Hastings early on in the ride. The road was very picturesque with a mirror flat lake on one side and some small settlements on the other. It was fairly flat to begin with but both the gradient and wind did pick up, so some definite "ugging" was required!

About 14km in, after a large up hill, a decision had to be made as to whether to carry on to the glacier (6km further and down the other side of said hill) or to turn back. We predictably decided to carry on, the last 4km or so killing our legs and turning to the dreaded gravel road. The glacier was pretty impressive as it turned out, but looked best from 3km from the end, rather than the picnic bench we lunched on which had been handily positioned with a tree blocking the view.

After lunch we assessed the time and realised that we'd been out for 2 hours, and if it took us as long to get back we'd be tight on time for returning the bikes! Cue some power pedalling and the happy realisation that the gravel road had been continuously uphill. Even the climb back to the 14km to go marker wasn't too bad, and freewheeling down the other side gave us an excuse not to chat to chatty Hastings man (who was walking his bike up the hill and still managed to shout "come stay with me in Hastings" after us).

The rest of the cycle really was pleasant, with a building tailwind we beat the tourist boat cruising along the now quite wavy lake, and got back with 45mins to spare. Indeed the bike shop guy looked a bit disbelieving that we'd actually done the whole ride (which I found a bit insulting).

Relieved to be back in time and in the car - especially when it started raining - we pootled along to Hornindal, our stop for the night. Breaking the trend of cabins, we'd booked into the Best Western Plus (I think "Plus" is actually "minus" or "budget") and on arrival our room was ready. It was quite strange having a plus carpet and no kitchen, but a welcome change as unlike the rather dated selection of British Best Westerns I've stayed in, this one was modernly fit out and quite nice. 

NORWAY Day 5 - Hafslo to Olden

A sunny morning greeted us, so we popped out from our cabin to take another little stroll in Solvorn - this time the opposite way along the coast. We have learned that a hike described as "easy" is never easy, so after about a mile of scrambling over rocks to fine views of boats and moorings, we returned to Hafslo for a second breakfast (of leftover bolognese) and to clean our cabin. We've become very good at cleaning, as moving accommodation daily has also meant a daily cleaning session.

En route to Olden, we made a couple of notable stops - the first being the Boyabreen glacier. Not being enthused enough to go into the nearby museum, we drove out to the glacier and peered at its blue ice tongue, which was perched on the flat rock face. To be so close to this on the main road was pretty rare.

Our next stop was when we had gained a bit of height, and feeling a little peckish we hopped out of the car on what looked like a promising viewpoint. One mile's hike later and having reached level with a nearby ski lift we sat and ate lunch with our first 360 view of snow-capped mountains.

Reaching Olden and pleasantly surprised by our £30 a night cabin at Nesset Fjordcamping, we went for an evening walk to investigate the cruise ship moored on the opposite side of the fjord. Walking up to it showed how it dominated the landscape around! However, the local people will benefit from the influx of passengers through souvenir shops and running tours, so they did not seem to mind as much as I might. 

NORWAY Day 4 - Aurland to Hafslo

The next morning we were on it, and went out for an early run further up the mountain. We puffed our way (run/walk strategy) for a mile or so up, looking at the settlements in the valley as we went. The way down was much more pleasant on the lungs - even our audience of sheep (with what I'd describe as a cowbell although presumably it's a sheepbell around their necks) enjoyed our descent, sprinting along with us at some points.

Singular holiday run done, we descended back to Aurland and soon entered a 25km tunnel, the longest we'd experience. Tunnel driving is pretty dull, and a little hypnotic, with the caves every 6km making for a bit of relief on the eyes and concentration.

Once out the other side, we made a right turn and enjoyed the natural light flooding in on the way to Borgund stave church. There are 28 stave churches remaining in Norway and this was supposedly one of the nicest. Personally it was a lot blacker than I expected but I think that is to do with the recentness of the latest coating of pine tar. However, it was unique and had a lovely odour.

After viewing the interior of the church we set off on a hike to see the Vindella Road - an old mountain road used by horses and carts. The road was very steep and twisty, certainly not something I'd ever drive down or up! It was great hiking terrain though, easier than the rocky slopes we encountered elsewhere and the round trip back to the church was pretty and green.

From here we headed through Laerdal and Sogndal to Solvorn, a quaint little hamlet which is the setting out point for a ferry to another stave church at Ornes. We were at this point feeling a bit "ferried-out" so we decided instead to take a short (and hopefully flat - wishful thinking) stroll along the fjordland coast. This turned out to be a great move as we found lots of fresh raspberries and a secluded beach with an amazing fjord view. It was on this beach that I picked up a very nice stone (not the one with hundreds of silverfish on it that I promptly dropped on my foot) and hence a new fiancé!

The rest of the evening was spent cooking an epic bolognese (turns out tinned mushrooms actually are edible) and relaxing in our fabulous cabin in Haflso, with its glass side and another great view.

• Things we wish we had brought to Norway: cosy slippers
• Things we are glad we have brought: bed linen
• Things we should not have brought: shorts

NORWAY Day 3 - Herand to Aurland

Another lazy start was had here as (we thought) we had no particular time pressures to get ourselves over to Aurland. Looking out of our cabin window we saw that the morning was bright, and so we checked out via a reception full of wool and wooden trinkets and headed back along the 550 to the ferry port of Utne.

We could see the ferry at the other port, so had a short wander through the pretty village before embarking onto the 10.30 ferry. Having done a spot of research since getting up, we'd come to discover that this wouldn't be our only ferry trip of the day. A tunnel later on our route had been subject to a bus fire 10 days previous which led to its closure for repair. This meant that instead of a 20 minute drive through a tunnel, once we'd disembarked from the Utne ferry we would head for Gudvangen, another port. 

Meanwhile, the journey from Utne was very picturesque, the village being bathed in sunlight as we left, and we got to see our first fjord rainbow! A happy discovery upon leaving was that if we didn't encounter any hold-ups we'd arrive just in time for the Gudvangen ferry.

This we did, but we soon realised that this was a passenger ferry! Thankfully car ferries did run this route but the next one wasn't for another two and a half hours (added to the two hour ferry journey at 990k (£80ish) this made for quite an excursion due to a shut tunnel)  so we sourced some lunch in a nearby timber building. Peter tried the reindeer patties, hoping for something similar to the saltfish patties I feed him, but unfortunately this is Norway, not the Caribbean, so the patties actually resembled what I can only describe as faggots. . .

Once on the ferry, the journey was pretty spectacular. I even took a break from Don Fink to admire the narrowness of the fjord and the green surroundings. Arriving into Flam at around 17.30, we made straight for our lodgings for the night, close to Aurland.

When I say close, I mean, on a map they looked close. The twenty or so hairpin bends on the map should have been a clue, but we were actually staying incredibly high up! A scary drive up was rewarded by a stunning view at Stegastain, after which we were glad to find our very young but lovely Norwegian hostess and our large lodgings at Bjorgo Gard. My poor judgement reversing up the drive (and subsequent strong clutch smell which lingered in Eric for days) could not even dampen our spirits and relief to have arrived.

NORWAY Day 2 - Eidford to Herand

Our second day started rather lazily - not due to jetlag, but more because the earliest we could have breakfast at our hotel on a Saturday was 8am. We were quite thankful for the lie in after the previous day's long drive and a breakfast of largely raw and pickles fish, bread and meat was very welcome indeed!

This set us up well for our activity - a hike to Trolltunga (Troll's Tongue). Arriving at around 10:00 on a Saturday meant that the top car park was full, so we parked in Tyssedal and caught a pricy "Maxi Taxi" to the start point in Skjeggedal.

The walk was described as an 8-10 hour journey to a stunning viewpoint. The advertised 22km journey started with a very steep and muddy incline - the sort that is challenging to go up but much worse to come down - before levelling off to a rocky plateau cut up with trickling streams. We crossed the plateau fairly quickly, aware of our late start, and headed up the next climb onto a saddle area. At this point we came upon a reasonably large group of people and took confidence from the fact that we weren't the last heading up!

At this point the gradient and the clouds came down a little, giving some respite before another climb and the inevitable rain from the following clouds. As soon  as the waterproof trousers were on we were able to enjoy the views of the lake that were being presented to us through gaps in the clouds.

The terrain now was wet and rocky but lightly undulating, carrying on like this for the last 3 km or so before we reached  Trolltunga. Arriving at the rock, it was most spottable by the queue of people waiting to walk onto it. We promptly joined the queue and cracked out the sandwiches which we'd saved for this very moment.

The clouds also appeared to have saved some "treats" for this point and the half hour or so spent on the queue was increasingly cold. However, I did think this was better than a free for all and came to be very thankful to those that went for a group photo and hence sped up the process. We even witnessed a proposal on the rock (lovely, but they definitely took up more than their allocated "rock time" and I'm pretty sure the random guy they gave their phone to for photos completely missed it...).

Photos done, we left the rock around 15:00, well aware that the "Maxi Taxi" left at 18:00. This made for a speedy traverse across to the plateau, although the last kilometre of mud slowed us severely, leaving just two minutes to spare!

Driving onwards from. The car park led us right up the side of Hardangerfjord on a beautiful road, before we took another very scenic road to Vasel Gard, our cabin for the night. This was a typical Norwegian cabin, with a small kitchen and eating area but no running water or bathroom. The setting was idyllic, with ponies grazing nearby and a lake area to look over.

NORWAY Day 1 - Oslo to Eidford

An early (3.00am!) start from our Travelodge got us to the airport for 4.00am - plenty of time to check-in despite accidentally having parked at the wrong terminal.. We also managed to squeeze in a big Mexican breakfast, which we were definitely ready for, despite it being 4.30am.

Once up in the air on our Norwegian Air flight (we were quite impressed by the plane fit out and service given this is their easyjet...) we were treated to a clear morning and gorgeous sunrise. We could easily pick out The Shard whilst crossing over London, and coming into Oslo was a great mix of water and greenery.

Having landed, we waited a while to pick up our hire car (my triathlon book got a good read) which turned out to be a newer, silver version of our very own Gregory. Thankfully, the new C1 is slightly bigger enabling us to fit our big bags into the boot. Also handy were the tinted windows in the back - not because of sunlight (there wasn't too much of that) but because Norway driving rules dictate headlights should be on at all times. Personally I think this is a bit silly, it makes it seem like it is dusk when you're driving around, but admittedly it does eliminate the issue of forgetting to switch headlights on or off when entering one of the many, many road tunnels.

Our destination for the day was Eidford, an ambitious five hours drive away. This turned out to be a little bit of a mission - we started off with 80 minute stints each but these were 30 minute stints by the end of the day, and a tub of Skittles (bought as part of a Boots meal deal at the airport - who knew they do Skittles in tubs now?) disappeared gradually over the drive.

The scenery varied from main roads lined with trees to mountainous climbs and at the end a long tunnel with a roundabout in it! This wowed me as a civil/structural engineer.

Eidford was a nice little town, much better than the transitional place I had predicted it to be. I do think we were lucky to catch it without a cruise ship, which would have dominated the pretty shoreline and quaint hotel we were staying in. A short walk around and bed were called for at this point, after a very long day!

AUS Day 42 - Homeward Bound

At 09:15 we set off from our lovely apartment in Melbourne on the mammoth journey home, which ended up taking 34 hours door to door. 

We reversed our journey out, so flew first to Brunei Airport. Here they seem to have made a lot of improvements in six weeks - new sitting down toilets were a definite bonus for our four hour wait! Next was Dubai, yet again a purely dark experience, so we could just admire the lights of the tall skyscrapers. Finally in terms of air transport, we flew to London Heathrow. It's felt homely being back in the UK, where you can breeze through passport checks and not be bothered by ridiculous queues for bio security and having to declare that you may have worn your shoes outside. Sitting on the train I'm much warmer than the freezing underground, and admiring the snowy scenes outside the window.

It's odd to think that when we started the journey in sunny Melbourne, shorts and flip-flops/thongs/jandals were definitely the order of the day. However upon touch down in the UK it was clear that more substantial clothing was required, cue whipping out shoes trousers, coats, and jumpers which had all deliberately been packed at the top of the luggage, and were now very much welcome.

It is going to take a couple of days to acclimatise to the new time zone and the weather.

AUS Day 41 - Wine, wine and more wine!

Our last day involved a step up in class compared with the rest of the holiday. We had booked onto a wine tasting tour, and were collected outside St Paul's Cathedral at 08:50 by what can only be described as the Rolls-Royce of minibuses (it was actually a Mercedes) . OK that's a bit of an over exaduration (this is the second guest post by Peter) but it was pretty smart compared to our previous transport; automatically opening doors and seats that were so far reclined they were almost uncomfortable.

First stop on our tour of the Yarra valley was Yering Station, the oldest winery in the region to sample some local wines, which mainly turned out to be Chardonnay and Pinot Noir due to these grape varities being particularly well suited to the climate. All were very nice, although some more so than others. What surprised us most was that some of the people on the tour decided not to taste any wine. Seriously, who books onto a wine tour if you have no interest in trying some wine? The clue is in the title.

Stop 2 was at a local dairy to sample the cow and goat cheeses, then it was time to head to the next winery, Domain Chandon. This place makes champagne that isn't called champagne for geographical reasons. They also had a funny idea of a tasting, deciding to provide one full glass of a choice of four, to each person rather than smaller samples, oh well, Tash and I made sure we had different  champagnes (or Chandons, to be PC) and then swapped.

Next was Rockford wines for more tasting and lunch. Rockford wines apparently produced the worlds best Pinot Noir in 2006, and a Californian guy on the tour was very keen to try some (it wasn't included in the tasting as it was $80a bottle - about £50). He therefore kindly bought some for the group to taste. It was nice but not nicer than the other pinot noir they let us taste (the cheaper one). I didn't mention this!

We then went to a micro brewery for some beer and cider tasting, Tasha even tried the beers, athough she was wearing a 'this is disgusting' face most of the time. 

Next it was back to tasting wine at Coombe farm. If I am honest by this point  the wine was all tasting pretty similar to each other. The ladies at Coombe farm were very generous with their tasting samples and with the quantity of wine to taste (8!! different types). This didn't help the Californian guy who was clearly starting to feel the effects of the bottle of the worlds best Pinot noir that he had polished off.

Our final stop of the day was the chocolate factory, where I made sure I thoroughly sampled the white, milk and dark chocolate. These were served in chocolate drop form - huge bowls from which you could take spoonfuls at a time. (I made sure to recheck the samples were still ok "a couple" ie nine times per bowl).

Finally it was time to round off our last day in Melborne and head back to the appartment, via Carlton Park, Melbourne Musuem and the Old Gaol.

AUS Day 40 - Endless Dream

Another lie-in meant we found ourselves at Central Station around 10:00, attempting to buy a tram ticket. It turns out that to travel anywhere outside the free zone you have to buy the equivalent of an Oyster Card (called a MyKi Card) and top up. A bit annoying for visitors, here for literally a day or two, but we duly bought our cards and hopped onto the 96 to St. Kilda Beach.

Half an hour later and we were stood on the beach, looking one way down the coast towards Brighton, and the other way towards Melbourne city centre. We strolled along the fairly pleasant promenade towards Melbourne, watching the waves on the sand, as well as the many kite boarders enjoying the conditions. Once we reached the pier we walked along it, and at the end I was pleased to see a pelican! My only experience of a pelican is the one in Finding Nemo, so it was cool to see one (or in fact, three) in the flesh. They rally are big birds! And their beaks are quite long and a bit scary...

Having ogled the Pelicans and black swans for long enough, we left the pier and St. Kilda and walked across to the nearby Albert Park. I liked the park as it had a pretty lake and some grass. Peter liked it rather more as it is apparently an F1 race course. On our walk through we spotted the pit lanes and markings, as well as the start line. How exciting.

Albert Park led nicely through to the sturdy town war memorial, and that in turn led us along the road to Flinders Bridge and Federation square, where many people seemed to be enjoying playing African drums. We left the square for Hosier lane, which was covered in graffiti, but in an almost artistic way. This reminded me of a similar wall in Prague that we'd seen back in 2008...

All this walking made for a hungry pair so we one again headed to China town for lunch. This time we enjoyed a spicy fish dish and an apparently even spicer beef dish (it had *two* chillies on the menu).

On the way to our evening activity, I visited a Little Book Room to swap my book. My aunt gave me a book much earlier in the holiday, in Picton, and I've been swapping it ever since for some surprisingly good reads! This latest and likely last book is apparently about maths but does have a naked lady on the front cover which I didn't really notice until I'd chosen it as I only looked at the blurb on the back. I'm now a little worried about reading it in public...

Arriving at 180 Bourke Street, we were wondering how our evening would plan out - all we really knew is that we'd be paying someone to lock us in a room. We were briefed on arrival, stripped of our belongings, blindfolded and led into a dark "endless dream" room, with only a torch. Once inside, we ripped off our blindfolds and noticed the clock ticking down from 45 minutes. What followed was an hour spent solving clues to find a key and our way out! 

The OrzEscape experience was really fun overall. It took us an hour to escape in the end, and we did have a few hints, but apparently we'd still done well, especially for a two person group. You can have teams of up to six, and generally, the more the better...

AUS Day 39 - 1 for $1, 2 for $2 or 3 for $3

Back in Melbourne! We settled well into our studio apartment last night and enjoyed a pleasant sleep until late morning. The weather was looking a tad grey, but nevertheless we reacquainted ourselves with Melbourne CBD, wondering to the information point to suss out stuff to do. Since we left, the CBD has acquired a new free tram zone (rather than free circular tram) in the city centre - noted for future travels. The architecture and structural engineering around the city was certainly still as interesting as I remembered - each building seems to have its own character, and nothing has been forgotten.

Having collected information, we wondered back towards the Queen Victoria markets, which had various knivk knacks, as well as a thriving fruit and veg section, street food and deli items. We treated ourselves to some spicy lamb boreks for lunch, and then got enticed into buying some ridiculously cheap (but tasty!) strawberries, being advertised very loudly as "one punnet for $1, two punnets for $2 or three punnets for $3". Not sure the vendor had quite got the hang of economics of scale, but I was quite happy with my one punnet.

A nap beckoned in the afternoon; I seem to have been attacked by mosquitoes just before or on arrival into the city and many of the bites were swelling to huge discs, which was a bit grim. I figured at least if I were asleep I couldn't indulge in scratching them (wrong!). 

Feeling a little better, we set off in the evening in search of dinner. Our feet took us to Chinatown where we had a lovely meal of dumplings and ginger (haha) pork, followed by some cider back at the apartment.

AUS Day 38 - Great Ocean Road

We started the day with a trip to Maits Forest, which is a temperate rainforest. Although not particularly prevalent in mainland Australia, there are larger areas of these in Tasmania and New Zealand. Because of this, we were already very familiar with most of the bush growing there. New to us were the really tall Mountain Ash trees, which are the tallest flowering trees in the world. We also saw a black snail and listened to the cecadas - insects which make noise similar to rain hitting a conservatory roof.

Next we rejoined the Great Ocean Road, this time for the most notably scenic section. Twisting and winding our way along the coast, we enjoyed the stunning views. Our first stop was Apollo Bay, where we had a quick look at the rolling surf, and drank in the fresh (but pleasantly warm - fab weather) air. Further along the road was a small side street where koalas and king parrots were to be found. The parrots were vivid red and green, with the females having red heads, and the males green heads. I think Peter, with his red head, would leave them largely confused....

Lorne beach was our lunch stop, and after kangaroo-bolognese wraps, we headed straight for the crashing waves (yes I know, swimming straight after a meal etc etc but it was a small meal) and had a great time messing about in the water.

This was nearing the end of the Great Ocean Road for us. The road was built by ex-servicemen after WWI and was dedicated to those who had fallen, making it the longest war memorial in the world. A wooden arch marked the end of the road and had information about its construction, which took place at a very slow 3km per month.

AUS Day 36 - Waterfalls (with water) and a joey

We started the day by getting ready (in our dark but pleasant dorm) and awaiting pickup. It was time for our second Groovy Grape tour! This time our guide is called Altair, and originates from Kazakstan. Our fellow travellers include girls from Mexico and Finland (from the previous tours) and other travellers from Switzerland, Gernany and the UK. A slightly smaller group, we set off on the damp but civilised roads towards the Grampians.

On arrival, eight ours later, we did a short walk down some steps to the base of McKenzie Falls. These falls were impressive and it was a novelty to see a river with water in it! Next we went onto The Balconies lookout, where we saw a lake with water in it too! The lookout gave a hazy but atmospheric view over the Grampians, which are bushy to one side but quite bare on the other. This is due to the January 2014 bush fires, which tore across the face of the mountain towards the town of Halls Gap. Luckily, thanks to a mudslide three years earlier creating a barren strip above the town, the fire did not spread to the town, which we are staying in now.

On the outskirts of Halls Gap we found a group of wild kangaroos, and wandered over to have a closer look. These Kangaroos were Grey Southern ones, different to the red desert ones. Peering closely at one of the larger ones, I realised it had a joey in its pouch! The baby Kangaroo was poking its head and legs out, admiring the view. It even nibbled a bit of grass when its mother bent over to eat (although occasionally getting roughly shoved back into its pouch...). What an amazing sight to end the day with.

AUS Day 37 - Summit to Sea

A fairly late start had us ready to hike at 08:00. Our mission was a 4km return trail to The Pinnacle, one of the many summits in the Grampians. This took us first through the Grand Canyon, and then up through a cool and narrow 'tunnel' to the top. The summit was rocky and breezy, with views over the bush and of a man made lake in the distance. Once back down, we headed straight for the award-winning cultural centre, to learn a little more about aboriginal culture. Here we heard some locals playing the digeridoo too.

Lunch was had at Tower Hill - actually a 4 km diameter volcanic crater. Our lunch spot was pretty parkland with the luxury of a BBQ, which we used to cook sausages on. The park also boasted plenty of Emus, who were very interested in our BBQ. So much so that one of them managed to grab one for itself, straight of the hot plate! As I'd had my fill of sausages by then, I found this pretty funny. The best way to get rid of the emus was apparently to raise your hands in the air and run after them. I thought our guide was telling us this in order for us to look as stupid as possible, but it actually did seem the most effective way to get rid of them!

On the way to the loo I was excited to see a Koala. It looked very cuddly indeed, with grey fur and a really sweet face. Koalas have been known to slash open humans before - so however cuddly the look, don't cuddle one...

After lunch, we finally reached the ocean! Martyrs Bay was our first chance to stop and have a real look at the coastline, which boasted stunning cliffs, empty (closed) golden beaches and a rough but blue sea. The Grotto was next - a hole formed in a stack, giving a beautiful 'window' type view to the ocean and sky beyond. London Bridge was slightly different in character, formed from the water eroding through a cave in a longer stack, giving a bridge-type look.

We spent more time at Loch Ard Gorge. Many years ago, a ship was wrecked there, and two survivors managed to clamber their way out of this vast but spectacular gorge. I suppose it must have looked different in their day, but it would still have been quite a feat!

The Twelve Apostles are one of the main draws of the Great Ocean Road, and are a line of eight stacks of rock. There were originally nine stacks (odd, I would have thought from the name that there would be twelve!), but one collapsed into the sea a few years ago. We got a good view of the stacks from the lookout, before descending Gibsons steps to the beach to watch a cloudless sunset behind the most eastern apostle.

AUS Day 35 - Alligator Gorge

A massive lie in of 07:00 brought us yawning and breakfasted into the bus. For the first time we unhitched the trailer, as it was too heavy too be driven to our morning hike spot. We drove in the bus to Alligator Gorge, set fairly high up in Fliders Ranges national park. On the drive we saw many kangaroos and emus, both doing their characteristic runs across the fields. Our guide also picked a living a Stumpy-tailed lizard off the road in front of us. This lizard has a tail that looks exactly like its head - a protective characteristics to confuse Dingos.

The land here is more undulating and arable, making a change from the arid area North of Port Augusta. We hiked a 2km loop around and then through the deep but water-less (and thankfully alligator-less) gorge. Then we went onto a couple of lookouts, although with the clouds rolled over the mountains it was tricky to see much!

Our tour bus then went onto its final final destination: Adelaide. The city was much larger and more uptogether than I'd thought it would be. There are three main shopping and eating streets, along with a few green squares. We walked down Rundle Mall, one of the streets, and ate Indian food on the end of it. Whilst we were eating, the heavens opened and the streets cleared whilst Adelaide got a good soaking. Thankfully this passed by the time we had finished, so we made our way back to the youth hostel, wandering back down the street (and accidentally venturing a street too far and into the red light district - oops!).

AUS Day 34 - Road (t)rain

After the luxury of a 06:00 lie-in, we breakfasted in Coober Pedy and set off South. At this point we weren't really sure where we were going, as the bush fires in the surrounding area of Adelaide were threatening our plans. The aim of the day was to get to Flinders Range, where we would camp under the gun trees.

Some time beyond Coober Pedy we paused to take some photos of the road (yes, the road!) and whilst we were standing there, a large vehicle came past, creating quite a side-draft. On the Stuart Highway, we've seen many large vehicles called 'Road Trains', which are basically huge lorries with three or four trailers on the back, as opposed to the usual single trailers common in the UK. The next stop for us was at 'Lake Hart'. This turned out to currently be a very fly-infected salt lake. Huge, flat and eye-wateringly white, this certainly was a sight to behold.

Back on the the road, we were lucky enough to see some Emus crossing - they're pretty tall! I think they should work on their 'Stop, Look and Listen' skills though. We worked on our 'Stop' skills by breaking for lunch, which consisted of Kangaroo meat in wraps. These were nice but made me think about Lelani a little, which was weird.

After lunch I was thankful to be back in the bus, away from the horrid flies, who also appear to like Kangaroo. Unfortuantely, it takes just one fly to be an annoyance, as I discovered when one flew right up my nose. I happened to simultaneously sniff then choke, cough and deliver the fly into my hand. Wholly unpleasant to think that fly did the full circle through my airway!

Glad to have survived the fly incident (much to Peter's amusement - he's still giggling about it now - humph) I concentrated on staying awake and taking in the scenery. Although still quite flat and desert-like, the weather was setting up some interesting effects. In one direction some very black clouds and heavy rain loomed. These were preceded by a 'whirly-whirly', or 'dust funnel', which looked like a red column on the black cloud, and was basically a mini dust cyclone. We missed the whirly-whirly but did drive through a short patch of heavy rain and wind, which certainly made a change.

When we reached our campsite at the base of Flinders Ranges, it wasn't raining. However, storms were forecast so we were put up in what seemed like luxurious dorm cabins. This meant we needed to empty our belongings out of our rolled up swags in order to pack them up tomorrow. Admin done, we settled down to an evening of food, cider and chatting in the kitchen - a lovely corragated iron spot. We were also joined by the resident dog, Stone.

AUS Day 33 - Roo in the headlights

I 'awoke' at 03:15 for a quick shower, after which we rolled up our swags, loaded the trailer, and were gone well before 04:00. The sleep in the bus that followed was harshly punctuate by emergency stops, and the sight of Kangaroos or cows staring back from the middle of the road. Kangaroos have a rather erratic hop too, so it was difficult to predict whether they were going to then get more in the way, or hop away...

Breakfast was had at 07:00 at Kulgara, just north of the border. For me this consisted of a lot of cornflakes (I don't find them very filling) and trying to minimise fluid intake and hence the uncomfortable situation of needing the loo for chunks of our 9 hour drive today! More awake now, I saw a Dingo fence, which is apparently the longest man-made structure, and built to keep Dingos out of Southern Australia. In SA, sheep farming is more common than cattle farming, and sheep and Dingos do not mix...

The border came soon after, and we briefly hopped out to admire the white line and change our non-existent watches forward an hour. Driving into South Australia, we covered the remaining distance to Coober Pedy. On the approach to the town, I noticed lots of odd looking conical mounds of loose material. As we got closer, these areas were marked as 'Opal Mines', Coober Pedy being one of four major opal mining areas in Australia.

Eager to learn more, when we arrived in Coober Pedy we went into one of the now disused town mines. This is now a museum, and a short film told us how opal was formed from silicates and water remaining from the sea that used to cover the Australian interior. We also learned about different types of opal - from the non-precious white 'potch', to glistening coloured stones worth thousands of dollars.

The museum itself was attached to a 'dug-out', which is a dwelling dug out of the rock using small tunnelling machines an shaft borers. These dugouts maintain a comfy 20-25 degrees all year round and are therefore the homes of choice for locals. Indeed that night we stayed in a dorm dug-out, providing me with my best night's sleep since Alice Springs!

Before bed though, we wondered up to the lookout to take in what could be seen of the underground town. A lot of strange looking machinery was parked up as well as all the usual amenities such as a bar, which we went to later. 

Something less normal was the Kangaroo Sanctuary we then visited. Here, a lovely couple take in injured animals (mainly brought to them from the roadside) and treat and look after them. Once healthy, the animals are distributed amongst other centres and homes, although if too badly injured they may remain in the centre as permenant residents. We met three of the permenant residents, some very friendly Kangaroos. All about six years old, and of the red variety, these kangaroos hopped about in the garden, enjoying our food offerings, and cooling themselves by licking their 'arms'. Finally, we got to meet Lelani, a baby kangaroo. Lelani is currently living in an artificial pouch, but we watched her being fed (lactose-free) milk from a bottle, then take a few wobbly hops, before being put to bed. She really was incredibly cute and soft.

AUS Day 32 - Thirty-six boulders

05:00 started our day - with a hasty walk (chair in hand) up to the lookout to catch sunrise over Ayers Rock. It looked great, and made me look forward to watching the sunrise later (and also look forward to breakfast). Breakfast was a great combination of cereal, bacon, eggs and bread, and this was to last us through our trip to Kata Tjuta.

Kata Tjuta is the collection of rocks over which we'd watched the sunset last night. It's tallest boulder is taller than Uluru, at over 500 m. Still red, the rock is a little more vegetated which adds variety. Our track took us through a few o the boulders, then round in a loop of part of the outside. The track involved walking over many loose red boulders, which was challenging but fun. The lookout gave views out from between two boulders which was cool too.

Peter saw Euro-wallaby.

Lunch back at the campsite consisted of cold meat and salad, perfect for the conditions. Which thankfully have cooled down to a breezy and cloudy 30-35 degrees - yay!

After lunch we had 'chill time' for a couple of hours. This has never happened for us before so I was a little puzzled as to what to do. I decided to go for a quick dip and then read a little of my John Grisham book, which I'd book swapped for in Alice Springs.

All too soon, we were back on the bus and off to the cultural centre. Here I learned about the aboriginal myths surrounding Uluru and Kata Tjuta. The information also helped explain some of the cave paintings we saw yesterday. There was also a really interesting film about the history of the rock and the surrounding land. This showed how the land had been taken by the white men to form a National Park, and was only given back to the aboriginal people in the 80s. They then leased it back to the National Park Authority. A short cultural walk followed, where we saw more caves in the rock, as well as waterholes and another set of paintings, which were used by the aboriginals for teaching.

Almost time for sunset, we settled ourselves on stools in a viewing area, with cider (for me, Peter is feeling a bit meh) and nibbles. The sunset was pretty well non-existent due to the cloud and welcome rain showers, but we had a fun time socialising and taking photos anyway.

We returned to camp for dinner of spag bol, and an early bedtime. I arranged my swag outside as per yesterday night, and actually slept for a couple of hours! This was soon thwarted by rain, which awoke me to a necessary loo trip, after which I moved my swag undercover. Here I enjoyed the breeze that came with the storm, but didn't manage any more sleep. I was more successful at big swatting though, not picking up a single new bite all night - win. I reckon I've been bitten by a spider on my leg as there is a double bite mark. Peter also saw a candidate spider lurking around in the evening.

AUS Day 31 - Close-up of the rock

At the sociable time of 04:00 (I wasn't asleep anyway, so was grateful for this) we got up, breakfasted and retraced our steps to Kings Canyon. This time, because it was before 09:00, we knew we'd be able to do the rim walk whatever the weather.

The walk began with maybe a couple of hundred red rocky steps (a breeze after our 2000-step marathon last week) up to the rim of the almost crater-like canyon. There are actually two main canyon, one frequented by aboriginal men, and one by the women.

Continuing onwards we went down into a canyon and found a large waterhole, where the large water reflected the red rock sides, now lit up by the sun. A quick snack later and we were climbing the steps up the other side to a stunning plateau area. This plateau was rather 'bobbly' in texture, with the weather having eroded initial cracks in the rock formation structure.

We spent a couple of hours wandering the plateau, looking at fossilised jellyfish and sand ripples. At all times we made sure to keep away from the edge of the 'cliffs' as the rock is extremely week, evidence by the large sections of the rock face that had sheared off.

Leaving the Canyon after our 3 hour, 4 mile walk, we returned to the campsite. I was surprised to find that it was only 08:30, especially as we were then fed a second breakfast of leftover thai green curry! This eaten, we clambered back into the bus, swags in tow, and made the  4 hour journey to Yulara.

Yulara is the nearest town to Uluru, or Ayers Rock, which is apparently the busiest national park in Australia. By the time we arrived we'd seen a fair wild Australian animals, both from the bus and from the trails. These included Dingos, dragon lizards and a huge wedge-tailed eagle (wingspan up to 2.75 m!).

Once at the rock, we were dropped off at its base and warned of the dangers of climbing (35 had died trying) and let loose on a 6-mile walk that almost circumnavigated the entire rock. Temperature: 38 degrees. Sun: strong. Shade: none. Rock: an incredibly impressive 350 m high (taller than the Eiffel Tower!).

Hiking around the base definitely demonstrates the sheer scale of the rock. It was a dusty red, with a mottled, scaly type surface. Huge chunks had fallen off giving it some lip-shaped scars. En route we stopped at a waterhole, which I guess at some times is fed by a waterfall off the rock. The peacefulness of this spot was slightly marred by a mild dust storm that threw itself up at this moment. However, the cloud of dust passed quickly with some strong winds, and we were soon back to admiring the rock on the home leg of the journey.

At the Mala car park we refreshed ourselves whilst waiting for the others, then made our way onto the bus and back to the campsite. Here I took a dip in the pool and then watched the sun set on the horizon, before a delicious dinner of BBQed meat and salad. After that, my swag awaited...

AUS Day 30 - Groovy Graping through the outback

Wistfully leaving our air conditioned backpackers spot, we were picked up in a timely fashion by Dan, our Groovy Grape tour guide. With first pick of seats on the bus, we picked the pair directly behind the driver (for legroom and the tinted windows - the floor gets pretty hot from the engine though!) and wrote our names and country of origin on the window.

We were soon joined by 19 others from around the world, with countries of origin including Finland, USA, Australia, Belgium, Switzerland, Mexico, UK and Germany. Introducing ourselves we found that a third of us were engineers, with a few teachers in the mix too.

We set off on our tour and the first stop was a camel farm. Here Peter and I had a short camel ride, which was quite comfy until the camels started running, at which point I became glad I am not a boy... My camel was golden brown and called Cirly, and Peter's was white and called Sparky. Curly occasionally tried to kick me off and sat down rather violently, Sparky seemed a little more docile.

Kings Creek station was next on the agenda, and this is where we were to camp for the night. A dusty spot, we had our own lean-to shelter, with a plug socket (which soon got very overloaded), fridge and hobs. We unloaded the trailer and had a quick lunch of wraps and the like before driving onto our destination of Kings Canyon. Here, we found that due to the heat, the main rim walk was closed. It appears that in the area, if the weather is forecast to be above 36 degrees, exposed tracks are closed by Rangers, for safety. For this reason, we found ourselves on the low level Kongs Creek track, which was a short walk leading us up one side of the gorge to a viewing point where we were surrounded by the red sides of the canyon.

Having enjoyed this walk (in spite of the large number of very annoying flies - I errored and wore black, which they like!) we returned to the amosite for a quick dip before dinner. The cool water was extremely welcome and that was probably the most comfy I felt all day.

Dinner was a green thai curry, which although not very cooling, was delicious. After dinner we learned how to use our swags, which are like big canvas sleeping bags with a thin sponge mattress inside. After watching a demonstration, we retired to our own swags for the night. The swags were nice and roomy, but just far too hot! I soon ditched my sleeping bag but still struggled to sleep in 30+ degrees in my black cocoon. I reckon in winter these would be lovely and cosy...

AUS Day 29 - Hot Springs

The morning news reads "Shark ruins perfect day at Bondi Beach". Turns out it was a Bull shark, spotted 200 m from the shore. It had been lulled there by a bait ball of small fish, and was trying to trap these against the shore - scaring a fair few swimmers in the process. The shark alarm must've gone off just before we got to the beach.

Breaking news: Jandals are thongs! (Or flip flops as we know them...)

Today was my dever domestic flight! It was weird being able to take as much liquid as I wanted onto the flight. The Quantas plane was great though, I squashed two films into the three hour flight and made a big mess of a chicken and leek pie, which was nice but basically purée inside and impossible to eat!

Taking my jumper off to exit the plane (the air conditioning was pretty fierce) I walked down the stairs into 35 degree heat. A cloudy and apparently cool day in Alice Springs. The town itself seems fairly small and residential. We got a good tour of it, being almost last to be dropped off from the airport, and saw an interesting mix of generally white tourists and local aboriginal people wandering the streets.

The streets themselves were warm, and the town is split by a 'river' (pictured below) which was more like a red-desert type sand - no sign of any water. Just looking at it made me thirsty!

AUS Day 28 - Shark!

Making it to the ferry station (10 mins walk) this morning and realising we had a half hour wait (we do have a timetable, but we didn't look - lesson learned), we nipped into The Baker's Oven for some tasty pastries for breakfast. These were eaten on the beach next to the wharf, which is apparently frequented by 30 or so penguins! Although if I were a penguin, I'd be headed to Abel Tasman, or somewhere pretty, rather than te seaside town of Manly.

After the ferry journey, during which the sun came out in all its glory and the sun cream went on (15 on legs and arms, 50+ on the face..), we made the smooth transition to the 374 bus service. This wound around Sydney for a while, before going pretty directly to Coogee Beach, where we disembarked. 

Coogee Beach is a sandy beach, with rolling waves and cliffs either side. The next beach at Clovelly was more of a rocky cove, with a surprising number of boats pulled up for its small size! There were paddle boarders enjoying the water within the cove. 

We continued our cliff top walk (along with a fair few others) to Bronte Beach, which is where a number of surfers could be found. Sitting on the rocks on the cliff, we watched them catch (or fail to catch) waves or a while, before strolling on to Bondi Beach - the most famous of the area's beaches.

Apart from it being huge, golden, and quite busy, the main thing that struck me about Bondi Beach was that no one was actually swimming. Odd I thought, given the sea just around the headland was full of surfers, and the water temperature was advertised as a positively tropical 21 degrees... We carried on around to meet the beach, pointing out the three helicopters hovering above, which were soon joined by a fourth. When we reached the beach we were greeted by a lifeguard with a loud speaker, saying "The sea is closed, we are doing our best to remediate the situation". What we gathered from that, the numerous news cameras, four helicopters and a vacant sea was that a shark had been spotted in the bay! I had a quick scout for a tell-tale fin, but no luck. 

Glad that we hadn't fancied a swim anyway (due to the large salt intake from the Olympic Pool yesterday) we hopped onto the 380 bus and took ourselves to the shops near Bondi Junction rail station. This proved convenient for travel as we then took one of the swish double decker trains the rest of the way into the city centre - certainly preferable to the rather busy bus!

Back in the city our stomachs took us straight to Chinatown where we ate ramen and udon. On the way back to the quay from Darling Habour we took in the sights of the city, including the Sydney Tower. The quay itself had been dominated by a cruise ship, which really changed the look and feel of the harbour.

At our hotel we treated ourselves to a Coles dinner, consisting of cheese and bacon rolls and some bargain Pfeffernüsse. These are delicious, and unlike other things ginger, seem very resistant to the sun and heat! I can't say the same of the last KitKat chunky, which hasn't been a solid since leaving New Zealand...

AUS Day 27 - Would you like to put your thongs on right now?

This morning we awoke exactly at UK New Year - 11am. Another beautiful day in Sydney, we decided to head into town as soon as we were ready, having a small breakfast as it was basically lunchtime!

The ferry that would take us across came into the wharf crowded with people. Manly appears to be a popular bank holiday destination, so we were glad that we were going against the flow of the crowds. We nabbed a spot right on the bow of the boat and enjoyed the breeze on the way over.

Once in town, we headed north west out of the quay towards harbour bridge. This took us to The Rocks, where there are some nice shops and cafes, from which we first procured a steak sandwich for lunch. Next I went into a shop and picked some flip-flops, as I'd managed to leave my old ones at a triathlon a while ago and could do with some more. When I took them to the till, the guy asked me "Would you like me to take the label off so you can put your thongs on now?". Thankfully I took a while to process this odd sentence, so rather than an "*Excuse* me?!?" he got a blank and slightly confused look...

Thong incident averted, we carried on towards Harbour Bridge, and went up the steps onto it. The bridge was an amazing feat of construction - more rivets than I've ever seen on one structure! The view of the Opera House was pretty good too!

By the time we'd crossed we fancied a dip, so we headed to the North Sydney Olympic swimming pool. The water looked blue and inviting, and the swimming lanes not too busy. We paid to go in, changed, and I then plonked myself in the deep end. Bleurgh!! The water was salty! A great temperature, but truly horrid to taste. 1300 m later an is demonstrated how good my swimming position can be with added buoyancy (it was as good as wearing a wetsuit) but also how much water goes into my mouth whilst swimming...

Thankfully the showers were fresh, so feeling revived we wandered back over Harbour Bridge and this time went easy from the quay to Mrs Macquires' Point. Here we found the botanical gardens and remnants of the previous night. We decided our view was better, although where you could see through all the trees the glimpses of the Opera House framed by the bridge were good. We then went on to the Opera House, admiring its tiled curves and splendid setting, before catching the ferry back to Manly (again pleased that the masses were headed the opposite way).

In Manly, we sourced a tasty Thai/Vietnamese place for dinner and then strolled along the beach, watching the surfers and reading pictorial signs on surfing etiquette. There was also a sign saying "Rowers wanted - surf or stillwater, experience preferred - male or female aged 18 - 35", evidently it's a transferable skill to have.