Hello to all you lovely people, I’m Matt #fragilextraveller and with the help of my Mum & Nan I have been on an amazing holiday to Australia, you may have seen our Instagram posts @fragilexmum. I have been planning this trip since 2010 when I turned 21, I have just turned 30 so I’m getting on a bit! Check out all the blue and red pins in my map these are all the places I have visited!
11th February
Arrive in Melbourne. Get a taxi from the airport all that way and the first road sign I see is Sunbury! I live in Sunbury in England!
12th February
City Sightseeing Melbourne on The Hop On Hop Off Red Bus.
Disaster they cut buses and left us stranded for two hours waiting at St Kilda Beach I was very angry! I did get to see where the Melbourne Grand Prix is held at Albert Park, they were setting up so that was a bonus!
13th February
Neighbours Tour, I loved this we went to see Ramsey Street (it’s really called Pin Oak Ct) and Fitzgerald Motors and Amy’s Yard I even saw Money Bags (Stefan Denis AKA Paul Robinson) coming out of the school! In the evening we got a taxi to St Kilda Pier and saw penguins in the wild, Mum loves penguins so it was a dream come true for her.
14th February
Fly to Cairns I took a photo of the Great Barrier Reef from the plane it’s very hot, so we had a lazy day and went for a walk. Looking cool in my sunglasses!
15th February
Reef Magic Cruise Boat to the Great Barrier Reef, we went on a submarine and a glass bottom boat then after lunch I persuaded Mum to try snorkelling, she was very scared, we have never done this before but the supervisor showed us what to do Mum was very good and she loved it, I couldn’t do it the snorkel made me gag so I just wore the mask and swam under water. I saw lots of pretty coloured fish and coral shame I didn’t have an underwater camera!
16th February
Skyrail to Kuranda Village. We went for miles across the rain forest in a cable car it was very high, but the views were brilliant, looked a bit like I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!!!
We went to the zoo and learnt about Koala conservation I even cuddled a Koala!
In Kuranda village we looked in lots of shops and in one of them they sell opals, I met a kind chap who told me how they cut the opals from the rock and polish them and make pretty jewellery.
17th February
Fly to Uluru had three seats to myself on this flight brilliant! Lazy day by the pool sunbathing it was over 40°C so most of the time I was in the pool as it was so hot! But the flies made me very cross! This was the worst place ever we had to wear nets to cover our faces, they crawled in our mouths, nose and ears it was DISGUSTING!!!!
18th February
Up at 4am (too early) to watch sunrise at Uluru, the rock changed colour it was very special. Did a 3km bushwalk and learnt about the Aboriginal people, what they ate, all about boomerangs and didgeridoos. I saw a worm outside the restaurant, everyone panicked and shouted at us to stay back! Turns out that was no worm but a baby Brown Snake! Very poisonous, a Bush Ranger came to rescue it, he put it in a sack and took it away. Out in the evening to see the stars the moon was enormous!
19th February
Fly to Sydney I had three seats to myself again!!! Arrive at the hotel and there is a power cut!
20th February
Out and About on Public Transport. We went to Bondi Beach and 123 Hargrave Street Paddington and saw the house my Great Nan grew up in, Mum got a bit emotional.
Walking back to the hotel we passed Nigella Lawson the Chef! I wasn’t brave enough to ask for a selfie, but Mum checked it out and she was in Sydney! Fire alarm went off at 12.30am had to evacuate the Hotel I was very worried, but the Firefighters were there quickly and gave the all clear.
21st February
We climbed Sydney Harbour Bridge, this was fantastic you could see for miles and did you know three people died while building the bridge which was amazing as Health & Safety wasn’t good like today!
22nd February
Back out on the bus to Coogee Beach, beautiful place, this is where my Great Nan came to play as a child and we then did some souvenir shopping I bought lots of magnets for my board at home.
23rd February
Tour to the Blue Mountains, up early again! We went on a train that was almost vertical down the hill! We saw some rocks called The Three Sisters and went to another zoo and fed some Kangaroos they like being scratched behind the ears!
24th February
Our last day another early morning, we went to see the Opera House at Circular Quay, we also waved at the paddlers who were raising money for Fragile X Australia, they couldn’t see us as we were too far away!
25th February
The long flight home!!