ATHENS TO THE AFRICAN SUB-CONTINENT OF MOROCCO

WEATHER: Athens cool at 4am / Istanbul Hot and 27C / Casablanca Hot and 29C

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Bag passing check-in weight

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Leaving Europe, well for 2 weeks anyway

BUYS OF THE DAY: 1.50AUD for a mini beer in Casablanca

WORD OF THE DAY: Yowch my leg hurts

Good-bye to Europe today after 78 days it’s time to get some culture shock – I am off to the sub-continent of AFRICA.

It was an early start this morning.  Up at 3am and we had a taxi pick Kaitlin and I up at 4am!  I was still a little out of sorts with the drink-a-thon in Ios.  I seriously cannot think of another alcoholic drink at the moment, and I am pretty safe to say I am not expecting Morocco to have a lot of drinking.  Well I’m hoping not anyway.

Athens airport is a fair distance from the beach, and as we were super early travellers, there was an additional surcharge.  Lucky there was the 2 of us as the cost came to 54EUR, getting to the hotel 14 days ago was only 38EUR.  There were so many people still around at this time.  The clubs looked like they were still busy, the airport had most of it food outlets and shops open at 4.30am – it was still a jiving city for the time – do these people never sleep.

We got Kaitlin checked in – her flight left 35 minutes prior to mine.  My counter didn’t open till right on the 2 hour prior, so Kaitlin said she better get through security and that she would see me on the other side.  Little did we know she was leaving from a B gate and I was leaving from an A gate, so we didn’t get to say our final good-bye to each other.  I hate them anyway, so it could have been a blessing in disguise, and I mean that in the nicest way K.

I waited in line, with the compulsory smile, plopped my ‘I know now I am definitely overweight bag’ on the scales and I couldn’t believe my eyes when it came up 17.8kg!  Now I know that is wrong, straight up, and the bag was on the scales properly, but she just moved the bag along, tagged it and it was now on its way to the African Sub continent!  Woo Hoo.  It wasn’t a good pack last night.  I have nothing extra since my last flight, literally nothing except 3 magnets but it all just packed wrong and I was lucky to get zips done up.  Stuff it, I’ll fix it all when I get to Morocco – I am still so tired.

Athens Airport has free internet terminals throughout the airport which is pretty cool, and free Wi-Fi but you still have to pay 1EUR for the trolleys – go figure.  I went through security here, no dramas and my 1 hour 20 flight from Athens to Istanbul was uneventful.  I flew Turkish Airlines and even for such a short flight we got served a mini Greek salad, a roll and some crackers with cheese.  We literally only had around 20 minutes to eat it all before they were coming back around so they could get ready for landing.  It was a 737-800 aircraft 3x3 seats and they seemed roomy enough and plenty of baggage space.

My transfer time in Istanbul was 1hour and 10 minutes.  So not really that long and I knew that I couldn’t dilly dally.  Thank goodness my bag was checked all the way through, so it was just a matter of walking the 10km to get to the boarding pass security, to get you to the duty free and gates, to then get to baggage security, where I need to add my scissors were finally confiscated here.  So they made it through 13 airports and Istanbul got the better of them, damn it.  I was standing at this security check handing over my scissors, when I head a last boarding call for my flight!  Crap, I wasn’t that late, but the problem was it was a bus transfer to the plane, we weren’t leaving from a proper gate, so I had to haul arse to get all my stuff back in my bag and to the bus doors all full of apologies.  Well the bus ended up with way more people after me, they were just making the final call to get people moving.  Once we were driven to the plane and I boarded, it was still flippin empty and we sat there for another 40 minutes as the busses pulled up to drop people off, sneaky devils!

Once again I flew Turkish Airlines and they operate a larger aircraft an A340-300 with a seat configuration of 2x4x2 and the plane seemed fairly new.  It also has in seat TV’s with on demand movies and games etc….. This is the first time I have had this since my first flight 12 planes ago on Qantas leaving Australia.  This flight was 4 hours 20 minutes, and even with the TV I tried to sleep most of the way, but my leg was so sore and kept throbbing as well as my elbow, it was hard to get comfortable the whole flight.  I really am in a lot of pain.  It stings like hell.

We arrived into Casablanca 30 minutes late, and the customs line took forever.  I find that the Arabic countries seem to take forever; I remember in Dubai once it took nearly 2 hours to get through, they are in no rush.  I had a transfer pre-booked for here and when I came out of immigration I could not see my name anywhere.  So I scooted out, did 2 laps craning to see the signs and trying to work out what my game plan would be and this fellow tapped me on the shoulder and scared the bejesus out of me asking if I was Bernice Jamieson.  Thank-goodness – where the hell have you been?

Welcome to Casablanca!!!!  After walking out of the terminal we had to walk to the car that was literally 10 minutes away.  Thank-goodness Casablanca supply free trolleys and the sun was high in the sky and I rekon it was around 31C.  Cool – I am thinking I will still be able to get some sun and work on my tan for the next 14 days! 

The drive took around 30 minutes and our hotel was in downtown not too far from the beach.  I am not sure what I expected Casablanca to look like, it was a Sunday, so most of the shops were closed, but it looked dirty, run down and messy.  The buildings seem to be in some bad shape and it just didn’t seem to have a good vibe.   I am thinking I am glad I only have one night here.  The trouble also being it is an Arabic country, so there are definitely more men than women on the streets and especially in the cafes.  All the men sit outside smoking and drinking tea – Paris style with the seats facing front on the footpath.  60% of the population speaks French, Arabic is the official language and throw in some Berber, and you just don’t know what language to use when saying please and thank-you.  My Spanish has still stuck – so I I’m just throwing it out there and using that for a while.  Gracias and Si seem to be working out okay for me.

I turned back time coming into Morocco – 3 hours behind Greece, so winding back my watch and resetting my mobile, after I got to the hotel and used Wi-Fi to upload Ios pictures I decided to have a nana nap.  My room phone rang at 5.15pm (according to my watch) asking where I was as the arrival meeting had started!  I had set my clocks wrong and hadn’t wound them back enough – CRAP, so I grabbed my vouchers, passport and insurance details and rocked up to the meeting looking like I had just woken up – which I literally just had.  Great start Bernie J

We have a group of 10 plus our tour guide Issam.  As most tours, he ran through what to expect, what to pay for things, transport, taking pictures of people and things etc.  Beside tomorrow and the last journey into Marrakech we will have our own minivan so I will be able to store my winter stuff in the van and just hope it doesn’t get stolen.  So tomorrow, I am going to have the backpack, front pack, side bag and handbag to carry onto 2 trains and 2 stops.  I still look like an idiot, but I still need all my stuff.

So tomorrow we depart Casablanca for Meknes with half a day in Rabat.  Welcome to Morocco and the sub-continent of Africa.

GOOD-BYE TO MY GREEK CONTIKI-ERS AND MY GREEK POSSE

WEATHER: Hot and 32C

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: I am alive

BUMMER OF THE DAY: I am alive – some-one shoot me

BUYS OF THE DAY: My 5L of water I drank to try and rehydrate myself

WORD OF THE DAY: HANGOVER (please don’t shout)

Unofficial Day song – Time of My Life – Black Eyed Peas – no coach meant no song, but the Greek Posse decided on one

To quote Bree “ F#@k My Life.  I woke at 11am to the sound of my room phone ringing with Dee on the other end telling me I had 30 minutes to get all my shit together and out of the room.  We had a departure meeting at 11.30am, but more importantly we had to have our bags on the bus, that would be taking us to the port that afternoon.  The meeting I was happy to miss, having to get my bag down to Far Out later just did not appeal, and so I soldiered on and got my hungover body out of bed.  It is at this time I noticed the pain in my knee and arms, to look and see a massive gravel wound of about 5cm x 6cm on my left knee, gravel rash damage to my left elbow, a bruise on my right leg the size of a grape fruit, a sore toe (felt like it was broken till I sobered more), grazes on both shins, a small mark on my forehead, some cuts on my left foot toes and a small egg on my head.  WTF happened last night??  It is at this point the Dannii comes to my room to make sure I am up, and helps me pack my bag, and gets it to the bus for me ( that’s my Dancer ), so I just had to pack the small backpack and get myself to the pool.  Trust me this was such a struggle and I was feeling like shit.

Ed went through the post tour stuff, stalker sheets, group photo, tipping and the final details for the rest of the day etc. and then the group all jumped on the coach to spend their last hours at Far Out and the beach.  Lisa and I decided to stay at the hotel, where she sat on Skype for a few hours and I pulled up a piece of the balcony and slept till it was time to get us down to the coach.  At this point I haven’t eaten anything since last night, and I didn’t feel like eating anything then either.  I really was on STRUGGLE ST still.  We had a 4pm ferry departure back to Athens, the travel time 3 hours and 30 minutes and there were a few times, where I thought I would have to make a run for the toilets.  I guess this is where the no eating was a positive, I had nothing to chuck up – that’s how it works right?  I was now onto the water though, and I drank 2L just on the ferry.

We checked back into our Athens hotel and decided to not stop and head straight for dinner.  The whole bus looked like zombies.  The Greek Posse headed across the road to save some time, and the service was slower than the slow boat to China, so by the time we got it and paid for it, it was time to meet the group for our final farewells on the rooftop of where we were staying at 10pm.  This was a MASSIVE effort, as I was STILL feeling ordinary – maybe it was something I ate – Ha right!  I managed to hold out till 11pm and then I just had to hit the sack.  I still had to collect my luggage I had stored at the hotel and get my bag packed for airline travel.  I fluffed in my room, not getting much done, so I decided to leave it all and just get up earlier in the morning and pack it then.  I needed sleep.  This was good in theory till I went to lay down and due to my injuries, I couldn’t find a confortable spot without some pain.  I did have some antiseptic cream in my bag, so I lathered this on my knee and elbow and I think it made it worse, so I had to get up and wash the stuff off.  By this time it is 1am, and I had my alarm set for 3am!

I am a hugger, and I hate good-byes – but I know with my Greek Posse we will meet up again next year when I am home.  I will be seeing Breezer in London in July, and the girls in Newcastle, WA and Melbourne for sure next year when I get back.  We are already talking of another trip, whether it is Asia or a cruise, but I just know it will happen.  I am very lucky to have met you girls, you made my last 4 weeks (Kasey and Danni the last 2) the best experience for me, and I am not sure I would have had such a great time if not for you!  I love you guys and you really did become family, in the true sense from looking after me when I’d too much to drink, laughing with me in the good times, and me being there for you in the sad times.  That’s the way we rolled and you truly will never be forgotten.

A special shout out also goes to ED.  For being a pretty patient person in my drunken state and still talking to me the next day.  A few places, Paradise Beach, Tropical in Santorini and then the last night in Ios.  Hopefully you have seen worse drunks than me, if not I hope at least I was entertaining.  Thanks also for the chicken pie and helping Danni get me home in Ios.  All the best and I hope we can catch up again one day.

So this is farewell Greece and also Europe. Off to Morocco tomorrow and the African Sub-continent to get some rest and relaxation on the drinking front at least, as we have a pretty hectic 14 days on this Intrepid tour.  But there are new people to meet and new places to explore. 

CONTIKI GREEK ISLANDS 2011 – in no particular order………

Bree – Australia

Tiarna -  Australia

Kelei – Australia

Carly – Australia

Jess aka: Trouble – Australia

Suzanne – Canada

Jess S – Australia

Anneliese – Australia

Sophia

Danielle

Kasia

Tanea – Australia

Paulo – Australia

Averil –

Ashlee – Australia

Katie – Australia

Aimee – Australia

Merry

Kasey – Australia

Jennifer – USA

Kaitlin aka Sexy – Australia

Dee aka Responsible – Australia

Jaden – Australia

Lisa aka Angel – Australia

Courtney – Australia

Kristina – Australia

John – USA

Nicole – USA

Marylynn – USA

Jessica – USA

Jeff – USA

Sam – Australia

Jess – Australia

Danielle aka Dancer – Australia

THE IOS DRINKFEST CONTINUES

WEATHER: Hot and 31C

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Sailing around Ios on a Pirate ship

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Not eating any food all day – but kept the liquids up

BUYS OF THE DAY: My 5EUR beers that kept getting handed to me as I swam in the Agean Sea

WORD OF THE DAY: How brown do I look?

Well after getting home smashed at 4am, I had to be up at reception at 10am for our pirate ship boat cruise.  I have to say that I think I was still drunk, so no time for breakfast just a quick shower and down to the port. 

The pirate ship was pretty cool.  It was an old rigged tall sail ship that, motored out to a swim spot and then a secluded lunch spot before bringing us back to the mainland.  As I was still a little drunk, why stop drinking, we are in Ios after all, so even though I skipped breakfast, I started on the beers.  It was midday somewhere in the world right? 

The details on the timings etc are only a guess-timation, as I had no idea what time we pulled up for the swim spot or what time we actually arrived at the beach either.  I do remember saying to Ed that I just don’t swim in the ocean ( you know BIG MASSIVE man eating sharks live there ) and he said well you will have a long wait as we are going to be here for a few hours and we had to swim into shore as it was literally a secluded beach with a tarp erected for some shade.  Crap.. Okay, so I jumped in the water with every intention of getting out at the beach, but the water was so cool, and blue and inviting I thought I would stay in a while longer – yep Miss I Don’t Swim in the Ocean gal.  Well that little while longer turned out to be 3.5 hours I believe!  I didn’t leave the ocean once, not for lunch or another drink, as the guys on the boat were more than happy to keep feeding me beer from the side of the boat when I had an empty!  Now how is that for service! So I just lolled and swam and drank my beers in the Agean Sea all afternoon!  I had on no sunscreen at all – but once I get some colour to my skin, I will generally start to brown – but too bad anyways as I would have re-applied.  AND guess what – no man eating shark came for me either!

We headed home just after 4pm – and I went straight to bed to get 3 hours sleep, before we headed back into Ios town for our final dinner and a few more drinks.  Can one ever hasve too many drinks.  I do believe the answer to that is yes and we will soon find out.

Ed does the final dinner in Ios on our second last night, as generally everyone is buggered when you get back to Athens and it’s also cheaper.  So our last party night together as a family and the Greek Posse.  I’m going to miss you guys – but lets have a great night tonight before we even think about our good-byes.  The drinks at the dinner were 2 for 6EUR – why does it always have to be so cheap?  We then headed back to the Fun Bar – where I did promise the group if I made the 10,000 hits on the blog OI would shout them all a shot.  So I ordered 7 Canabis shots for 21EUR and also got a free t-shirt for my troubles.  Starting a night with shots can’t be good can it.  We also had a jelly shot here aswell.  Bad bad move I hear you say!  I was getting over the cocktails a little, so bacvk to the free piur vodka and cokes for me – man I have missed you.

We went bar hopping again and visited about another 5 bars.  Some were busy, some we had to make our own fun, but one worth the mention and I don’t have the name of it, they were offering 1EUR shots!  Now is that INSANE or what?  Can’t let an offer like that go past – right?

Well the same as last night, my memory of things went downhill rapidly.  I did fall over earlier in the night, but no major damage was done at this point, I just hurt my toe.  Ios town reminds me a little of Dubrovnik, where there are stone steps and little alley ways everywhere.  So it is hard enough sober to negotiate, let alone a few drinks under ones belt.  I know I never stopped having a drink in my hand, I was hassling Ed, as I always seem to do calling him shifty and Superman, telling the girls that I was ready to go home – NOT, and after every photo asking them all ‘how brown do I look?  You know it’s one of those jokes you keep telling people when your drunk and it gets funnier the more you drink – that was me – but I WAS funny…. Hey girls xx

Well Lisa was able to hand the reigns of getting me home to Danni tonight, with some help from Ed.

Apparently we had a chicken pie ( thanks Ed ) and we were just nearing the taxi rank, when I stacked it down 3 stairs and there was blood everywhere ( well according to a drunk Bernie ).  We caught the 5EUR taxi home, where Danni attempted to clean me up and appease me that I didn’t  have ‘blood everywhere’ with once again help from Ed.  At this point I think it was around 5am!  God I am embarrassing sometimes – but according to everyone I am a good drunk – so at least people get a good laugh right!? A few door knocks later, my neighbours mentioning hearing a loud crash after the clean up on my own, I settled into my drunken stupor!!!

Some of the other posse got in after me and they were doing body shots apparently.  Well this body aint madefor that and I am glad I didn’t get in on that action.

Ios I am enjoying our time together – but if I don’t leave soon – I’m not sure how much more I can take / drink. 

THE PARTY ISLAND OF IOS – YES IT IS

WEATHER: Hot and 31C

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Sitting on a white sand beach with a cold beer in my hand

BUMMER OF THE DAY: We only get 2 nights on Ios

BUYS OF THE DAY: 5EUR vodka and cokes

WORD OF THE DAY: We’re in Ios baby!!!

We headed to our last island today – the party island of Ios.  How party can it be?  I mean really, cheap drinks?  Sun and Surf, great clubs, cheap drinks, great clubs and more cheap drinks….  I mean come-on – lets see what all the hype is about.

Our ferry left at 8.50am this morning.  It was free seating, so it’s the first ferry where you could just sit anywhere for the 1.5 hour journey from Santorini to Ios.  So needless to say, we all spread out and a lot of people caught up on some needed sleep, as mentioned we are going to need our energy for some serious drinking on Ios.

We arrive into Ios, and we ALL get off the ferry to have 2 buses waiting to take us the 15 minute drive to our hotel.  So Ed does a head count, just before we leave and we are missing 3 people.  Oh crap.  He counts again and once more for good measure and yep we are still definetly missing 3 people.  We worked out it was Trouble, Jeff and Tim.  The ferry at this point is still on the dock, so Ed made his way back to the boat, and then it starts to pull out from the wharf!  We had a mad minute there that we thought Ed was now also back on the boat with them and that made 4 people heading to Naxos!!!!  At this point, we were in the smaller of the buses that contained the Greek Posse and we were having a great little chuckle until we saw Ed, and he wasn’t a happy camper, more stressed than anything at this point, so we decided to not push our luck and watch Ed snap, so we kept all our hilarious little comments to ourselves as we got in the bus and taken to the hotel.  Ed contacted the ship, till the signal went, to tell the 3 stowaways to get off at an island before Naxos, because if they didn’t get off there, then there was no ferry back to Ios till 4pm the next day, and they would pretty much miss Ios altogether.  What else can you do at this stage?  And no Ed hasn’t lost people on the ferry before – first time for everything, and he can have a little laugh now – just.

After checking in at the hotel, we got a transfer down to the main beach for lunch and some chill time.  We ate at the Far Out Resort and then went down to the beach to get some sun and a few drinks.  The beaches on Ios are just like the ones back home, white and finer sand than the other islands.  The vibe on the beach is pretty cool. They have all the watersports happening, banana boats, parasailing and windsurfers.  There are a lot of Aussies working there, and most have them have just started back or first timers, as the season has just opened for summer.  They get paid approx. 4EUR an hour and accommodation is paid for on a dorm basis, so I guess you don’t go here for the money, it is a lifestyle change. People come and take your drink and food orders so you really don’t have to move all day if you didn’t want to. 

Dinner was back at Far Out again.  So after freshening up in the afternoon we headed back.  I tell you these European’s / Greeks know how to make an alcoholic drink.  The free pour at these bars is INSANE.  I started on a Zombie cocktail and then I decided to go back to the faithful vodka and cokes.  Well 2 of them that I got were so strong on the vodka, that the colour of the drink was a pale brown, I rekon it would have to have been 7 parts vodka 3 parts coke – but needless to say I drank them still no worries.  This also then lead to the spew after dinner.  This is before we had even headed into town.  I call it a controlled spew and it was the best thing I could have done.  I’ll have another vodka now thanks!

We caught the public bus the 15 minutes to the town of Ios where all the fun and games were to begin.  We visited 5 bars that I remember the names of starting at the Fun Bar.  This place was pretty cool with Jenga, pool tables and a lounge area out the front.  We were all given a shot off the bar, where we had to lean our head back to get a double shot of something.  Moving onto the Blue Note, the Slammer Bar, Jager Bar and Flames we ended out night in Rehab.  What a cool name for a place.  The drinks at this point are3EUR and once again the free pour was just insane.  This is where I lost the plot and thank-god for Jess, Jeff and Angel for getting me home safe and sound after this one.  I think we ended up getting home around 4am?  But I can’t be 100% sure.  No more spew though – so surely that is a sign of a great night? 

For the record the stowaways did make it off on the next island and then doubled back to Ios to arrive in at 4pm.  Not bad considering we got there at 10.30am.  Tim asked if this was going to make the blog, as it was the only reason that they did it!  Yeah right!  The lengths some people go to, to get on the blog!

I also need to make mention, that we wanted to make the blog milestone of 10,000 hits since it’s conception.  The Greek Posse posted on all our walls on FB, I FB the 4 Contiki groups and I am happy to report we hit 10,044 people today.  So a BIG THANKS to everyone who takes the time to read my blog and hope that you continue to follow my journey.  Day 81 today, and besides my liver feeling a little shady, I am still having the time of my life – I just hope I survive Ios. xx

IMPROMPTUE POOL PARTY

WEATHER: Hot and 30C

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Not Leaving the hotel all day

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Not getting any sun as I am a lobster still

BUYS OF THE DAY: Greek salad for 6.50EUR with dinner

WORD OF THE DAY:  F#@k My Life – a Bree catch phrase

It was a quite night for me last night, home and in bed by 1am.  Must be the sunburn turning me into a softie.  My girls stayed out till 3am, and the way they looked this morning, they were a little shady.  As we had one extra night now in Santorini due to the ferry strike, Contiki organized a bus to take people to the red beach if they wanted to go.  I would have liked to go, but there is not a lot of shade there, and with my now delicate bright pink skin, it was best I tried to stay out of the sun today.  The girls also decided to stay, but I think there excuse was called a HANGOVER!  They all surfaced for breakfast and then went back to bed for a few hours.

We did decide at breakfast that since we have been carrying bottles of alcohol that we bought from Athens, it was time to consume them and not take them to Ios with us.  So we had a plan that we would meet back at lunchtime and have a little pool party and have some drinks early, so we could finish early and be okay for the ferry ride at 9am the next morning.  Who needs a hangover when travelling on a boat right!

All going to plan we met up again around 12.30pm and some of the girls went to the supermarket and stocked up on some mixers and schnacks for the afternoons festivities.  This ‘walk’ to the supermarket is a mission, as it is all uphill for about 10 minutes, so this chore was never taken lightly when some-one went for a ‘run’ up to the shop.  So the girls returned with cold cut meats, cheese, olives, chips, bread, mixers and tomatoes for our Greek lunch feast.

It was really cool to just relax with mates.  The weather was a little cooler, well 28C if you can call that cool, with a bit of cloud cover, so the sun wasn’t out as much – so not much swimming was done, but a lot of drinking took its place instead.  We had the tunes playing from my iPod and then Paulo was kind enough to lend us his speakers and we were really able to crank the music. We only got told once at 4pm to turn the music down a smidge, as it was still siesta till 5pm, and then we could let loose again.  The staff at the hotel were really cool with us carrying on all afternoon, so thanks Hotel Nicholas.

A special shout-out has to go out to Kaitlin.  She has been dying to make my blog since Spain.  I told her if she did something wacky, it would definitely make it.  So after we cracked the 3^rd bottle of vodka and we were talking about our expectations of our trip, K has always said from the start that she wanted to go topless on a European beach.  So what is the next best thing, when we don’t have a beach?  You got it, the pool!  So we dared her to jump in the pool topless and if she did it would certainly make the blog and what do you know, she ripped off her top and dove into the pool!  It was so funny, as we didn’t really expect her to do it, and she did it with such grace!  So Kaitlin Ellis this post is dedicated to you buddy and this also re-confirms your name as my ‘sexy’ daughter.  Her first words when she got out of the pool were ‘will that make the blog’ and her face was priceless when I jokingly said that I had changed my mind!  Ha ha – but well done K – both your mums are proud of you!

                                                         

Some of the local lads came to check out what all the noise was later in the afternoon.  We weren’t sure if they had heard about K’s skinny dip or not, but apparently they are allowed to use the pool.  They looked like they were 16, but K went and had a chat to them and the next thing we know they have gone back home and come back brandishing 3 bottles of Ouzo – Ughhhhhh, but not wanting to offend, they showed us how to drink the stuff.  You need ice, one part Ouzo and 2 parts water.  I tell you it was still disgusting, but we all took one for the team and downed our offered glasses, albeit it was slowly, but we drank them all the same. 

A group of us walked into town and ate at the same place we ate on our first night, but this time on the roof.  Once again it is hard to get a bad seat in this joint, the views and sunset again were just unexplainable, Santorini needs to be seen to be believed.  The girls had decided to do something a little cheaper and then headed home.  I text Lisa at 10.30pm and they were already tucked up in bed!!  A handful of us headed to Tropical Bar for a few and then we headed home at 12.30am.  Not a bad effort as Danni and I had started drinking at 12 noon!!!  Glad I didn’t have a BIG one! Pfff right……

I do also need to blog that I found out tonight that I am officially not the oldest person on this trip.  Tim takes that title by 4 months!  WOO HOO – so I told him, he was definably going to make the blog based on that, and if he didn’t like it – tough – as he is older than me and I wanted the WHOLE WORLD to know I am not the oldest on tour – have I mentioned I AM NOT THE OLDEST ON TOUR!!!!!  Tim does get the last laugh though, as he bought with him some-one of the correct age bracket to share with him, so he didn’t have to pay the single supplement – dang it.  How about we call it even – even though there is SOME-ONE OLDER THAN ME!!!!!!!!!

I also just have to say one, well two words that needs to be blogged and you know who you are – SUPERMAN or BATMAN – that is the question……..

Good-bye Santorini – we had a ball………………….

THE MOST NORTHERN POINT OF SANTORINI - OIA

WEATHER: Hot and 30C

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: I think I have finally shifted my Contiki cough after 4 weeks

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Getting a little too much sun and looking more like a lobster - RED

BUYS OF THE DAY: Cabana, cheese and bikkies for lunch – just like home….

WORD OF THE DAY: Fun Sponge

Well what did I get up to today?  Not much and it was awesome.  It was a free day till the afternoon when we went to Oia to watch a famous Santorini sunset. 

Half the group headed into town this morning to ride the donkeys.  Apparently it is quite traditional to do this in Santorini, as it has been done over decades.  It is quite a thriving business for the locals and the donkey ‘men’ are apparently some of the most affluent on the island.  I guess when the overheads are low, when feeding a donkey is the main outgoing expense, there would be a lot of cream for the owner.  You catch the cable car to the bottom of the cliffs and then you jump on a donkey to take you the 526 steps back to the top of the cliff.  Now I have ridden a donkey before when I was in Egypt and it wasn’t the best experience.  Besides being a stubborn arse (literally), he ran off from the group with me still on his back and he just wouldn’t stop.  It is funny now, but I was terrified back then.  Just like when I fell off a camel in India, yeah, not riding one of them either for the rest of my life, he was a nasty piece of camel.  Anyway back to the donkeys.  My Egyptian donkeys back leg kept giving out as well, and for the record I was a lot lighter then, so not one to tempt fate I decided to pass on this excursion.  The thought of going up steps, on an angle and the donkeys back leg giving out / slipping just did not appeal to me at all.  Even after the group got back and hearing their stories, I was SO GLAD I didn’t do it.  No regrets on that one.

Instead I decided to stay at the hotel and get some colour by the pool.  I was the only one around for a while, so it was good to have some time to relax, just like I used to do around my pool back home.  I was in the water for 3 hours just reading my book and swimming.  Jess came and went for a while and when the others came back from the donkeys to hear their stories was hilarious.  I should know better being a Darwinian and a Bisbanite about how strong the sun is, and the importance of re-applying sunscreen, but I took no head of my own common sense and got pretty much burnt to a crisp, well maybe not totally crispy, but burnt all the same.  DOH - the upside – I’m preparing my skin for Morocco and Africa in 4 weeks’ time.  See there is always a silver lining to some stupidity – right? 

Man I will be in Africa in 4 weeks – shit – now there’s a realization I hadn’t really thought about.  I have been so focused on my 2 months of Contiki, which I haven’t really thought too much further about my trip.  I ‘tell’ people my itinerary all the time, but to actually be at that part of my itinerary is a little daunting.  I need to get 3 visas in 5 working days in London and see Brazil about my Brazilian visa which no-one seems too keen to help me via email correspondence.  Buggers.  This bit will be stressful for me until I get it done, as they are visa’s that cannot be done on arrival.  Crap, I will just have to do the best I can right. Damn visa’s…..   

I did a supermarket run in the afternoon for lunch.  Back home, supermarket shopping is a pain in the arse.  But when you are on holidays, it is great to walk into one and just feel a little home sick / nostalgia maybe, sounds weird I know – but it’s the small things when you are away from home for so long I guess.  Anyway I saw some cabana in the fridge section, so decided to have some snacks for lunch.  I got cow cream cheese (which can be found worldwide this stuff, literally I have seen it everywhere), cabana, tatziki, some tomatoes and biscuits and then headed home for a little picnic by the pool.  I finally got to use my Swiss Army knife for the first time that I bought in Lucerne, and man that blade is super sharp!

At 5.45pm we jumped on the coach for our 30 minute transfer to Oia.  Oia is the most northern point of the island and is where the most spectacular sunsets are.  Ed had bought some wine and nibbles and once we got there we had to walk around 15 minutes to get us to a great vantage point to watch the sun set on our third day.  We got there super early, so we could get some good posies and around 8.20pm, we got a good sunset.  I have seen better, to have a minor Debbie Downer, to name 2 was my second last day in Australia sailing out of Sydney Harbour on my booze cruise with my best friend and the other was the sunset in Darwin we witnessed the day my mum was laid to rest, this was probably the best, and maybe the hardest to beat with the sentimentality attached to it.

I am glad we still went though, as, like the rest of the island, the panoramic views from here were just amazing.  We got some great shots of some blue roofed churches, houses on the side of cliffs, walking tracks and to see a little of Oia, which is the fanciest part of the whole island was really cool.  It was certainly worth the trip.  We had to be back on the coach at 9pm, as by law, all the coaches have to depart Oia by 9pm – no if’s, buts or maybe’s.  But it is dark by this time, so besides the shopping we aren’t missing out on much once the sun sets.

We got a drop off back into Fira, for a quick dinner stop at a ‘roadside’ souvlaki and then walked the 20 minutes back to the hotel to have a nightcap with the girls before heading to bed around midnight.  These early nights are starting to become routine, well for the last 3 days anyway.  Once again we are recharging our batteries for Ios tomorrow for the next 2 nights, which I am guessing are going to be HUGE!!!     

As explained in an earlier blog I have become the ‘mum’ of the Greek Posse.  Once again I emphasize it is due to my organizational skills and having everything in order and on hand rather than my actual age (I’m hoping) So I should introduce my daughters and in no particular order:

Eldest=Kasey

Responsible=Dee

Angel=Lisa

Blondie=Bree

Dancer=Dannii

Sexy=Kaitlin

Trouble=Jess

Only 4 nights left on tour before I head to Morocco.  I am going to so miss my Greek Posse.  Some of us would have been together for nearly 5 weeks by the time we finish this tour.  For the others who joined us on this trip and we only met, it feels like we have known you longer than a week and we have really clicked and I am going to miss you all.  What a great group of gals, you all rock and you will not be forgotten along my journey.  Love ya guy’s xx

A LITTLE OF SANTORINI FUN IN THE SUN

WEATHER: Hot and 30C

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Seeing all of what Santorini has to offer

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Got a little sunburned on one of the beaches

BUYS OF THE DAY: Fresh plate of calamari for 7EUR

WORD OF THE DAY: Dream smasher

Good morning Santorini.  Man it was great to be home by 12.30am, after a few drinks at the pub, I woke up fresh and not a headache or spewy thought to be had.  Life is good today.

Dee and I had booked the day tour today.  The others had decided to do their own thing in town till we met again back at the hotel that afternoon.  After congregating at 11.05am, we boarded the coach to start our tour.  I guess due to numbers, we also had some random people join our tour and some of them were Spanish so it turned out to be a bi-lingual tour.  I am not a big fan of the bi-lingual, especially if your language is the secondary language of the day, but our French tour guide was actually quite good and divided an even amount of time and infliction to the Spanish as well as ourselves.

Our first stop was to the highest point in the island at 1750m above sea level for a panoramic view of the whole island.  It was pretty cool to see the whole island in its entirety to appreciate just how big it actually is.  Santorini is essentially what remains of an enormous volcanic explosion that destroyed the earliest settlements on what was formerly a single island, which led to the creation of the current geological caldera. A giant central lagoon, more or less rectangular, and measuring about 12 by 7 km, is surrounded by 300 m high steep cliffs on three sides. The island slopes downward from the cliffs to the surrounding Aegean Sea.  It is just beautiful.  The island is still pretty barren of trees, as it is also a windy island like Mykonos, but due to its volcanic soil, it can grow things quite well in very dry conditions.  Grapes being one of the things that survives here surprisingly well. 

We then made a trip to the remnants of a castle.  As I am starting to find out, everything on the island is reached by steps, slopes or hills.  I haven’t seen too much flat / straight land at all in my travels today.  So after climbing 123 steps, we made it to the top of what was left of the castle, which wasn’t much, but the view from here was also incredible.  Definitely worth the climb, even in 30 degree heat, but it is a dry heat here and not a humid heat, so it is just the sun in your face the whole day, as there is not much shade at all to be had anywhere, except inside buildings.

We then travelled to a small village that we got to walk through from one end to the other.  Not many tourists come here, and it really was just like a residential suburb of the island.  I did have a picture in my head that there would be a lot of white buildings with the blue roofs everywhere.  But from what we have seen it is just the chapels / churches that have the blue domes.  All the housing is painted white, and has blue doors and shutter; they just don’t seem to have the blue roofs.  A funny thing sometimes what you expect to see and what there actually is. 

Our lunch stop was at a black sand beach that had a restaurant and sun chairs and umbrellas for us to use.  We got given 1 hour and 45 minutes here, so Dee and I wasted no time and found some sun chairs straight away and got our ‘sun’ on.  Lunch was bought to us along with some drinks and we didn’t move from here the whole time.  Dee went in for a quick dip, but I was happy to just read my book and chillax.  The black sand was so so so hot to walk on which makes sense when the colour attracts the sun I suppose.  It was nice to have the wind in your hair, the sun on your face and not have to worry about a thing.  We LOVE the Greek Islands.   I ordered fresh calamari, and it was delicious, it just missed some lemon and a little salt, but it was good all the same.  75% of it came as what we are used to at home in the rings, but the other 25% still had legs and 2 bits looked like pig ears, so I had to draw the line and they were left on my plate.  I did have a nibble on one of the legs, but they looked like legs, and I just couldn’t get my mind set around it, crazy I know.  But for 7EUR I think it was pretty good value for what I got.

Everything seems to be only a 15 minute drive on the island to anywhere. So we drove 15 minutes to our second last stop which was a view of the red sand beach.  We had to trek a little ways to get there, so it was a more secluded beach, as it was a bit of a hike to get there.  We were a little dubious on how red the red sand beach was going to be, but it was like an Ayers Rock colour, and looked pretty awesome with the red and black volcanic cliffs in the background.  Definitely worth the walk and would have been great to spend some more time here.  I have seen black beached before in Tahiti and also in Iceland, but a red sand beach was pretty awesome.

Our last stop was a winery on the island.  The island remains the home of a small, but flourishing, wine industry, based on the indigenous grape variety, Assyrtiko.  In their adaptation to their habitat, the vines are planted far apart, as their principal source of moisture is dew, and they often are trained in the shape of low-spiraling baskets, with the grapes hanging inside to protect them from the winds.  The winery we went to Santos, produces 880,000 bottles of wine a year and they only export 30% of that to the America’s and Europe, the remaining 70% stays in Greece, as Maria put it, the Greeks love their wine!!  We tasted 2 whites and a desert wine, that won some awards this year, but it was a little too sweet for my liking.  I would never have thought that Santorini had wineries though, and the view from Santos was just AMAZING!!!  It really was a view to die for – but most of the island is like that, hilly and viewy…… BEAUTIFUL

What a day!  Time to relax back at the hotel for a few hours before dinner at 7.45pm.  It was a walkabout dinner, so Ed took us back into Fira to a Greek-Italian restaurant, once again overlooking the caldera.  It is just amazing here.  The food at the restaurant was awesome and I had a Greek salad and some chicken and parmesan risotto for my feed and it was just delicious.  The prices were quite reasonable as well considering the location of where we were. 

It was STUNNING as we watched another beautiful sunset go down on the island of Santorini.

Ahhhhhhhhh the serenity…………………