Thursday 1st Jan 2009 - Happy New Year!!

Saturday 27th December was our complete day of rest!! We stayed in the hostel and just chilled all day, chatting and reading. Though, saying that the following few days were pretty much the same!! Though, we did go out into Sydney on Sunday night. It was Sam's last night out so we went out to a couple of bars. It was a good night, not a mad one though!! I was supposed to spend the next couple of night going out aswell, but decided against that - and I wasn't the only one!! We were all shattered.

On Tuesday we went into George Street to the cinema to see Australia. It was a really good film, well worth watching. We then went shopping for food and stuff that we would need on New Years Eve, and then headed back to the hostel for a Domino's Pizza and a drink!!

Wednesday (New Years Eve) - we all got up and got ready. This meant going to buy our booze and then filling plastic bottles up with various drinks as you couldn't take glass into the park we were gonig to. After this, and making our sandwiches, we headed over to the park, which was in Balmain. We got there around half 2, and the park was almost empty. We were so lucky. people had been queuing since 6 in the morning to get into the parks in the centre of Sydney. We sat by the fence, which meant we had a fab view of the Harbour Bridge where the fireworks would be. We spent most of the day there just chatting, eating and drinking, but time went really quickly. At 9 o'clock, the small fireworks started. Though they were small, they were pretty amazing!! At around half eleven we went out to stand by the wall so that we had a really good view of the bridge. There was literally no-one standing in front of me so I could see everything it was amazing.

At midnight the fireworks started. Wow!! They are definately the best fireworks I have ever seen. They were above the bridge, coming up from the bridge, and coming down off the bridge. Really amazing. Unfortunately words or pictures won't be able to describe them!! After the fireworks finished, we celebrated a bit longer, before heading back to the hostel. There were buses running, but they were so full that they weren't even stopping at most bus stops, so we decided our best option was to walk. Unfortunately we didn't really know which was the quickest way back, so we walked the way the bus had taken us that day. Probably a really long way around. It only took us about an hour to an hour and a half to get back though, so it actually wasn't that bad.

I've got to say I think that was one of the best New Years Eve parties ever!!

Saturday 27th December - here goes.....

Tuesday 16th December I spent the day just wondering around Melbourne and shopping with Sinead. We decide to go to a shop that sells half price tickets for shows that evening, and managed to get quite cheap tickets for a show called Witches in Britches. Reading the itinerary for the evening (obviously after we got the tickets!!), we saw that we were going to have to participate in the show. After reading this we both decided we needed to head to the pub before the show!!! After a quick pint, we headed over to where the show was being held, and waited for the doors to open. The first part meant walking through a dark corridor with people dressed up jumping out at you. After getting to the end of that we decided that the next stop should once again be the bar!!! We bought a glass of wine each, and then stood around whilst the people dressed up came round to chat to us. Thinking they were just being friendly we chatted away, only later to realise that they were actually just getting as much information off people as possible to use in the show!! D'oh!!!!!

There was a 3 course meal included in the price of the tickets, so we then went through and were seated ready to eat. At this point we decided to buy a bottle of sparkling wine (it's cheaper than buying by the glass!!) to drink with our food!! To start with we had a lovely soup (no idea what it was!), and that was followed by steak and a salad, and then a chocolate dessert for pudding. During this time another bottle of wine was ordered. Some of the cast got on stage during this time and introduced the whole audience, using the information they had got off us. I will admit here that me and Sinead got off very lightly. They just told everyone where we were from, and said that they liked to give a free gift to some people during these nights, so they gave us a cocktail shaker filled with a cocktail. Woohoo!!!!!

The show itself was funny. Neither of us are sure whether or not there was a story line, but there was lots of singing and dancing, and they got members of the audience up to do silly things like karaoke and stuff. We got off so lightly!!! After the show you could stay behind and drink some more and dance. We did!!! And then got a taxi to another pub, and then a tram to another. It was about 5am when we got in, but somehow, and I am not sure how, there was no hangover the next day. Well not for me anyway hehehe!!!

Wednesday was a very lazy day though, where we just went to St Kilda beach in Melbourne, and had a wonder around. We did go out for food that evening though, with someone Sinead had met on her tour, and a couple of drinks but it was quite an early night.

On Thursday we were changing hostels, so after checking out we caught the tram into the centre, and then another one out towards the hostel. It was surprisingly easy to find, and was a very quiet hostel. After checking in we went out for the day. To start with we walked to Fitzroy gardens, that was quite close to the hostel, and then caught a tram to chinatown. We had lunch in chinatown (using chopsticks of course!!). That evening we went to the cinema to see Madagascar 2, and also for a cocktail. It poured down with rain that evening, and we got drenched heading back to the hostel.

Friday, again, we just wondered around Melbourne, and I went to Albert Gardens for a while, but left because there were too many people running. I felt very unfit, and left to go an meet Sinead. We got a bottle of wine, and then headed back to the hostel. The bottle was only $5, but really nice (and it said wine on it, which is a pretty good sign!!!). We also went to Victoria Market to walk around. It was a fab market, with tons of fresh fruit and veg.

Saturday was an early start, because we were going on a Neighbours tour. We got to the where we were being picked up from at around half 8, and then got the bus that took us on the tour. We went to Ramsay Street, that is an actual street, and then saw the school and then went to the studios to see different buildings. After that we met someone who used to be in Neighbours and had our photo taken with her. As someone who hasn't watched Neighbours for quite a while, I didn't have a clue who she was!! After finishing the Neighbours tour, we headed to Chinatown again for lunch. We did go to a different place though, so that's ok!! We then spent the afternoon wondering around the museum and got another bottle of wine to take back to the hostel.

On Sunday we decided to head to a Science works place that was supposedly in Williamstown. After getting to Williamstown we found out it was actually in Spotswood that we had passed on the train and had to get 2 trains to get there. After reaching there we walked the wrong way so took us ages to find!! Once we got there we actually had a really good time, it was a real interactive place, so we were like kids running around!!

On Monday we wondered around Melbourne again (after I got Hayfever tabs - was suffering and the pharmacist made me take one before even leaving the pharmacy!!). We were supposed to go out Monday night, but things didn't work out as planned, so we just stayed in (yes, with another bottle of wine).

Tuesday we were leaving Melbourne, so we checked out and caught the train to the bus station, and then a bus to the airport. We then flew to Sydney. After eventually getting to the hostel, we checked in and then headed into the city to get some decorations (oh, after checking out the local first!!). After getting back to the hostel the rest of the group had checked in (there were 6 of us in the room - we were all from the Sept ozintro group), and we took the rest of them to show them the local (well we felt we should!), and then got pizza and a few drinks and came back to the hostel. We all had decided to do a Secret Santa, so picked names out of a hat for that!!

Wednesday (Christmas Eve) we caught the bus over to Coogee to the ozintro office because a few of us had post and stuff to collect from there, and then headed into town. We all went shopping for our secret santa pressies and I think that may have been the most stressful hour of my life. I hate busy shops, and never shop on Christmas Eve!! Never again!! After that we went to the supermarket to get food for Christmas Day, and then headed back to the hostel to get ready for our night out. We had tickets for a cruise, where all the drinks and food were included in the price. We all got quite a few looks as we headed there (and a couple of car horns sounding!!). We all had santa hats and tinsel, and Chris had dyed his hair blue (as you do!!). The cruise was real good fun, and loads of people had dressed up. Once the cruise had finished, we headed to the Gaff which is a really cheesy club (I first went there on my first night in Sydney!!). Around one o'clock we left and headed back to the hostel.

On Christmas Day we all got up feeling a little worse for wear, and decided against our cooked breakfast and Bucks Fizz. Eventually we all got moving, and sorted ourselves out. We gave out the secret Santa gifts and I got a plastic wine glass. I can't see why!!!!! We then caught the bus over to Coogee to the beach. As we arrived we were all hungry so got a burger from McDonalds, before finding a good spot on the grass (we decided the beach would be too sandy!!) and spending the afternoon there drinking beers, cooking and eating a barbie, and just having fun. I did wonder into the sea though to have my photo taken as proof I was on the beach on Christmas Day. After getting back to the hostel, I phoned home to say Merry Christmas, and then we all just kinda collapsed on our beds and slept!!

Boxing Day, we all felt ready for the Bucks Fizz for breakfast, and then headed over to Randwick Racecourse where we were going to spend the day. It was free to get in for International people as long as we had our passports, so that was all good!! It was a really good day. we drunk sparkling wine (we are backpackers so couldn't afford champagne), ate hot dogs (not quite as posh!!), and bet on a few horses. I came away pretty much with the same money I took so basically won back what I had bet. We then caught a taxi over to Bondi Junction to an Irish bar. There was an Irish Band playing, and I think around 80% of the people there were Irish. They were all singing Irish songs, and it was fab to listen to and the atmosphere was great. we then went for Mexican for food, and after eating I decided to head back to the hostel, and 2 others came with me while the rest stayed out drinking, All in all it was a pretty good Christmas!! One that I won't forget anyway!!!

Tuesday November 16th - Melbourne!!!

Last Thursday I had to get up at 6am, ready to fly to Melbourne. I caught the train to the domestic airport, but the plane was a bit late. Never mind - we got there eventually!! I flew into Avalon airport, which is an hours drive out of Melbourne. I then had to catch a bus into the centre, and then a tram out to St. Kilda. That was scary. I didn't really know what I was doing, and the whole tram system was pretty new to me!!! I found the tram stop I needed, and got on the tram, then realised I didn't have a clue where to get off. So, I was trying to follow our tram path on my map, and managed pretty well. I only got off 1 stop too late, and the stops are all pretty close to each other. It took me a bit longer to find the hostel, though. I really didn't realise how bad I was at map reading!!! I eventually got there, and checked in. There were 2 girls in the room, but they were both asleep so decided to go out somewhere. I went to the Docklands, where there was a carol concert being held for a children's charity. After that finished, I went back to the hostel to find one girl getting ready to go out. She invited me along - it was only to the bar downstairs - so off I went. It was ladies night, so there was free fizzy wine for ladies between 9pm and 11pm. I think that had to be one of the cheapest nights out I've had!!! I didn't spend any money at all!! Result!!

After waking up early, I decided to catch a tram to Federation Square. There was a visitor's centre there, so I went there to see what I could do in Melbourne. There is a free tourist bus that goes around the cenrte, stopping at around 11 different places of interest. The first stop I got off at was Fitzroy Park, where I saw Cook's Cottage, a Fairy tree and a Miniature Tudor Village. I then got back on the bus and went to St Patrick's Cathedral, and then onto Melbourne Museum. By this point it had started raining, so after finishing at the museum I headed back to the hostel.

I was awake early again on Saturday, and caught the tram into the centre. I went to see Myer's Christmas window. Myer's is a big department store, and every year they have a big Christmas display. This year it was based on the work of an English children's author. It was worth seeing, and people would queue for ages to see it. After seeing this I decided to wonder around the shops. It was pouring with rain at this point so I didn't want to be out!! I ended up just buying a book (a real treat at $25!), and headed back the hostel. By mid afternoon, everyone waas back in the room, in bed, reading!! I then ended up going out Saturday night!

On Sunday I managed to sleep in. I caught a tram to Federation Square and went to the Australian Moving Images Centre. It shows how movie sets are made and how they affect films. They showed examples such as the Matrix, A clockwork orange, The Shining, and Australia (that I still haven't got round to seeing yet - must do that!!). After finishing there I caught the city centre tram, and whilst on it, I was a sign for a Welsh Church. I decided to go and check it out, and it happened that there was a Welsh Carol Service starting within half an hour. I decided to stay for that, and everyone there was really nice. I was introduced to pretty much everyone, and there was food afterwards. After this I went back to the hostel.

On Monday I did a Great Oceans Road tour. It was an all day tour, where you see many sights from the South Coast of Australia. We stopped at Bells Beach, Split Point Lighthouse (this was the lighthouse that was used in Round the Twist!), Lorne, Cape patton, Apollo Bay, Maits rest where we walked through a rainforest, the Twelve Apostles, Loch Ard Lodge and London Bridge. I was a really interesting day, and the sights were fantastic. I discovered that there weren't 12 Apostles there, and that one had collapsed recently. Also London bridge had collapsed quite recently, with a young married couple on it. They were fine, but not very keen to be interviewed by the reporters there. The reason for this worked out to be that they were a marreid couple, but unfortunately not to each other!!!

Wednesday 10th November - Back in Sydney again!

Sunday morning, I had to get up early again because I'd booked to go on a boat trip that means you can swim with wild dolphins. The catch is because they're wild, you have to find them first, and if you do there are rules and regulations you must follow before getting into the water. One of them is that if they have young you are not allowed to swim with them. We saw dolphins almost immediately on the trip, but they had young with them. There were loads of dolphins in the pod, though, and were swimming up really close to the boat. The problem i had was everytime I went to take a photo, by the time the photo was taken the dolphin would be back in the water, so I had plenty of photos of the sea!!! In the end I decided it would be easier to take videos. There was a photographer on board though so I bought a disk of photos at the end. During the whole trip we saw loads of dolphins, but unfortunately they all had young with them so we weren't able to swim with them. We did see one young one though that had rope stuck around it. It had apparently been like that for 5 days, and people couldn't get close enough to take it off. Other dolphins had seen that the mother and baby were distressed so were swimming with them, and apparently won't leave them until the problem is sorted, even though they have no way of helping themselves.

After the boat trip I stopped on Russell Island for some lunch, before catching a ferry back over to Paihia. Once getting back to Paihia I caught the bus which took me back to Auckland. Pat, John's wife, had returned the same day from volunteer work in Africa so I got to meet her, we had food and went to bed.

On Monday, I went with Debbie and Cameron to Auckland museum. It was a really interesting museum, with lots of different sections. After this I met John who took me to the airport ready to head back to Sydney. After checking in I made my way through to departures. I placed my bags on the belt to be checked, and was told I was going to have my bags checked by someone. Thinking it was just a routine thing, and they check some I quite happily followed the bloke, and was smiling confidently while he checked through my bags. He then asked whether I was aware of the liquid restrictions for boarding planes, and I said yes, I'd just chucked away a bottle of water straight after checking in. He then pulled out my suncream and a body spray and asked if I could explain them. I'd completely forgotten I'd had them there, I thought they were in my main bag that had been checked in!! If I'd had a carrier bag I could have taken one of them with me, but because I didn't, they had to keep them!! He was quite nice about it though, and said it was a shame because it was a good brand of suncream!! (Yeah, expensive too, I thought!!). Never mind!! The flight went ok, I watched Ghost Town, and Friends, and then landed in Sydney.

Going through to customs in Sydney was a bit of a nightmare. The queue was massive!! And it was so hot. But, eventually I made it through and collected my bags. You then have to have all your bags scanned again - another long queue. But, while I was standing there, a woman came up to me and asked whether I had any food in my bags or a sleeping bag, I said no to both, so she stamped my arrivals card and said I could go without having my bags scanned. Result!!

After catching the train, I made my way to the hostel, and went to check in. As i was checking in, the man on reception said someone had made a mistake with my booking. Here goes I thought, but they had actually booked me into a 4 bed dorm instead of a 6 bed, and were only going to charge me the 6 bed price. I was quite impressed with that. The other people in my room are really nice, thankfully, so got chatting to them for a while, before going to bed.

On Tuesday I decided to go and get my nose pierced. It's something I've wanted to have done for a long time, but never got round to it. It really hurt when she did it, but it wasn't too bad afterwards. It hurts sometimes, but the rest of the time it either tickles, itches, or I can't feel a thing! After getting my nose pierced I went to the cinema to watch Four Holidays. Because it was Tuseday the cinema price was a lot cheaper. It was a pretty good film too. I then headed back to the hostel to change ready to make my way over to the opera house to watch Rolf Harris on his opening night there. It was a good show - he did plenty of singing and drawing. I enjoyed it!!

This morning (Wednesday) I decided that I would head to Coogee (I needed to go there anyway), and whilst there sunbathe on the beach for a while. I haven't done that for a while. Unfortunately though, it's really cloudy and windy today, so that's not really going to be an option!!

Saturday December 6th - another week gone!

I had to get up early Tuesday morning to catch a bus that was taking me to a Thermal Wonderland (Wai-O-Tapu). On the way there we stopped at what were apparently the biggest mud pools in the Southern Hemisphere. After stopping to see them, we went a bit further and then saw the Lady Knox Geyser that errupts at 10:15 every day. We waited to see that errupt, and then went to the Thermal Wonderland. Walking around there (3kms) was pretty amazing, as some of the pictures show. Due to different chemical reactions, and depending on the amount of cloud coverage, the colours of some pools were amazing. There were bright greens, blues, reds, etc.

I arrived back in Rotorua at lunchtime, and then decided to go for lunch. I didn't fancy going the same place as the day before so I decided to follow the Lonely Planet's advice and went to hunt for an Irish Bar that apparently did fab food. I found it at the other side of town, and shock horror, it was closed. An Irish bar?? Closed?? Hmmmm!!! Anyway, this was right next door to the cinema, and being Tuesday everything is cheaper so I decided to go and watch a film, andfor lunch ate a pack of M 'n' M's. Maybe not that healthy, but nice!!!!

After watching the film I decided to change into my swimming costume, and head over to the Polynesian Spa. For $20, I had the use of 7 pools where the temparature ranged between 36 and 42 degrees c!! It was very relaxing, and nice looking out over the lake (though it was pretty smelly!!!). After a while here, I went and had some supper and then went to bed.

I was checking out Wednesday morning ready to move onto Taupo, so after storing my bags I decided to have a cooked breakfast which would see me through til the afternoon. After the yummy breakfast I went to use the hostels internet, and then went to catch the bus. I arrived in Taupo around 2pm. After arriving I went to find the hostel (Tiki Lodge) and was impressed. It was another nice one. I decided here that I wanted to do a boat trip out on the lake, but I was leaving soon after lunch the next day so guessed my options would be limited. I did manage to book a trip for 5pm though, on a boat called 'Ernest Kemp'. The boat trip on Lake Taupo was fantastic. We went out to see Maori carving on the cliffs on the side of the Lake. I met a lovely couple on the boat, who were initially from Ireland, but had moved to Australia around 20 years earlier, and were on holiday in NZ. They bought me a drink when we got on the boat, and when I asked them later what they wanted so I could get them one back, they wouldn't let me and got me another drink!!

The next morning I went for a walk around Taupo, and waited until it was time for me to catch the bus back to Auckland. I arrived back in Auckland around 8pm, and was met by John. We had a takeaway, and headed back to the flat.

Friday was another early morning (I seem to have a lot of these!!), because I was catching a bus tour at 8am in Auckland. The bus tour was by Stray tours, and would take me up to the most Northern part of NZ. Working our way up, we stopped to see an 850 year old Maori tree, which we all hugged because it was supposed to bring luck. After that we stopped somewhere where we could go snorkelling of we wanted but the weather was very British so I decided against it!! But while we were there there was a glass bottom boat offering trips, so we went on that, and saw fish, a stingray, and a few caves (not through the glass bottom!!). We stopped once more along the way so that we could visit some famous toilets!! They were very pretty, made with different coloured glass (the walls, etc. not the toilets themselves). I can't remember at the moment the names of these places, but will look them up and fill in!! We were staying in Paihia, so after getting there I checked into my hostel (Saltwater Lodge). This hostel was the nicest hostel I've stayed in I think. The room had a bunk bed and twin beds (I got one of the twins!), a TV (Wow!!!), a fridge, and a massive bathroom. There was tons of space there and it was clean. Shocking as that sounds but it's so nice to stay in a clean hostel!!! Me and one of the girls from the bus went out for food, where I had stuffed chicken with an orange sauce, mashed sweet potato and veg. It was really nice. We then headed back to the hostel and actually watched a bit of TV!!

This morning was another early one!! We were meeting the bus at 7am to take us on a tour around the top of NZ, including Cape Reigna. Again, I am going to have to look up names of places, etc. so will fill this in again. I did manage to fall though at Cape Reigna, and grazed my right leg from the knee down. It doesn't half sting!!!!!

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Right - things I did on this trip up to the Bay of Islands.

Friday - Auckland to Paihia
Depart 7.45am (all departure times shown are from our preferred accommodation). We go well off the beaten track today. We visit a Kauri reserve for trees (where I hugged the 850 year old Kauri tree) and early settler history; then turn off the main highway towards Goat Island for some FREE snorkelling in the Marine Reserve. (I didn't do this snorkelling - the weather wasn't great for it. I went on a glass bottom boat instead, and saw fish!). We stay in central Paihia tonight - I stayed in the Saltwater Lodge - best hostel I've stayed in.

Saturday - Paihia to Cape Reinga and back
Depart 7am. Today we head to the top of New Zealand. See mighty Kauri forests, 90 Mile Beach, do some free dune surfing and see the clashing of two oceans at Cape Reinga (Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean). Traditional Kiwi fish and chips option for dinner - was very yummy aswell! Accommodation is the same as last night.

Monday 1st december (already???) - Auckland to Rotorua

Sunday morning I went to church with John to see what it was like. It was so similar to one I went to in Botswana, with singing and people on their feet the whole time. It was also modern, and they had an electric band on the stage, and people singing into microphones. After church we had lunch which was a salad, and then went to Howick Historical Village, which was very similar to Sain Ffagan. It showed how the Irish and British settlers first lived, the types of houses they had, the schools, etc. After that we went for a barbie at friends of John's (Ron and Faith), and their 2 teenage daughters. They were a lovely family, and it was a very nice evening.

It was an early start on Monday (6am) because I was catching the bus (nakedbus company - trips start on each bus at a dollar, and then each seat is a dollar more. Unfortunately the bus was pretty full so mine was $37! I have got a trip for $9 coming up though!!). I arrived in Rotorua at lunchtime, checked into the hostel (Rotorua Central Backpackers - it has no bunks, only single beds. Lush!!!). After lunch in the Pig & Whistle, which is an old police station (I'd had a voucher for a free drink there - Swine Lager!), I decided to follow a walk the lady at hostel reception had recommended. It took a while to find the start (I'm rubbish at reading maps, and not all the street names were on the map), but I eventually did and walked through Kuirau Park. This is a dynamic thermal area with spurting geysers, steaming hot springs and exploding mud pools. It was amazing, though it did stink of rotten eggs (especially if the wind blew the steam in your direction. Yuck!!). The smell is sulphur, and Rotorua is actually known as Sulphur City. At one part of the park you have to walk over a foot bridge, and there are hot springs each side, with so much steam you can't see anything. It was quite eerie walking over, especially as all the trees were bare, just branches. It was like some horror film or something. Pretty cool though.

After walking through the park I walked toward Lake Rotorua, and then on to Ohinemutu, which is a Maori VIllage. There I saw an Anglican church (St. Faiths), and a Meeting House (Tama Te Kapua). These were very beautiful buildings with fantastic wood carvings. I couldn't take any photos inside, though. I then went for an ice cream (I had been told they were the best in Rotorua and had to try one, so had an Orange Choc Chip one). I headed back to the hostel after this because I was being picked up at 5:45 to go to Mitai Maori Village, which is an actual Maori site.

The bus taking me there must have been the creakiest bus I think I've been on!! When we arrived we went straight to the dining room and were put on tables. There must have been about 150 people there that evening, and it's not even holiday season yet. Our guide for the night, John (half Maori, half Brit!) asked us to shout out where we all came from, and would then say a word or 2 in that language. To me he said Croeso, sut wyt ti? and prydferth. At the end of the night he said Nos Da. I was very impressed. After listening to us talking for a while (where we choose a chief for our tribe of many nations!), we went out to see the hangi (ground cooked meat) cooking. We wthen went for a walk through the forest, and saw warriors running and chanting.

We then walked up to the stream (which had water flowing directly from the earth at Fairy Springs). We saw a Waka (ancient warrior canoe) go past, with warriors in it chanting. We were then seated for a performance. We were welcomed by their chief, after our chief (some guy from England) had to make a speech and accept a token.

After this had all been done, the Maori tribe performed for us by dancing, singing, chanting, performing the Haka, and showing their musical instruments and weapons. Once they had finished this, we all headed back to the dining room for food. For food we had lamb, chicken and kumara (sweet potato - traditional Maori dish) - all cooked under ground. We also had rice, corn, salad and broccoli. For dessert there was a chocolate log, trifle, and papaya.

After eating, and to finish off the evening, we went for a walk into the forest (at this point it was dark) so we could look at the different trees (including the silver fern), and also to look at glow worms. All in all it was a pretty amazing evening and well worth the money. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Saturday 29th November 2008 - New Zealand!!

I eventually got to sleep around 1am Friday morning, so had only had about 4 hours sleep when the alarm went off at 5. After making sure everybody was awake (hehehe) I switched the alarm of, bounced my way off the top bunk, and went for a shower. When I got back I had to switch the light on (it was still dark), and made quite a drama of packing my bags, especially as I'd left a lot of stuff on the bed so had to jump back up, sort stuff out and bounce back down. I then left, but 'forgot' to turn the light off. Oops!! These things can't be helped!!

I walked up to central station and nearly lost my balance getting my ticket out of the machine!! I had to bend down to pick the ticket up, and had almost 18kg of stuff on my back. I seriously wobbled getting back up. Oh, and the kind woman standing next to me just watched me. As soon as I got steady again, I started walking towards the train. Only disaster strook - I dropped the flippin ticket!! So the second drama was picking that up (I'm wondering if this is karma for being noisy???). I wobbled again, not as bad as the first time and went on my way. Thankfully, being not even 6am the station was pretty quiet so I got a seat pretty close to the door on the train, and didn't have to fight with any stairs (the trains here are double decker, but you have to go downstairs to one floor, upstairs to the other, and there are just a handful of seats where you don't have to tackle any stairs.

I got to the airport and checked in (eventually - the computer wasn't working. I do think I should have been upgraded for my patience!!). After checking in I went through to departures, and did the weekly parent phone calls (it is surprising how quickly the weekend turns up!). After that I grabbed a croissant for breakfast, and went to sit and wait to board. As I was sitting, reading my magazine, some woman came up to me and asked if I'd mind answering some questions as part of a survey of people who travel around Australia who aren't Australian. I thought I might as well, not much else to do. I'd been travelling for over 70 days at this point, and had visited over 20 places (or something like that). It took her ages to go through everywhere I'd been and for how long (thankfully I had it all written down in a little book I carry around with me). She asked someone else after me and only took about 5 mins, if that. I'm sure I was over half an hour!! I did get 2 free boomerang fridge magnets for my troubles though (maybe I shouldn't have said that - I could have given them to people as gifts!!!!).

I boarded the plane and went to sit in my window seat (on the wong though - I always seem to get seated on the wing so the view was lovely!!). People were boarding, and the plane was getting pretty full, but the 2 seats next to me were staying empty. By the time we were leaving, they were still empty so I had 3 seats all to myself (I did get some looks from people though!!). It was nice to have a window seat and yet not have to ask anybody to shift when I need to go to the loo!! On the plane I watched an episode of Gavin and Stacey, and then the film Mamma Mia. The flight only took around 2 3/4 hours, so we soon arrived in Auckland.

Leaving the plane then you have to go through the whole immigration thing, and tell people why you're visiting, for how long, and where you're staying and stuff like that. I found that it is a lot easier to leave a country than it is to get in. You have to stop several times to get checked, and to see whether you should be allowed entry. Thankfully I was let in!! As I got through to arrivals, I phoned John (Mam's cousin - who I'm staying with), to see where he was. He was literally walking through the door as I arrived, which was good as he didn't have to pay any car park fees. On the way back to the flat, we stopped by at their church where his daughter, Rebecca and her husband were working so I could meet them. Then we went back to the flat, and I was shown my room. That sounds so nice. A room where there's only me in it!! A bed that hasn't got another one stuck on top of it. Heaven!!!

As we arrived at the flat, John's foster daughter Debbie arrived with her son Cameron (who's 18 months old and gorgeous!). We watched a bit of the tv (another luxury!) - Home and Away of course!! - and then had food. A nice home cooked meat and cheese pie, with mashed potatoes and mushy peas. After food we went for a drive around Auckland so I could see the city. I am actually surprised at how small it is, and then had strawberries and ice cream for pudding. The ice cream was hokey pokey ice cream which I don't think I've had before. It was vanilla with honeycomb pieces in it. Yum!!

This morning (Saturday) we drove into the city, and then caught a ferry over to Waiheke island to go on a wine tasting tour. The island is absolutely stunning. We visited 3 vineyards on the tour. The Mudbrick one to start, then Kennedy Point, and finally Obsidian. I've got to admit, the wines were all yummy!!! For lunch then, we went to a cafe on the island called Lazy Lounge, and had pizza and chips. After lunch we headed down to the beach for a while, before catching the ferry back to Auckland. When we arrived back at the house, Michelle (John's eldest daughter) was there with 2 of her children. As I was sorting out what to do with the rest of the week, and where to go, Rebecca arrived with her husband, Steve.

We then had an indian takeaway for food, and then sat down - pretty shattered from the day in the sun!!

Thurs 27th Nov - Sydney, Sydney, Sydney

I wondered around the shopping centre on Tuesday until it was time to go to the bus stop. Didn't really buy anything - one problem with being a backpacker is that money is generally pretty tight unfortunately!!! Caught the bus back and then checked into the hostel (790 on George). I kinda had the same room as first time round (it's the same hostel I stayed in before heading off to Canberra) except that it was a couple of floors up. Unfortunately though the lift was broken, so several flights of stair later (with my backpack on my back remember!!!) I arrive ever so slightly out of breath. But never mind, I could have been on the top floor!!! There is one person in the room when I get there so say hi, and that's that. I head off to the supermarket to get something for food, then head to bed and read. At that point there was nobody in the room. Cool!!! That does not happen often. Unfortunately though people come back between about 1am and 4am. Each time the light goes on, and they talk to each other, talk on the phone, or just generally make as much noise as possible. Never mind, I eventually got to sleep and then annoyed everyone by switching my reading light on at 10:15am (!!!!!). Seriously.

I spent Wednesday out and about. I went to Hyde Park to have my lunch and sit for a while. And then wondered around the city. I had a little snooze during the afternoon (I needed it from the night before!!) and then went to watch James Bond Quantum of Solace in the cinema. When I got back to the hostel last night there was no one there again, which I knew would mean me being woken up again. Oh well, only 2 more nights of it. I haven't actually worked out where these girls are from yet, because they just won't talk to me. I think they mite be Austrian or German or something. No idea. I was right, but at least it was a little earlier. They finally shut up around 2am.

Today, I caught the train and went to the harbour, and saw the opera house and harbour bridge. I saw them when I first got to Australia, but thought I'd visit again. After that I had the joys of washing to do. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow for a couple of reasons. For one I'm flying to New Zealand. Secondly I have to get up at 5am. I will try my hardest to be quiet, but I can't promise anything!! Hehehehe. Payback!!

Monday 24th November - Sydney and Canberra

I got to the hostel Friday night, and during the night the 3 girls that were sharing a room with me came in. It turns out that they were from Caernarfon. It was nice to be able to speak Welsh for a change. Though I have been told that my accent has got stronger again since spending time talking with them!!

I spent Saturday walking around Darling Harbour in Sydney, and also I visited the Chinese Garden of Friendship. Other than that I didn't actually do much, but that took up a lot of the day.

I had planned to go and see a band playing in Coogee with Sinead on Sunday. We caught the bus around lunch time to go out there, and it turned out that the band had cancelled because of the bad weather - yes the weather still isn't great out here. It was so much nicer during my first couple of weeks in Oz. I checked the temp the other day, and it showed the min temp in Sydney was exactly the same as that at home. Now that's not fair!!!!!

Even though the band weren't playing, we decided to have a drink in the bar anyway. It was strange being back in Coogee because that's where we all stayed during our first week in Sydney. After hacing a drink we decided to move on to get food, so we went to the restaurant that was right beside our old hostel. It's the one that had the $5 meals. They also serve pints which is rare in Oz!!!

After finishing food we decided to catch the bus back into the centre. There is a bar across the road from the hostel I was staying in, so we both decided to head there for a drink. The tv was showing the Wales v New Zealand rugby game from the previous day, and even though I knew that Wales had lost, I was quite happy watching the game. A guy from New Zealand then came over and joined us, and said he was celebrating because NZ had beaten Aus in the final of the rugby union the night before. After a couple of drink there I headed back to the hostel coz I needed to pack before getting up early this morning to catch the Greyhound bus to take me to Canberra. I had decided that I may as well visit the capital coz I was over here. It's not something that many people do because there isn't that much to do there, but I thought why not.

I got into Canberra by lunchtime, but couldn't check into the YHA where I'm staying until 1pm. I put my bags into a looker and decided to head off to explore because I'm only here for 24 hours. I decided to visit the War Memorial because a lot of people talk about it, and say it's one of the few things worth visiting in Canberra. They were right, it was really interesting. I spent a few hours there. It talked about Australia's involvment in the 1st and 2nd World Wars. It also explained what ANZAC day was, which I'd noticed was a big deal out here because a lot of places only close on Christmas Day and ANZAC day. ANZAC day is commemorated on 25th April each year to honour members of the Austrlian and New Zealand Army Corps who fought at Gallipoli in Turkey during World War 1.

On the way back to the hostel, I stopped off at the shopping centre, which happens to be a lot bigger than it looks from the outside. It seems to go on for ever. I've decided to pay another visit tomorrow, because I have to check out of the hostel by 10am, but my bus doesn't leave til 12:30. Oh dear ;-)

Fri 21st November. Byron to Surf Camp to Coffs Harbour and then back to Sydney

I ended up going to the cinema in Byron Bay to see 'Burn After Reading' with Brad Pitt and George Clooney. What a strange film!!! Worth watching, but still can't decide if I actually enjoyed it. Very weird!!

We were up early on Wednesday to catch the Oz Experience bus. This was taking us to Surf Camp which was a compulsory stop. At surf camp I had another surfing lesson which was great fun, but not as good as the Sydney one. The waves seemed huge there (though they probably weren't that big!!!) and it took so much energy to get out far enough to be able to surf back in it was mad!!! I did manage to stand up, though, and even attempted it without help from an instructor. After food, we then watched somone's Peter Kay DVD 'Live at Bolton Albert Hall' in the TV room, and had quite an early night. The next morning we were woken up at 6am for breakfast, and then caught the bus at 7 ready to take us to Coffs Harbour.

At Coffs Harbour we went to the local dolphin and seal sanctuary. I had my photo taken being kissed by a seal and a dolphin. That was a first!!! We then watched a dolphin and seal 'magic show', which was really good. It was pretty funny. I also got to feed a seal. After the show we went to feed some penguins. The breed that was there is the world's smallest breed of penguins. Once we'd finished there we went for a wonder into Coffs Harbour centre. There wasn't much there. I bought a new hand luggage bag coz mine broke, and had some lunch. In the evening we headed back into the centre to have food.

This morning we were collected by the Oz Experience bus at about 7:30 am (another early start - I thought this was supposed to be a holiday!!!). This would be my last time on the bus as it was taking me through to Sydney. It took about 8/9 hours all together, so arrived in Sydney late afternoon. I'm staying at 790 on George hostel here, and so far it looks ok. I'm booked in here for 3 nights, but not quite sure what I'll do after that and before I fly to New Zealand on Friday. Decisions, decisions.........

Tuesday 17th November - Surfers to Byron Bay. Here comes fun!!!

We had to check out of our hostel by 10 on Sunday morning, but weren't catching the Oz Experience bus from Surfers Paradise until 3 o'clock. So, after checking out and putting our bags into lockers we headed down to the beach. Whilst we were there there were children doing surf rescue life saving, which is something that is done a lot across Australia. There were loads of children there aswell as their parents, and also loads of helpers. It was quite amazing to watch, and the children seemed to get loads of enjoyment out of it.

After spending a couple of hours on the beach we headed back up to the hostel for some lunch. After making sure lunch took as long as possible, we collected our bags and then headed for the bus. Despite it being really hot and sunny during the morning, by now it had started to rain, and there was thunder and lightning. Apparently during the next couple of days Queensland saw their worst storm in 25 years!! It was only an hour and half on the bus to Byron Bay, but as we had now left Queensland and had entered New South Wales, the clocks had changed. They had moved forward an hour.

We checked into room number 13 (not a good start), and we were in an 8 bed dorm. Most people went out that night from our room, excpet for me, Sinead and another girl. Unfortunately, we discovered that we had the nosiest room mates ever at 1am. And it took them ages to settle down. Then the following morning, 2 girls checked out at about 6:30am, and once again they had no idea about how to keep the noise down. One of the guys in our room had set an alarm on his phone, and it went off around 8 times during the morning before he decided to switch it off. And then 2 other people checked in, made as much noise as possible before declaring that they had been travelling over night so were really tired and going to bed.

After getting ready, me and Sinead decided to walk to a lighthouse, which is next to the most Eastern point of mainland Australia. Despite it almost being summer in Australia, it was a case of trousers, trainers, waterproof, the lot!!! As we were walking towards the lighthouse (which was about 2.2km each way, up and down hills), we looked out to the sea and I thought I saw something there. It was far away though so I couldn't be sure. As we walked a bit further we looked again and there were loads of dolphins in the sea playing. There must have been about 8 alltogether.

We got the most Eastern point and to the lighthouse (I forgot my camera!! Took some photos on my mobile, but not got many unfortunately), and then on the way back we noticed that the dolphins had moved even closer. Looking again, we saw that away from the dolphins was also a whale. It was definately worth the walk just to see them. On the walk back some Brits came over to talk to us, and commented about the weather being just like home!! It was raining, windy, cold. After getting back and having a pie for lunch (def one of the plus sides about being in Australia!!!), we headed to the pub for a drink because there was nothing else to do. The hostel had put a board up suggesting things to do while it's raining, and they were literally:

• read,
• go on the internet,
• go drinking,
• go in the sea (you'll be wet anyway),
• go to Nimbin (local drugs area. Very well known - decided against it),
• Play board games.

That was about it. So, we spent the rest of the afternoon reading books, magazines, talking and eating. Thankfully then last night, the people who were noisy coming in the previous night weren't too bad. And there was no one checking out in the morning so managed to get quite a bit more sleep. The weather isn't much better today, still raining. The plan for the day is to head to the cinema this afternoon, and then get dominos pizza for food. It's cheap arse Tuesday, where everywhere has offers so is cheaper than usual. A large pizza is less than $5 which is not much more than 2 pounds. Cinema is $7.50, which is about 3 pounds 50.

Saturday 15th November - Brisbane to Surfers Paradise

On Wednesday I spent the day just wondering around the Southbank in Brisbane, and had a nice lunch and a couple of glasses of vino. Then, a few of us went on the Brisbane Eye (yes, just like the London one), and saw the sights of Brisbane. Wednesday night was spent out drinking (I'm really starting to think I'm an alcoholic!!), but thankfully didn't drink too much so could actually move the next day. I decided I wanted to go shopping the next day, and being in a city it was pretty simple!! I only actually bought a couple of things, and then managed to get a 10% discount, because the guy in the shop was Welsh, from Swansea. The rest of the day was just spent chilling in the Botanic Gardens again. Lush!!

On Friday I had to check out of my hostel (oh what a shame, I really liked the ice cold showers, the lights that only worked half the time, the aircon that was on way too high so was like the North Pole, and the leaking ceiling!) and catch the Oz Experience bus to Surfers Paradise. Once there me and Sinead decided to have a look at what there was to do, and we saw an advert for Abba Mania, a tribute band for Abba (obviously!!), and there was food included. It ended up being a really good night. Food was a roast (the 1st time Sinead had ever had a Yorkshire Pudding - after I'd explained to her it wasn't a pudding!) followed by apple crumble. The show was really good with everyone singing along and dancing. The only problem we had was that we weren't allowed into most of the bars because we were wearing flip flops (or thongs out here!).

Today, Saturday, has been a pretty lazy day. Stayed in bed late this morning, but then when I did get up we went for a game of tennis. This afternoon was then spent on the beach. The waves are amazing here (I take it that's why it's called Surfers Paradise!!!). We then found an Irish bar (there are millions of them here!) for food and a pint!! Irish bars are the only place you can get a pint in Australia pretty much. Everywhere else serves schooners, which are less than a pint, but more than a half.

Wednesday 12th November 2008 - Brisbane

Well I spent the weekend doing very little. I just walked around the city (a lot!), spent a couple of hours in the Botanic Gardens reading and watching lizards's chasing each other (not a sight you see often at home!). Saturday night I went to the cinema and watched 'How to make friends and alienate people' which was good. Then Sunday was a very similar day (even went back to the cinema and saw 'A night in Rodanthe'. We've been having problems with our hostel all weekend. The air con doesn't work, and it's really hot in the room, and the lights decide to switch off around 8pm, and turn back on around 11pm. Reception staff are useless and don't do anything about it. We've also got a shared bathroom between our room and one other, but the shower doesn't have a drop of hot water coming out of it!! It actually goes pretty well with the sauna of a room!!

Me and Sinead got up early on Monday to catch a train to go to Steve Irwin's zoo. Whilst there I fed an elephant and it slobbered all over my hand!! Must admit that it was a first. I also fed kangaroos, and saw loads of other animals including crocs, a camel, tigers, goats, koala's, a Tasmanian Devil. etc. It was a busy day, and after getting back we decided to go to the pub for food. Steak night for $8.90. Then stopped at another pub at the way home where a schooner of xxxx was $3.00 during happy hour.

Tuesday morning was really lazy. Didn't move far from bed at all!! Nice to have a morning like that sometimes. Then we had lunch and I went on the internet to sort out flights to New Zealand. I've decided to go over there for 10 days at the end of the month. Gonna be staying with family which will be nice. It'll be a novelty to not share a bedroom with 7 other people!! Afterwards we went to the pub (I'm spotting a pattern here!!), and over to a flat that 5 people have just rented out for 6 weeks. We got takeaway pizza and had a couple of glasses of wine before heading back to the hostel. The flat was lush though.

Saturday 8th November - week 1 in Brisbane

Well, on Tuesday I placed a bet on a horse for the Melbourne Cup, but didn't win anything :-( Did manage to spend a few hours in the pub though, which isn't such a bad thing. After that we went back to the hostel to change ready for our night out. It was a good night, but I really suffered the next day!! Didn't move from the hostel the next day and just felt sorry for myself. The only food I had on me were cereal bars, so just nibbled on them all day!!!

We checked out of our hostel on Thursday, and didn't have anywhere else to stay so spent a while phoning hostels to try and find one with vacancies (not an easy or fun task!!). We eventually got into a 4 bed at Cloud 9, so made our way over there. This one is a bit closer to the centre, which is good. After doing that we caught a taxi (tried to get a bus, but they are so confusing - we were sent to 3 different bus stops across the city and they were all the wrong ones) over to the planetarium. This was a nice afternoon, and after getting back into the city (managed the bus this time!!) did a bit of shopping and then headed back to the hostel.

Yesterday (Friday) we decided to go to the Warner Bros Movie World theme park. This park was pretty small compared to others, and also a lot of rides were shut for work because it was out of season. Despite this though it was a good day, saw Shrek in 4d, and managed a few rides!! We were all pretty tired last night then so just had a chill out night.

Today I am just planning to put my i-pod on and wonder around the city and see what I see pretty much.

4/11/08 - Brisbane (or Brisvegas!)

Caught the bus on Saturday at 4:30 to take me to Rainbow Beach which is a compulsory stop on the OzExperience bus. We arrived in the evening, had some food and then listened to a man play the didgeridoo. He then played a didgeritwo with another man (it's kinda 2 didgeridoo's that join together and make one at the end). We had to be up pretty early on Sunday to catch the bus at 8am to take us to Brisbane. There was a triathlon on in one of the town's we stop at so were a bit delayed trying to get through the diversions. We got to Brisbane soon after 1, and waited for the bus to take us to our hostel. First impressions of the hostel weren't great. The door of the rooms never seem to be locked, the bathroom is quite a walk away from the room, it's not all that clean, and 6 people in the room with us (out of 8) work, so have to get up early in the morning. That wouldn't be so bad if they actually switched their alarm off and got up. But some actually prefer to let their alarm go on and on. And then press the snooze button. Lots of times. When 6 people do that the chance of sleep is slim!!

After arriving and having a quick shower 4 of us went over to Sinead's cousins house for a barbie. We had a really nice afternoon, her cousin was really nice, and then headed to the pub (obviously an Irish bar - there's more of them than any other in Australia!!!). On our first full day here, we walked round lots of hostels trying to find a decent but cheap one to book into after our 4 nights in this one is up. We found one called Cloud 9, but couldn't book a bed until the next day. So we'll have to phone up later to see if we can get in. After that we just kinda walked around Brisbane trying to get our bearings. Brisbane seems like a really nice city, which I'm pleased about because I was really looking forward to coming here.

At 4pm 3 of us had booked onto the xxxx brewery tour, so caught the train out there. The tour was really good, and we could have 4 glasses of beer at the end, which was a nice way to end!!! Once that had finished we decided to go for a curry (it's been a while and we were missing them!!!), so found a curry house in the Westend. It was a nice night.

The Melbourne cup is on today, so going to place a bet on a horse later. One of the horses is called Newport, so gonna have to go for that. It's odds are about 50:1 though, so don't think it's got that much chance, but we'll see. It's also Jennie's birthday today, so going out tonight to celebrate.

1/11/08 Fraser Island camping (29/10 - 31/10)

On Wednesday we had to be up early (6am) to start our 2 night camping trip on Fraser Island. There was quite a lot of prep work to be done. To start with we were put into groups (9 in our group), and had to decide what food/drink we would need for the 3 days, 2 nights. 2 people then went shopping for that while the rest of us went to collect our camping stuff and pack the cars. After all this was done we drove over to the boat to take us over to Fraser Island. We had an itinary for Fraser Island, and could only drive during certain times of the day because when the tide was in it was impossible to drive on the beach. On the first day we went to Lake Wabby. After parking up on the beach it was a 45 minute walk to the lake (not an easy walk either). After getting there, and taking a few pictures it was then another 45 minutes back!! We made sandwiches then for lunch and then headed on to Eli Creek. We walked in the creek for a while, which is nice as it's fresh water that feeds into the sea. It's the biggest creek on the island that does this. Just down the beach from Eli Creek then was the Maheno Shipwreck. This was quite amazing to see. By this time it was getting on for 5 o'clock - the time we had to head to camp for the night.

We arrived at camp, and after a talk (don't feed the dingoes and other do's and don'ts) we put up the tents. This wasn't all that easy, but we managed it in the end. Apparently it was a 6 man tent but I have no idea where these 6 people were going to go. There were 3 of us in ours, and we could have got 1 more in. For food on the first night we had a barbie, washed down with plenty of goon to help us sleep!! That first night in the tent wasn't very comfortable, and no-one slept much.

We couldn't leave Base camp until 10:30 on day 2 because of the tide and we then headed towards Indian head. On the way there we saw a seal on the beach. Didn't think much of it until someone told us later on that it was very rare for seals to be on the beach there, and it had been reported. It was a baby one, and had probably got lost. Indian head was a stunning place. The sea was so pretty - loads of different colours of blue. You could see the animals swimming in it, and I was luck enough when I was there to see whales in the background jumping, and then sharks, turtles and fish swimming in the sea from the cliff where I was sitting. After seeing this we had lunch (sarnies again) and then walked for about 45 minutes along the beach towards Champagne Pools. The walk was a lot nicer than the Lake Wabby one, especially as you could walk with your feet in the water the whole way. It was really nice to sit on rocks here with feet dangling in the water. Until one point where I thought I'd knocked Maggie's foot with mine, looked down and saw a huge crab. It had knocked into me and Maggie at the same time. Thankfully it didn't pinch us, but we still moved quite quickly!!

We got back to Base Camp by 5 again that night. For food that night we had pasta with sauce and loads of veg in it. After food we all walked down to the beach, and lay down in the sand looking up at the stars. It was a very clear night and there were loads of stars. We also saw several shooting stars too. We were all shattered though and were in bed before 9!!

Day 3 started really early. We had to be leaving base camp by 6am to miss full tide. That meant getting up and ready, pulling the tents down and packing up the car by 6. 4:45am is probably my earliest morning here yet (though I have had a 5 I think!!). After packing up the car we headed to Lake Birrabeen. It took 2 hours to get there because it's very tough driving off the beach on Fraser Island. (There had been 2 accidents there with the company we were going with in the past 10 days). It was a very bumpy ride and there were times when you were almost flying off the seat (thankfully we had seatbelts - though not a proper one!). We didn't stay long at Lake Birrabeen because we knew we were heading to Lake McKenzie later on, which is in the top 10 of places to visit in the world (apparently Whitehaven beach in the Whitsundays where I was last weekend is in the top 5!). After Lake Birrabeen we headed onto Central Station. This was more a history thing, and had information about Fraser Island. After here we went to Lake McKenzie. It was a really pretty place. It is really nice to swim in freshwater lakes. We stayed there for a while before having lunch and heading back to the boat.

After arriving back in Hervey Bay and sorting the car and stuff out, we decided rather than fight with tons of other people for the showers to go to the pub. We went to an Irish bar and had a pint, only then to go to the hostel for food and a jug of beer for $8. It was Halloween so loads of people had dressed up. After finishing there I phoned Mam, had a shower, and went to bed. It wasn't even 9 so thought I'd read for a while and never thought I'd read coz the pub is right next to my dorm room, but after 2 pages of the book I fell asleep and didn't hear a single thing!! I did wake up this morning with a bad back though (prob a result of bouncing in that car for most of yesterday and sleeping on the floor pretty much for the last 2 nights!).

Fraser Island was a really pretty place, and I saw lots of wildlife (sharks, dolphins, whales, turtles, a seal, dingoes and a baby snake), but there is nothing like a proper bed and a pillow!!!

Tuesday 28/10/08 - Still in Hervey Bay

Been in Hervey Bay for 5 days now, and not done all that much. We went for a walk down onto the esplanade, and found that there weren't that many shops there. I went on the bus into the local shopping centre, but there actually aren't that many shops there. The woman at reception in our hostel asked if we had a bit of time to spare (strangely enough we did!!) and whether we fancied taking the hostel's puppy for a walk down the beach. There wasn't much else to do so decided that we might as well!!! Dora the puppy was pretty big and very lively. It wasn't so much a walk as a run to start with, and then Sinead took over on the beach and ended up completely covered with sand!!! We did get free internet access at the hostel for our efforts though, which was good.

We booked a whale watching trip while we were here, and went Sunday afternoon. We really hoped we'd see something as it's coming to the end of the season, and the trips are stopping in the next week or 2. But, on the boat they said that they had seen more whales this year than ever before. We saw quite a few, and they were all mothers and babies. They were very interested in the boat though and kept coming up and nosing, and the mothers would show off their babies!! Because it's the end of the season, all the males have already gone for the Summer. Other than that we haven't actually done much here. We bought a box of goon when we arrived and it pretty much lasted us our time in the hostel, I have watched more tv in the last few days, than I have since leaving the UK!! We also had an organised day where I spent ages on the computer sorting out all my future trips, especially for Melbourne and the red centre in January. Doing that though has made me realise how little time I have here and how quick the time is actually going. I've been here 6 weeks today, which is really strange!!!

We have changed hostels today to the beaches hostel, because we get 2 free nights with our Fraser Island camping package. We are off tomorrow morning on the 3 day 2 night trip. It's gonna be an experience!!! After that the plan is to head to Rainbow Beach on Saturday for the night, and then down to Brisbane on Sunday where I plan to stay for 2 or 3 weeks.

Friday 24th October - arrived at Hervey Bay

Went out for the drinks Monday night with the people from the boat trip, and a lot of the original ozintro group came out aswell so it ended up being a very good (and drunk!!) night. Most of the following day was wasted with me not moving far from the hostel to McDonalds and back again!! Wednesday morning I had to get up early (5:45am) to catch the OzExperience bus down to Hervey Bay. It would take 2 days to get there as we were stopping at a cattle ranch overnight. We got to the cattle ranch at around 6pm, had a beer and waited for food. For food we had soup to start followed by a roast dinner. It was really nice. After food we learnt how to crack a whip (I managed it!!), and then saw how long we could stay on a mechanical bull (I didn't manage that 2 well!!). Then had a couple more beers and went to bed. This was the scary part. There were bugs and cobwebs everywhere on the cattle ranch, and the gap at the bottom of the door was massive. The were also huge gaps in the wall (a ghecko got in and was wondering around). The toilets were outside, so tried to make sure I didn't need to go in the middle of the night!! Didn't manage that!!! One of the girls in the next room had a mouse in her bag that night, and another one the next morning!!

Needless to say I didn't sleep too well that night, and was awake from about 4am listening to the birds. We then had our alarm call at 6am. This was a man standing outside our room shouting that it was 6am, check out was open, breakfast was ready, and we all needed to be on the bus by 7am. He then fired 3 shots from his gun up into the air. I've got to admit it wasn't the best way to be woken up!! Some people had chosen to go horse riding and clay pigeon shooting. I didn't want to do these so assumed I could sit at the cattle ranch or on the bus and read/sleep. I was wrong. We all had to go and take part in activities such as wrestling with goats and standing in a circle and being shocked with a cattle prod. We were all holding hands so the current went around the whole circle. At 7am I don't really find this fun, so needless to say wasn't impressed!!!

After all this the people going horse riding and the people not were split into 2 groups. The group not horse riding were basically told to walk to the top of a hill. It would take 20 mins, but we had 2 hours to get back to the bus. After about 10-15 mins of walking, 2 of us had enough, made our way back to the cattle ranch where we bought chocolate, sat, ate and complained!!! 2 hours later we had to catch the bus. We then had 6 hours to sit on a bus to get to our final destination. We weren't in the best of moods when we arrived at Hervey Bay, and had no idea how to get to our hostel. 2 of us went for a cheaper hostel than everyone else to save a bit of money, but we were stuck at a shopping centre with our bags, while the other hostels had minibuses to collect people, we didn't. We asked the OzExperience bus driver how to get there and he said that he knew where it was but didn't know how we were going to get there. He wasn't the most helpful of people!!! We got the phone number of the hostel from the lonely planet guide, phoned them up and they sent a car to collect us. At this point we were thinking that this place would be a dump after the last 2 days, and because it was cheaper than everywhere else, so were just waiting to see where we would be sleeping for the next 2 nights.

We were pleasantly surprised. The hostel was lovely. It was very homely, had plants and incense sticks, etc in the room, had a huge common room with kitchen, tv room, etc. and it was small so not many people staying there. There were also magazines in the room for us to read. On the way over to the hostel we had stopped at a bottle shop to buy goon ($13 for 4 litres - that about 6 quid), and sat in the hostel room, drinking goon out of plastic cups - very classy. After cooking food we had an early night. We haven't done much today. We went to the supermarket and found out that a saying about Hervey Bay was very true. One book has said that it is God's Waiting Room, because people come here to die basically. We walked into the supermarket and the average age was about 80!!! We then passed a sign on the street for meals on wheels!!! Despite this though, Hervey Bay is a nice place to chill for a few days, before doing Fraser Island trip next week.

Monday October 20th - Whitsunday Island Trip

I got back today from my sailing trip around the Whitsunday Islands. It was fantastic. The Whitsundays are a group of 74 islands, to the east of Australia, that's surrounded by the Great Barrier Reef. We left on Saturday at lunchtime, then sailed for a few hours to get out to the Whitsundays. The name of our boat was Powerplay. It was pretty rough on the way out, and half the boat were feeling ill!! We eventually arrived though, and got ready to go out into the water. This was at a bay called Luncheon bay. I went snorkelling here. I did try scuba diving, but it's not for me!!! I'm sticking to the snorkelling. It was a fantastic. We saw loads of fish and coral. It was like swimming in a tropical fish tank. Some of the fish were pretty big, and would just swim up to you.

After that we headed back on the boat for a snack of cheese and crackers, and then settled for the night. We all took alcohol on with us so we could drink that, and had barbequed chicken and salad for food. After getting on the boat, they started showing people to their room. Me and Sinead were 2 of the last ones to be shown, and when they came to us in the saloon (the lounge of the boat) they basically said you are sleeping here. We asked where and they said the table. We both looked at each other and laughed thinking that they were joking, but they were serious. They could lower the table, put a mattress on it and that was a queen size bed for me and Sinead to share for the night. There were 2 tables in the saloon, and 2 crew members were sleeping on the other one!! There were also 4 girls sleeping above us on top of the back of the chairs. Sleeping where we were though meant that we had no shelter because you walked right out from the room onto the deck. We just kept laughing at this, but it turned out that we had a much better deak than everyone else. They all had tiny rooms, that were just a bed basically. It was so stuffy downstairs, that everyone woke up the next morning feeling pretty rough. I had a pretty ok night sleep considering it got really blustery during the night and the boat was really rocking.

The next morning the skipper started moving around at 5:30 getting things ready to move on. She actually thought it was 6:30, and the rest of the crew weren't amused. It meant though that we got moving earlier so could fit more into the day. We went snorkelling again at another bay that morning after breakfast, which was really good again, though it did start raining, got quite blustery and cold!! After that we travelled down to tongue bay, and Whitehaven beach, which is stunning. Whitehaven beach has got the softest sand - 98% Silica. Apparently it is the most photographed beach in Australia. It really was stunning. We stayed around on the beach for a while taking silly photos of us posing and of the views, and then headed back to the boat ready to sail to our sleep destination fo the night. After getting back, we had food, a few drinks and a really good laugh. There happened to be 5 Irish people onboard, and we all laughed so much!! The crew were taking photos of the trip, and every evening we watched a slideshow of the photos. That night I had a really good night sleep. It apparently rained hard during the night, everyone downstairs heard it but me and Sinead were quite happy upstairs and didn't hear a thing. We were pretty much outside and didn't hear anything. Woke up at 6am then ready to go for a walk on another beach that morning. We left the boat at 6:30 to go for a short 1km walk that took us from one beach to another. The walk reminded me of Autumn at home because it was a narrow track and it was covered with brown, orange and yellow leaves that had fallen off the trees.

After the walk and breakfast, we headed back to Airlie Beach, which was the end of our trip!! It was a fantastic few days. Don't think I've laughed that much in ages!! And saw some fantastic and stunning sights. Everyone from the boat is meeting up for drinks and a bit of food tonight, so that'll be good.

Friday 17th October - Maggie Island to Airlie Beach

After spending the day in the car on Monday, me and Sinead caught the boat over to Townsville on Tuesday to do a bit of shopping. The centre of Townsville to be honest wasn't that great. There was just a handfull of shops, and that was it. Went to a tourist information point to see what else there was to do and we were told that there were other shopping centres. Managed to catch a but and head out to one of these shopping centres, and to be honest it was much better than Townsville centre. We spent a few hours there, before heading back to the centre. In the centre we met up with Bethan and Elin, and had a chat with them before heading back over to Maggie Island on the boat, for an evening of drinking and eating.

Didn't leave the hostel on Wednesday at all. Spent my time on the internet booking flights to Melbourne for December (managed to get a return for 78 quid), and looking at hostels. Also spent time on the beach that's pretty much attached to the hostel just chilling and watching the divers do their course. Maggie and Chris are 2 of these divers. It was a bit worrying though, there was a croc that had made it's way into one of the bays on Maggie Island. It was just round the corner from where we were staying. It was quite big news in the area, and there were people keeping an eye on it, making sure it didn't get any closer into the bay. If it did that they were going to attempt to push it back out into the sea. The croc hadn't moved by the time that me and Sinead left, but Maggie sent me a message earlier saying her diving course had to be stopped on Thursday because the croc had moved into where they were diving, which was the bay I had been staying in.

We had to check out of base on Thursday, catch the boat over to Townsville, ready to catch the Oz Experience bus to take us to Airlie Beach. The bus journey took about 4 hours. I'm not looking forward to the next one though, it takes around 10 hours!! We checked into the Beaches hostel at Airlie Beach, and it's got a pretty good bar underneath. Me and Sinead and a few other we'd met went down for a few drinks, but then had quite an early night. So far today we haven't done too much. We got a bus out to the supermarket to stock up on some food, and that's about it. There doesn't seem to be much to do on Airlie Beach, so we will probably be moving on pretty quickly after the 2 day boat trip that we are doing Saturday til Monday.

Monday 13th October - Mission beach to Maggie Island

Caught the water taxi over to Dunk Island last Thursday - it only took about 10 mins to get over there. Once we'd arrived we found somewhere to have some food, and then just chilled for a few hours. I found a deckchair but the sea, read, listened to my ipod, and then swam in the sea when it got too hot!! After catching the water taxi back we decided to get ready and head into Mission Beach that was about 6kms away because there was a pool night in one of the local pubs and it was promising to be a good night. It wasn't. It ended up being pretty boring, only 2 pubs open and no bottle-shop so couldn't even get some booze and head down to the beach.

We had to check out of Scotty's on Friday because we were catching the Oz Experience bus down to Magnetic Island. The bus picked us up about 1pm, and then slowly headed down to Townsville, where we caught the ferry over to Magnetic (Maggie) Island. There was a full moon at our hostel Friday night. These were supposed to be really good parties, so we were all looking forward to that. We got to our hostel, changed, had food and then waited for the party to start. It wasn't as busy as we thought it would be, it wasn't a full moon, we weren't allowed on the beach, and the music was rubbish. We all got pretty drunk and enjoyed though. It finished at around 5:30am, and because it was starting to get light a few of us decided to watch the sunrise over the sea. Unfortunately it was cloudy so all we saw was the sky getting lighter!!!

Saturday didn't really happen for most of us - it was a day spent sleeping. I did manage to get up by about 10:30 though, have a cooked breakfast, and then head back to bed. The next thing that I knew it was 4pm. A few of us got up then and headed out for more food, before having an early night!!

Sunday was a bit more energetic! We headed to a koala sanctuary. That was really good. I got to hold a koala, a snake, a baby croc, a big bird and a blue tongued skink. It was a really good afternoon. After that we stayed around there and had food (pizza!) and a few drinks.

Got up quite early today (Monday) and caught the bus to take us to a car rental place. I hired a pink tropical topless car with furry steering wheel cover and everything!! We then spent the day travelling around the island (that worked out to be pretty small). We saw some rock wallabies on our travels though, which was fun.

Thursday October 9th

We all had the barbie Monday night, that Annie cooked. After that it was a few drinks and then bed! On Tuesday a lot of the group went sky diving. The first 3 went at 7 in the morning. I planned to go and watch them land on the beach, but they got back before I was ready!! They were quicker than I thought. And they actually landed on the next beach up and not the one outside the hostel. They next 3 went at about 1. The driver told them that they would be landing on the next beach up so a few of us managed to get a lift over to watch them. We waited for ages, and one group landed but none of our friends, and then another plane went up and they landed, but again still no-one from our group. We went and asked one of the instructors where they were, and they said they had requested to land on the beach outside the hostel and had phoned up to let us know, because they didn't know that we would have got a lift to the next beach. So we managed to miss them aswell!!

After that I went and posted a box of clothes back home, stuff that I haven't been wearing -thought it would make my bag lighter to carry! After that me and Maggie had a walk around Mission Beach, but there was only a handful of shops there, and it was so hot. We got back to the hostel, and jumped in the pool!! The bar next to the hostel has free wine (well goon!) between 5:30 and 6:30 so we made sure we were there for that, and afterwards we stayed for food. I ate kangaroo. They will only cook it rare or medium rare, because any more than that makes the kangaroo tough, so I ate it medium rare. I managed to eat most of it, but the rest seemed to disappear into other people's mouths!! The kangaroo was pretty good though. After a few more drinks, we went to the tv room to watch people's sky dive dvd's. They were really funny, seeing their faces as they were sitting on the plane waiting and when they first jumped out!!

Yesterday (Wednesday) I had to get up pretty early because I was going whitewater rafting with Maggie and Chris. We had a fantastic day, stopped for a barbie at lunch time, and spent the rest of the time rafting. There were 9 boats all together, and the rest all seemed to sit down in the boat to go through the rapids, but our instructor made sure that we worked through them by paddling, saying that we were properly rafting, and not just on a disneyland ride!! It was great fun. Got a couple of bruises for my efforts, but that's about it. There was one point where he said that he was going to make us purposefully fall into the water, that was fun. Every boat did that, but later on we stayed back behind the other groups, and he told us that he was going to tip the boat with us in it. We were the only group to do this, but again it was a really good laugh. We were all completely shattered afterwards, but still managed a couple of beers, before making our way to the pub next door for the free wine. There was a pool competition on there and between 8:30 and 9:30 all the ladies had free champagne. All you can drink - made the most of that 2!! All night I had bought one glass of wine that was $4 so about 2 quid. Probably one of the cheapest nights out I've had for a while!! We ate at the pub again, and I had lamb t-bones this time. But, there were cooked rare. I managed to eat about half of them. But once again, my leftovers were cleared up!!!

Managed to have a little lie-in this morning, and then having a lazy morning, before going over to Dunk Island @ 12:30. Looking forward to that, and getting there on a water taxi.

Mon 6/10/08 - Crocs, Roos and Mission Beach

I went to watch the rugby @ Shennanigans pub yesterday afternoon, where Manly beat Melbourne in style. After getting back, it was my turn to cook, so made pasta bolognaise. Then after a shower went to bed.

Alarm then went off @ 6am this morning. Not good. But got my stuff sorted and walked over to meet the Oz Experience bus. We were on the bus for a couple of hours before stopping for breakfast in a town called Innisfail. After brekkie we got back on the bus and headed for a crocodile farm. It was pretty amazing there. There were loads of crocs, emus, kangaroos, dingos, peacocks and 2 cassowaries.

The kangaroos were running free and would just come straight up 2 us and we fed them. One kangaroo had a joey in its pouch, so cute!! We then saw someone feeding the crocs. He was mad. He would walk into the cage with just a stick and a dead piece of meat and would make the crocs come out of the water and snap a few times before giving them the meat. The dingos were cute aswell, and I managed to hold a baby one.

After the croc park we got back on the bus to travel the rest of the way to Mission Beach. I've got no mobile signal at all here. Whilst here I'm planning to go white water rafting, and get a boat over to Dunk Island. We're having a barbie 2nite. I can't believe how hot it is here. This is the hottest place I've been to so far, about 37 degrees c 2day. I thought it would b a bit cooler than Cairns that was around 30 degrees, because we're further south.

Sunday 5th October - back in Cairns

Got up early yesterday morning to go horseriding at 8am. The horse I was given was called Billy. We went horseriding through the rain forest, and then down onto the beach. We were supposed to canter on the beach but Billy decided he didn't fancy it so we didn't do more than trot. There were other people on the beach and he was pretty wary of them. After having photos taken we started to walk off the beach when a branch fell down from the coconut tree, which spooked a few of the horses, including Billy. Billy didn't really like walking through the puddles on the ground (it had been raining heavily the night before), so would avoid them which usually meant walking through the bushes and me getting soaked!

We then had another opportunity to canter, and he managed it that time. We stopped off for juice and crackers at one point during the morning, and then got back to the hostel by lunch time. After having lunch we had about 4 hours to wait for the bus to collect us to take us back to Cairns. We just sat in the bar, had a drink and played card games. The bus back took almost 3 hours, but thankfully I slept for most of it!! After getting back into Cairns, and eventually checking into our hostel (they'd made a mistake and booked us in for 2 nights starting on the day we're leaving!), we showered, had a pizza, a couple of drinks and then went to the Woolshed, which is an infamous club in Cairns. The tables are used for dancing, and you can drink Sex on the Beach slush puppies! Sinead and Annie joined the rest of us for that.

Got up about 9 2day coz we had 2 check out by 10, to check back in at 12. That's one annoying thing about hostels, u sometimes have to change rooms after a night or so and that involves checking out, storing your luggage, and then checking back in a couple of hours later. After checking out I wondered over to the shopping centre, and just browsed around the shops. Thinking this afternoon is going to be quite lazy again, coz we've got to catch a bus at 7 am tomorrow. Will prob go to the pub later though coz there's a rugby league final game on. It's the Manly Sea Eagles versus Melbourne Storm.

Cape Tribulation

We all got up at 6am to get ready to catch the bus 2 go to Cape Tribulation yesterday (Thursday), and found out that we had almost an extra hour coz we read the time wrong. We still ended up rushing round though!! We stopped several times on the way 2 Cape Tribulation, to start with at Mossman Gorge, that was freezing with water running straight from the mountains. We the stopped off to go on a boat on the Daintree River to look for crocs and stuff. We saw a bird, one snake and 2 baby crocs. We then crossed the Daintree River on a ferry, and stopped again at an icecream place that makes exotic fruit flavoured ice cream. It was ok but I don't think it was anything special.

We arrived at PK's (where we are staying for 2 nights at Cape Trib), and most of us ended up in different rooms (Me and Sam are together, Chris and Simon, and then Maggie is by herself). Outside Maggie's room is the biggest spider ever!! It's bigger than your hand and it is a golden orb. She doesn't move much though, and her name is Penny. I'm so pleased she's not outside my room though!! The rooms are basically empty sheds here with beds in them. Me and Sam are pretty nervous coz of what bugs there could be around, and we found a good way 2 help us sleep - we went straight to the bar when we got here bout half 4, and stayed there til pretty much closing time!! I ended up sleeping ok!!

There was a pool competition here last night, and Chris decided to enter. When it came to his turn he ended up playing against a child. The child only looked about 10, but he was a really good pool player!! Chris won by 1 ball. I went jungle surfing this morning, and it was better than I expected. I'm not great with heights so I was a bit worried about it. There were 2 really little kids doing it though, so I decided if they could then so could I. There were 5 different parts, and all the platforms were at different heights from the trees. I would do it again though, coz it was amazing to see the rainforest, and the sea all at once. It poured down with rain though at one stage so I got soaked. On the way back then on the bus I whacked my head, and have now got a nice bumb!! Very clever!! After getting back from jungle surfing we had lunch, and then I had a glass of wine (it had to be done really!!).

We all then decided to go for a walk down to the beach. It is apparently the only beach where the rainforest meets the sea, and the reef. On the way down there we passed loads of small bright red crabs. I went into the sea, and it was pretty warm. After that we decided to try and get a coconut down from the tree. Chris tried many times to get it down, but unfortunately didn't quite manage it. As we were sitting on the sand, the sun came out and it was pretty warm, then literally a couple of minutes later it poured down. We got so soaked. We tried to shelter under the trees, but it didn't help much. Luckily we were only a couple of minutes walk away from where we were staying, so made it back and then jumped straight in the shower!!

The rest of the day so far has been pretty lazy. I played pool with Maggie (I won - just!! It was down to the black ball!!), and that's about as energetic as it got really!!

Wednesday Oct 1st 2008

I spent yesterday doing very little!! I went 4 a wonder around the shopping centre, had breakfast out, and then chilled all afternoon with Simon and Chris, and then had a $5 bbq at the hostel followed by a couple of beers. I had 2 b in bed pretty early thuogh coz was getting up at 6am 2day 2 go snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef.

I managed 2 get up on time, and sort my bags out (we were changing rooms at the hostel so had to check out of one, and then check into the other after getting back from the snorkelling). After sorting all that out I made my way 2 the marina 2 catch the boat that was taking us snorkelling. The boat journey took not far off 3 hours, but once we arrived we could pretty much get straight in the water. This was the first time I'd ever been snorkelling so I started off with one of the instructors. It was amazing - it was so chilled and peaceful under the water, and the fish were swimming so close 2 u. I saw tons of different fish, not that I could name half of them!! I did find Nemo though!! ;-)

After a while snorkelling, we all had lunch, which was salad, pasta, potatoes, and meat. Once we'd finished our lunch we could get back in the sea again. This time I was brave and did it myself!! I really enjoyed it and fancy doing it again. On the boat on the way back I did notice one problem though - I'd burnt the back of my legs. Ouch!! They're pretty painful at the moment, especially when I sit, which is quite a lot of the time!!!

After the nice, long, bumpy boat journey back (which included a glass of wine, cheese and fruit), I managed to get back to the hostel and check in2 my new room. I'm sleeping in a top bunk for the first time so that will be an experience. Hopefully I won't fall out - there are bars at the sides so it's a bit like a cot I suppose!! It's prob gonna b another early night tonight as off 2 Cape Tribulation tomorrow for 2 nights, where I'm gonna b jungle surfing and horse riding on the beach. Sleeping in the jungle is scary though - there are loads of bugs about. Here goes..........

Tuesday September 30th

I booked into the YHA hostel in the centre of Cairns yesterday with Sam, Maggie, Chris and Simon, and it seems like a really nice hostel. It's got a pool and a jacuzzi - can't b bad. Spent the day wondering round the shopping centre (bought a new i-pod), claimed my docs money back, posted my postcards (at long last) and went food shopping. Chris cooked last night then (pasta, tomato sauce and sausages - mmmm!!), and then me, Chris and Simon went to the cinema to see Wall-E. It was a cute film!! After getting back to the hostel we just sat up chatting til just gone midnight and then headed off 2 bed. A very chilled out day yesterday!! I have booked in 2 do the reef day trip tomorrow, though where I go snorkelling. It's an early start, got 2 b there by 7:50am, but hope it will b worth it.

Monday 29/09/08 - still in Cairns

That bit of colour I caught turned out 2 b sunburn, especially on my back. Ouch!! After a couple of drinks at the hostel bar Sat night ($2.50 for a glass of wine - that's just over a pound - I love happy hour!!), went 2 bed and the whole room managed 2 sleep in until pretty much midday. The rest of the day was pretty much the same - lazy!! Decided 2 phone hostels 2 book for xmas and new year (been putting it off and hostels seem 2 b really filling up!), and was lucky - the 1st hostel had vacancies. It's only a 10 min walk from the centre of Sydney, and we can fit 6 of us in the same room. It was $36 a night, which was a bit of a shock coz most hostels are between 60-70 dollars over xmas time. The reviews seem ok 4 it 2, but there must b a catch somewhere.........

After booking that, and also booking a full moon party at Magnetic Island, a couple of us caught the bus into Cairns 2 get stuff 4 food - it was my turn 2 cook so I made chicken fajita's. Got 2 admit they were pretty good. After a couple of drinks (happy hour again!) we made our way 2 bed. Most of the room were getting up early this morning, coz they were goibng on their cape tribulation tour. We were all woken @ 5am though, coz someone turned up and was checking in2 the spare bed in our room. I then just got myself up and ready in my own little time, checked out and then had a bacon sarnie for breakfast. It's pretty annoying though, I still haven't got my appetite back after being ill, so only managed half the sarnie. Not good :-(

My plans for 2day r pretty boring unfortunately (finding the medicare centre 2 claim back for my doctors appointment, find a post office, and do my laundry). Life in Oz is pretty exciting!!

Saturday 27/09/08 - chillin in Cairns

After feeling ill yesterday, I started 2 feel a bit better again 2day. Have had a really lazy day tho. We walked over 2 the Lagoon which is in the town, and ended up sleeping and chilling there all day. Have started 2 catch a bit of colour, which is good, especially on my arms. Booked 2 more nights at Calypso hostel, but had 2 move rooms. That's not 2 bad tho. Will b finding a different hostel for Monday tho. Some people are starting their day trips and things on Monday, but I've decided to stay around Cairns 4 a few more days just chilling and walking round until I know I'm completely better so that I can completely enjoy what I'm doing. A few people from the original group are doing the same thing tho, which is good.

Friday 26/09/08

Well, after my busy day meeting the stars we decided 2 go out 4 a couple of drinks in our hostel for as beach party theme. Ended up having cheap drinks, but coz still feeling poorly was in bed b4 midnight. Then couldn't stop coughing though and was awake til bout 3am. Got some good pics from that night, and they've gone onto facebook. Thursday morning got up and after checking out of base hostel (the nicest hostel yet) caught a bus with 2 of the others and went back 2 Palm beach coz we had been told that Home and Away would b filming there again. When we arrived we saw the filming vans and stuff, so we were in luck. As we were walking towards the surf club we saw Miles and had our photo taken with him. He was lovely and really chatty, even telling us where he lived and stuff!! We then wondered down onto the beach and saw that Roman and Martha were filming a scene. So, we went and watched them filming for a while before decidin we should get going coz we were catching a flight to Cairns that night. As we got to leave we passed Leah from the show, and ended up having pics taken with her 2.

We then got our bags from the hostel and caught a taxi out 2 Coogee 2 the Ozintro office so that we could collect our tickets for everything that has been booked for us (decided to book open tickets for loads of stuff 2 do down the East coast including jungle surfing, a reef day trip, horse riding on the beach, Fraser Island and Whitsundays, Maggie Island, and the bus that's taking us down). We sorted all that out at ozintro, and gave Gary (Our guide there) a pic of us as a present and a t-shirt with a pic of us on it, with the words "If Carlsberg did ozintro guides...".

Once we'd sorted this out, checked in online, and picked up cd's of all our photos so far we caught a taxi 2 take us to the airport. We were flying at 7:25. We ended up being bout half hour late flying, but made up loads of time and arrived in Cairns bout 10 mins early. After collecting our bags we caught a taxi to take us to the Calypso hostel. At the hostel it's like being in Jamaica or somewhere, it all seems very tropical. There's a pool here 2, which is nice. There r 4 of us sharing a room here. The toilet is outside though, which is pretty scary when u think of the bugs in this area. It's all very clean though.

We all managed to sleep in this morning, and I woke up feeling really rough again. I'm getting fed up of this being ill now coz not enjoying things as much as I should, and just want 2 spend half my time sleeping. We bought some noodles from the shop 2 cook 4 lunch and then went 4 a walk 2 tha lagoon. People aren't supposed 2 b swimming in the sea around here - it's full of crocs. The lagoon seemed really pretty, but as I was feeling rough again, I left everyone there and went back for a sleep. We've got 2 decide later now whether we r gonna b staying here after tonight, or moving on 2 a different hostel............

What a day!! Wow!!!

We decided to go 2 Palm beach 2day 2 c if we'd b lucky enough 2 c Home and Away being filmed. Took an hour and a half on the bus, and when we arrived the beach was pretty empty!! Thankfully someone told us that they were filming at another beach about 10 mins away on the bus, so off we went again, and yup they were there. There was only Charlie and Roman from the programme there, but it was pretty cool watching them filming scenes in the water (especially as Roman took his shirt off!! After they finished filming we got our pics taken with him :-)

After that we went to Manly beach and then caught the ferry back into Sydney. We have now moved to Base hostel in the centre of Sydney (after wake up and yha being full and having to walk half way round the city!). Thankfully people were really helping me with my bags coz still feeling pretty rough.

Monday 22/09/08

Well, ended up not going on the bar crawl Saturday night - felt too ill. Sam didn't go either. Ended up phoning Mam, getting a McDonalds, eating about 2 mouthfulls, and then going 2 bed. Was then up ill during the night then which is really unfair because I was one of the few not actually drinking!!! Didn't move very far on Sunday (yesterday). Spent the day sleeping, reading and went 4 a walk up 2 the ozintro office so sort out what we are going to do next. I was supposed to be doing the blue mountains trip 2day but that's a 7am start and a long day walking, so decided prob not the best idea. I told Gary at ozintro that I was not going 2 go and he said that because I had given them notice I would be able to do it again with another group. Pleased about that coz I really wanted to do it. You see kangaroos there so disappointed I couldn't go 2day.

Ended up having an early night last night again! After everyone had left for the blue mountains, I got showered and made my way up to the doctors. It's amazing - they see you pretty much straight away. No interrogation by the reception staff or anything. Nothing like home. The doctor told me I had bronchitis, a fever and an inflammed throat. Thankfully he gave me antibiotics so hopefully they'll start working soon. Had such an exciting day after that - reading, sleeping and did my washing!! I didn't realise that Australia would be quite this exciting!!! :-)

Got our farewell dinner 2nite up Sydney tower. And I'm determined to go!!! I'm pretty sure that the rest will head out drinking after and I'll be back in bed!! But I'm determined to make the dinner!!

I had a text message of Sinead earlier asking how I was and she told me the trip wasn't going 2 plan. They were late being collected because the guide was ill, they then had 2 swap guides agan so they ended up not being able to go and see the kangaroos. I might actually be the lucky one out of this!!!

20/09/08

Went 2 Bondi yesterday, and spent an hour or so chilling on the beach. After that we did the Bondi to Coogee coastal walk, stopping for a bbq, a couple of beers and a few games of volleyball on Clevelli beach (Of course the team I was in won!!!!!). The walk was pretty tough going, especially as I'd woken up feeling ill, but was definately worth it. After getting back and showering we came to the ozintro office for a work and travel talk (and another beer), which lasted about an hour or so. After that most people went out for food, but poorly me went straight to bed, and slept through until this morning.

Woke up this morning then feeling worse, with very little voice. Thankfully we've got nothing planned til tonight, and as most people were climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge, me and Sinead went to Bondi beach again to chill. It was a lot busier than yesterday, as it was Saturday. It was next to impossible to get a bus back coz they were all full before reaching our bus stop so we splashed out and just got a taxi. Today is definately the hottest day so far, it's pretty warm out there but no major signs of a tan yet which is pretty disappointing! Got a bar crawl tonight where we're dressing up as marathon runners (the Sydney marathon is tomorrow!).