Hi there, all you lovely people that bother to check this!!!!

So what have we been doing this week, I hear you cry! WEll Aine did her swim with dolphins in Coffs harbour, wow! It was amazing to watch so doesn't take much to work out that she had a fantastic day! we went early to see the dolphins and sea lions perform, they were really good, was well worth the day out, watching dolphins jump through hoops, have races, play ball, and see the sealions doing handstands, clapping, and showing off! It was a really great day. Aine got to spend about 45 mins with the lovely Calamity who had been rescued after getting caught in fishing line. All the dolphins and sealions are rescued after having being chught by human chaos somewhere along the way, the ones they keep and train are the ones they can't return to the wild.

From there we went up to Byron Bay, lovely little place with cool shops and lots of beaches to amble along. we were in need of a constructive day so we went for a walk to the light house, you can see for miles from there! was a gorgeous day and we could see all the wild dolphins swimming with the surfers just behind the breaks and riding the waves, looked like so much fun! Have to say we haven't even had time for a swim yet, either weather been a bit cold or we've been too busyrunning about trying to see all the sights. How people do the east coast in a few weeks i will never know. We have top struggle to keep moving to see all the things on the list! I think from hereup most of the list involves sitting on beaches and chasing the sunshine so should get easier!

After Byron was Nimbin! For those of you who have been to glastonbury, it's like a concentrated Greenfields made into a village. they are the only area to have voted in the green party, most things run on solar power, the sheer quantity of hippy head shops selling everything possible made from hemp kind of gives you an idea what the town is about. For those of you who know me better, 10 yrs ago i would have gone for a day and never left, the place is full of hippies and so chilled out it's lovely if you like that kind of thing! They were short of beds so we had the Tee-Pee tent with 2 Irish girls. we settled in for the nite with a box of 'goon' (the 4ltr cheep wine for $10) and got puddled enough that we didn't realise how stupidly cold it was till about 4am!

From there we headed up to Surfers Paradise for 3 whole nites! We felt shattered from all the constant moving round and just needed a free day to do nothing! we chilled out on the beach, watched some tv for the first time in 6 weeks, ordered a pizza, WOW was that luxury! We didn't have to cook! we went out on the town for a nite, had a drink, (or 2, or maybe more, all a bit of a blur!) stayed up late, got up early, chilled out on a beach some more, was all pretty chilled but well needed! the last nite there we treated ourselves to a slap up meal out that we felt we had earned! Any excuse really, well we are on holiday after all! Aine had the biggest caesar salad i have ever seen, with side chips! Was huge! I needed real meat so went for a fantastic steak and chips, God it tasted sooooo good! Real meat, not just cheap stuff! was lovely.

What after that? we plodded up the coast, running full spead past the chaos of Brisbane, sat in a park for lunch, basked in the sun for an hour to let the monster traffic jam dissapear un noticed, then went to a very quiet and cute little place up the coast for the nite, not entirely sure where, will have to get back to you on that! the hostel was lovely and had a very wonky pool table so we had an early nite there.

Which brings us to yesteray, and i have 10 mins left on the net so will be short and sweet! We went to Australia zoo! Home of the crocodile hunter, We had a really lovely day. Cost $46 to get in but well worth it! we cuddled Koalas, patted crocodiles, fed Elephants, watched tiggers drink milk from a carton! saw a man nearly get eaten by a crocodile, was a really fun day, they have a shrine wall dedicated to the great Steve Irwin. the whole zoo is lovely and really well done, they have shows on all the time andreally hands on with the animals, they take the wombats for a walk so you can pet them! really good fun.

Stayed in Noosa last nite, had a trivea quiz, which we lost, met upwith an old friend from New Zealand, just need to sort out a Fraser island trip and whitsundays and we can chill on the beach the rest of the day.

Gotta go, money about to run out! Love to you all, and great big hugs from both of us. xxx