Hello everyone!

It's been a while again since we last updated. We stopped off in Queenstown for 3 nights which was followed by 3 hangovers! Loads of fun but not good for the wallet! We found the famous fergburgers which was at 3am in the morning best time to have a ferg. Then again for dinner on are last night before leaving. After winning the plastic bag dress up comp we won a ticket for Maddog River Boarding. Philippa went ( the other 2 were quite rightly too scared! ) I thought it would be easy, it's a tourist thing, how hard can it be? they're not gonna let you get into any trouble, are they? How wrong could i be! I can jump out a plane and not worry, this was really scarry! For those of you that have no idea what it is, essentially you get kitted out in wet suits and a life jacket and helmet, grab a boddy board( yep, the little plastic floats you play with in the calm sea at cornwall) and then you grab hold of it for dear life and throw yourself down grade 3 white water rapids! I actually thought i was going to die! My quote for the day - "Do not underestimate the severe carnage this s**t involves, Sky dives are for wimps, the real Mad Dogs go river boarding! You have to do it, scary as hell but you will never be so glad to know you are alive at the end if it all!

After that we took a verry very long bus journey to christchurch. it is very sweet and has a prety cathedral but we didn't see much of it. We got hold of Helen and Ben, two lovely people who are friends of friends of Aine's mum! they were really lovely and took us on a short guided tour of the area. they took us over to a cute seaside place called Lyttleton where they kindly bought us the best fish and chips i've had in a while and gave us a lovely cup of tea. we then got a lift back and a 'Christchurch by night' tour!

We camped in the hostel tv room and pulled an all-niter as we had to be at the air port for 4am. thought we had to get a taxi which would mean being ready about 2.30 but there was a shuttle bus instead which left at 4am, had to pay any way so should have really got a room, will know for next time anyway!

So after a sleepless night which followed a nite of very little sleep we arrived in Melbourne totally shattered at 7am with no idea which part of town we were in and no place to stay! after a bit of map chaos and internet searching we found a hostel and quickly checked in. Not the cheapest but with free tea, coffee, and free dinner! Not a bad choice at all. very friendly and cosy.

So what to do in Melbourne? got a free tram tour of the town , would have been lovely if not fot the hoards of school children screaming and being very noisy abd taking up all the seats! Had a good wander around town then back for the free food and a great nites sleep! The next day was market day. OMG Queen Victoria Market is HUGE! more fruit and veg than i have ever seen, all pretty and shiny. and then we found the meat, fish, cheese, deli section, the place is never ending. Well worth a visit if you ever get to this side of the world.

We then spent the enrite rest of the day on the internet looking for a cheap way to get to Cairns. After much searching, lots of confusion and then nearly giving up we found a hire car for a reasonable cost and booked it for tomorrow am for the rest of our 6 weeks! we are off back to the market today to stock up on some lush food for the journey ahead then a trip to the aquarium and the botanical gardens, then off to find Sara tonight for a few goodbye drinks before we head off along the coastline.

Will let all you lovely people know how it all goes from there!

xxx

P.S thankyou to everyone for all the lovely messages, they are appreciated! Love you all. xxx