WELL HELLO THERE!! Long time no speak, sorry it's taken so long to get on here, been to some random places!! well I am writing to you from Cairns, which is our last stop on our oz experience bus pass tickets!! So That is it...the East coast...conquered. Can't beleive it. Well I shall start back from when we were in Noosa, back on thirs 26th Feb....

We stayed at Koala's beach resort in Noosa, I really liked it there, it was like a quieter Byron Bay. The beach was nice, Ricky got burnt again..bless! lol We decided to take on our biggest challenge yet....TO DIG A GIANT HOLE!! for no reason at all with one of the shells I found wandering the beach. It turned out to be deep! we reached water, and I could put my whole leg in it, see photos for evidence of this! Wow what an achievment. The next day we missed our oz experience bus to our next stop Rainbow beach! whoops....bit of a story to this, as always with me!! We were sitting patiently waiting for the courtesy bus to take us and our backpacks to the transit centre, he basically went without us, the girl at the desk said he would be back in 5 mins, so we could still make the bus. 20 mins later we had obviously missed the bus, and Ricky was becoming more and more red faced lol, he managed to flag down a crazy hotel courtesy bus driver, who took us for free at full pelt down the road!! and ALAS! who was standing around chatting to girls and lied saying he'd only been there 5 mins... our koala's courtesy bus driver. What a tw*t!!! SO...we were stuck, if you miss a bus, that's it, you have to make your own way and pay again for that leg of your journey. Ricky was having a fit, so I ran across the road to a travel place, the lady in there booked us onto the "premier motor service" bus to rainbow beach, only cost $15 bucks each...but! we had to sit around in the heat at the transit centre (this being a tin roof and some benches) for the whole day till 4pm!! we didn't end up getting to rainbow beach until 7pm! oh and guess what??! the hostel had no knowledge of us and said we didn't have a reservation - lying b*ggers!! but it was sorted and we had a nice chalet type thing, with a lovely dead huntsman spider next to the toilet - yummy! That evening we waled along the beach, it was gorgeous, the most amaaaazing stars I have ever seen, it was like being in space, and so far, nothing has beaten rainbow beach for stars. I screamed all the way back, because Ricky put the light on on his phone and there were millions of crabs dashing around everywhere! so I was being hysterical. There was nothing to do at rainbow beach really, it was a really quiet town. There was kareoke on the 2nd evening though, and a bloke singing who was an aboriginee was brilliant, and looked like teen wolf!! (see photos)

mon 2nd march We checked out of rainbow beach and headed for hervey bay our next stop. Again, not much to do here really, the sea was more like a river, there were no waves. We stayed at another koala's resort here, the pool was nice, ricky slept the whole first day due to sun stroke I think! Whilst he did that i watched Oprah and the ellen degeneris show lol. I got bitten a lot at this place, think it was the sofas in the tv room - eerrr!

Tues 3rd mar at 6am we walked all the way to beaches hostel with our backpacks on for our 3 day, 2 night Fraser island self drive 4x4 tour. (fraser island is one of the biggest sand islands in the world) we got put into our fraser group with the boys! There was a lot of faffing, when all of us were just gagging to get into out 4x4 and sod off!! Jamie ended up putting his credit card details down for the bond, I ended up being main driver (Ricky and the boys found this hillarious, little me driving a massive 4x4, I said my mother was a lorry driver back in the day!! and she's smaller than me! lol) The girls in our group ended up doing the shopping and alcohol, which we all put money into. We had to then load up the truck and watch a load of cheesy safety videos, but these were quite helpful really. I drove us all to the ferry point, which was funny, me driving a huuuge diesel 4x4 crammed with people and all stuff on the roof!, I could barely press the clutch to change gear! We were given a map and that was it, once we got off the ferry we were left to our own devices! Ricky drove off road first, he was brilliant, I was quite proud! Being in the back - especially with jamie was one of the highlights of my trip, he is hysterical, the ride is so bumpy you would'nt beleieve, I got a soar arse from this trip!! We got stuck a few times which was funny, involved everyone getting out and digging sand from behind the tyres and running away whilst someone gets in and pounds it in reverse, then we all get behind and push while they slam on the accellerator, and we have to run after them, getting covered and bitten by huge sand flies, which were awful! One of the stops was lake mckenzie, which was beautiful, like a caribbean sea. The group got along well, and it was nice to be with the boys, we all had such a laugh, the next stop was a shipwreck on the beach, then we had to head to base camp, where we would be erecting tents and sleeping - hahahaha, me in a tent - yes. The tent errecting was amusing, I stood around, put a few poles together, but documented the whole thing on camera of course! Me ricky dave and jamie all slept in one tent. Some of the girls made a big deal out of me and ricky being a couple, and this gave me the hump a bit. Jamie cooked us a BBQ, and we played some card games and went to the beach. There was a lot of nakedness and spin the bottle, which to be honest, I just cannot be arsed with, not just beacuse I'm with Ricky, I did all that when I was 14. Me and Ricky had a bit of a chat, and we both felt iscolated from the group a bit because we are a couple, it's been starting to feel like the only people that want to talk to us are other couples! Ricky suggested going our seperate ways after we reach our final point in Cairns, just for a few months, I think it's a good idea, although I am a bit aprehensive because we're getting so close. We'll see how it goes. The showers were $2 for 60 secs of water so I went to bed stinking and covered in sand! Our tent was broken, it was open to the elements and I thought we would get eaten alive or wake up with rodney (a large lizard that steals food around the camp!) in my face licking me! Didn't sleep great in the tent, but it was ok. The next day, we saw the indian heads, lake birabeen, champagen pools. Had a better day today, got really bashed around in the 4x4 and we all had a sing along in the back, and the girls were of course amazed by my beat box skills and dancemoves. Saw my first dingo, was dissapointing it was so far away. When we got back to camp I had my first shower and it was lovely! my hair is growing though, and felt like a beast!! forgot to shave before coming - whoops! lol!! We had tasty pasta for dinner, played some games and got tipsy on goon. Slept really well this night in the tent, ricky did not as he kept sitting up and swatting the air, thinking things were crawling on him, when in fact it was my ponytail touching him hahaha. This was when me and ricky became a bit more relaxed around people being a couple I think, which i found surprising in front of the boys! have really enjoyed being on this trip with them all. Thurs 5th our final day on fraser!! We had to load all tents and food etc onto the toploader again, had a shower, although always covered in sand still! we went back to lake mckenzie once more, ate some pineapple bread and nutella - it was all that was left from our shopping! lol. We got back on the ferry and I drove us back to hervey bay. We had the vehicle checked and got the all clear! yay! Had a good time on fraser island, now I am looking forward to the Whitsundays boat trip - the cyclone permitting!! we have been pretty lucky so far with the weather eg - bushfires/flooding and now this cyclone!

Friday 6th mar - stayed at beaches hostel, so cheap and nice really, fraser island group all in same room, we all went for a chinese buffet, drew on the tableclothes with the pens provided which was fun lol, played card games in the bar, had a lovely normal long shower and went to bed! oooh it was nice to be in a padded normal bed. :-D Saturday we stayed by the pool all day, playing ball with the boys, we went into the bar in the evening. Sun 8th the bad weather started. I met up with trout (daniel rout) who is from hillingdon!, got drunk on beer this night!! Got emotional because it was my birthday the next day - the big 25!! wooo. I spoke to rachel, then i spoke to my nan, then burst into tears, it was lovely to speak to her, and I was sad I would not see her on my birthday. That night Ricky gave me a card for tomorrow, which he had bought and hidden in his bag a few towns back, I was so surprised, he'd written some lovely words in it, and I lay blubbering on my bed!! bloody nora! I Think this was when i missed my family properly for the first time, and I appreciated having Ricky there with me.

Monday 9th March - my 25th Birthday!! It rained all day! lol Me and ricky went for lunch at hollihans irish bar, i got a free meal as it was my birthday, we went back and slept for 4 hours!! (before ricky was telling everyone he took me out for my birthday - cheapskate!! the meal was free! lol) I woke up starving, wanted to go get food, because I didnt eat my lunch and wasted it as I always do! Ricky was persistant he wanted to go to the bar, I knew it was too late for food there. And there were all the boys, with a cake and candles, then the dj played happy birthday, it was so sweet and unexpected. It was the best a birthday could be in the boring town of hervey bay really! so I thank the boys for that! Jamie left today on his own to head for new zealand! Tues 10th Ricky and dave played tennis, I was the ball girl, trout came to meet us. Phil and dave had a haircut which was funny. I went to bed early listening to rickys ipod (some attomic kitten classics!) it rained all day, and keith went off on his own which was quite sad :-( Weds 11th was an admin day, I bought MORE toiletries, seem to go through them so quick here, I applied for some cruise ship jobs today - 3 month minimum, and had discussion with Ricky, when we split up if we want to work and save some money, its going to have to be a few months minimum really, I am starting to get emotional at the thought of leaving my little travel buddy! We packed our bags, and can finally leave hervey bay for the town of 1770 (not sure what to expext here) we will be going with phil and dave (aka chaz and dave) now probably until the end of our oz experience tickets - the boys want to do their skydive together. We are going to hollihans irish bar tonight for a few drinks. It feels really odd being 25! - 5 years till I am 30 - jesus christ. I keep thinking what am i doing here? But I know I will have a lot of memories and experiences other people can't say they have, and I have met one of the nicest people I've ever known. - eeeuuurrgh lol.

thurs 12th - 1770 what a weird little place, we stayed at southern cross hostel, it rained and rained, we watched films and played table tennis badly!! there were 2 dogs and our room was quite cool apart from that it was pants!!

sat 14th mar - Kroombit cattle station! This was lots of fun! we mustered goats on horseback through the hills, dave and his horse managed to run over and snap the legs of 2 goats (one being pregnant) which i nearly cried at and gave dave a beating! We went on the mechanical bull which was funny, i lasted 10 secs. We did some clay pigeon shooting, and me dave and ricky had to lassoo, flip over and brand a goat, which was funny. I managed to pick one up by the legs, then dropped it!! useless! lol I had a shower in the evening, surrounded by bright green frogs, one jumped as the biggest moth i have ever seen flew into my face - you have never seen me move so fast or scream so loud. Ricky heard me from back at the ranch table, and came into our room to check I was ok, I was in hysterics laughing, if only my friends and family could have seen that, it was sooo funny. The next day we had a night booked at our next stop airlie beach, we stayed at beaches hostel, it was lively, a bit like when me and the girls went to benidorm! the balcony was over the bar, it was pretty loud!. I got drunk this night, ended up in a club called mama africa, the boys wanted to watch the villa spurs match at 2am - I felt rough and ended up throwing up in the toilets!! which were a lovely leopard print seats!! Mon 16th we woke up at midday, went to mcdonalds - I managed 1 chicken nugget! So ricky ate mine aswell as his own lol. I had to fax a letter and a copy of my passport to nationwide bank back home, as mum was having a nightmare transferring my money for me. We spent the afternoon at the man made lagoon - very nice. I am not drinking tonight!! haha. tues 17th St Patrick's day! We went out in the evening, me and ricky ended up in mama africa's drunk! so so funny....I sat on a couch at the end of the night, this guy with dreadlocks came over to me right away and said "you are beautiful why are you here on your own" I pointed to ricky and said I was here with him. But he didn't understand what i said, he called Ricky over, and introduced us, thinking I fancied him, and we didnt know eachother. I said my name was Amy, shook Ricky's hand, who introduced himself as Nethaneual - hahahaha/ I was trying not to laugh. he left us to get to know eachother, within 3 minutes we walked over to say bye, and ricky said to him quickky " thanks mate! she's coming home with me!!!" and motioned that he was going to get some action, it was so funny I was wetting myself laughing, the guy must have thought damn it!! why didnt I chat to her myself. We ended up wandering off to the lagoon, and I did my first skinny dipping! lol The next day, we woke up at a record 3.30pm!!! dear dear. we went to pay our reeef tax for our whitsundays trip tomorrow, had a lasagne, went on internet, packed and had an early night, it rained hard all day, so bad ricky had to buy a spazzy rainmac.

Thursday 19th - our 3 day, 2 night - sleep on the boat - whitsunday islands tour on the boat "summertime" It was raining pretty hard, we walked with our rainmacs on to the boat, I was dreading spending 3 days in a storm with ricky and his sea sickness!! the boat was an old sail boat, quite pretty but no way looked like it would hold our group of 11...I did wonder! lol. we had nice people on our group, a few londoners, scandanavian, and one cocky canadian bloke!. Chris our dive instructor was lovely, fernando was the captain - who ricky said looked like an older A.C slater from saved by the bell lol. Tanya was the cook and cleaner. It took 2 hours to get to the first island, I was pooing my pants about getting into the great barrier reef!! and ricky looked as white as a sheet after 1 hour of being on the boat!! bless him. I got persuaded into trying a scuba lesson, which turned out to be easy! and I did a proper dive and really enjoyed it!! I don't know if I'd do another one mind you! lol it was scary. I was so proud of myself for doing it, and I saw some really lovely coral and fish. including this one called priscilla who is as big as my 42 inch tv back home!! ricky went scub-aring up to it stroking it, I crapped myself and swam back to the instructor to hold his hand petrified! lol The food was good on the boat, we snorkelled some more before anchoring down in a bay for the night. we went to bed in our little double coffin quite early. I didnt attempt the ridiculous shower which was a hose out of the sink, where your knees touched the toilet seat and you just threw the water all over the place!! we watched a slde show of all the photos taken in the evening. I slept really well that night, despite the air con being broken on the boat. Fr 20th - Spent today doing more snorkelling, i was still a bit nervous and appreciated ricky there to hold my hand like the big girl I am! Today we both got "vegemite fines" for not signing our back on board sheet, it was rank, and chris filmed the whole thing and took photos, it was funny I suppose! Tonight I had the worst nights sleep, it was too hot, and there were some funny smells that night shall we say!! lol The boat was quite rocky and I started feeling a bit rough, I went up to sleep outside on top. It was nice and cool, i fell asleep and pooed myself when i woke up! these glow worm things were flying about, and I started thinking or sharks and ghosts and scared myself into going back down to the heat!! sat 21st - today is our last day, have had a great time and glad I got to do it with ricky. Had a bad day on the boat, felt ill, we were ready to get off! we had one last snorkel, had some funny photos on a coral beach and went to visit some aboriginee cave art. Spending tonight in airlie beach in a big double room with air con and tv and a massive hot shower - BRING IT ON!! Watched home alone 2, whilst eating mcdonalds, both bright red, from burning the last hour on the flipping boat!

sunday 22nd - we left Airlie beach for townsville ferry terminal, and got the ferry over to magnetic island for 4 days. base hostel is cool, right on the beach, good pool, lively in the evenings, a few people we know have come here and have been working here, we might go kayaking tomorrow - if we get up! we are knackered. We have now booked the last leg of our east coast trip! all the way up to cairns! mission beach is next, then after cairns we are going our own ways :-(.... mon 23rd we hired out a moped (ricky drove both of us, I nearly drove into the managers car when I tried to drive my own one - jess you are very clever to be able to ride that vespa of yours!! i have no balance obviously) we had a map, went on lots of walks, up to the forts, which were used in the war, the island was one of the major bombing sites, when the japs bombed aus. We went down a road which we wernt meant to go down by mistake, it was like scooter off roading!! My bum was so sore, the road was terrible, ricky thought it was hysterical throwing me about. we came eventually to a mini river, which ricky made me step in to see how deep it was. he finally agreed with me that we shouldnt go down there, we tried to turn the bike round, and the back wheel began to get stuck in the sand! it was like fraser island all over again!! It was a really fun day. The next day I applied for lots of farm/au pair jobs, and the day after was a lazy one on the beach by myself listening to my ipod which was nice, wailing along to amy winehouse with nobody but me on the beach.

thurs 26th we headed to mission beach, we stayed at absolute backpackers, it was a really nice hostel and the staff were cool like kids tv presenters! we had a nice cold air con double room! we watched fight club and body of lies. Friday 27th ricky and dave did their skydive!! We got up at 6.30am I was really proud of them, especially dave because he was scared for doing it. they both attached teddies to their wrists for the neices back home, which was sweet. I wish I could have the courage to do one...we'll see maybe in New Zealand aye?! Decided to do our white water rafting tomorrow, which i am really nervous about. I have been offered a stablehand job at a racecourse in perth, it's got accomodation and is $475 after tax per week which is pretty good. Getting more emotional now because it's getting closer to saying bye!!

sat 28th mar - white water rafting - absolutely hated it. lol. I nearly died when we got swept under water by the first grade 4 waterfall, and then we stopped at this huge rock which everyone jumps off, after ricky going on at me, and another woman in the group, I don't know where I mustered the courage, but I climbed up this rock, and jumped off the thing into the deep water. I was under water for what felt like an eternity, my helmet was pulling me to the surface, but I was not kicking my legs because I was in complete shock at what I had just done. I came to the surface gasped for air, swam towards the raft where our leader was clapping me and after attempting to get into the raft and falling back out again - promptly burst into tears!! my chin was wobbling, everyone gave me a hug. I shortly decided, after more crying later on, I was not cut out for this, and pulled out at lunchtime to sit on the bus for an hour! Ricky was really dissapointed I didnt carry on, but I just couldnt do it anymore, I had had enough! Being forced under water and drowning are my worst fears! Was glad to be back on land, ended up leaving my trainers on the bus! doh! I wrote Ricky his little goodbye letter today, aw it's getting more sad every day. Ricky got into bed after 3am after being force fed goon by a gay french boy that worked at the hostel - I don't know what it is with him, he seems to attract gays! hmmmm lol. We got up at 3pm lol did sod all, and I bought my mum some crocs shoes that she likes.

And here we are!! our next and final stop - Cairns. We went out last night, it's not that good here, it's ok. Just too much like spain or somewhere, full of drunken idiots. I was ill again last night, but felt better today. We are staying at Gilligans, which is a nice hostel, but its noisey. We go to Cape Tribulation tomorrow for 3 days and 2 nights, staying in the jungle! wooo, I want to book a 3 hour horse trekk (not sure if ricky will come as he coudlt walk after the cattle station hahaha) Then we come back to cairns for 1 night to chill out, then have a day trip going on a boat, then a helicopter ride over the great barrier reef, with lunch included. I have a few job offers, so am trying to make up my mind which damn one to choose!! the perth one is looking the best paid so far, and I also have a woman interested in me for an au pair job, but it's 6 months minimum! so have no idea what I'm doing!

Right, my arm and bum are dead now!! Hope that's entertained you all, as usual! I shall talk to you all soon, where I will hopefully be working somewhere!! Lots of love xxxxxxxx amy