SATURDAY/SUNDAY One of the longest journeys of my life!! A full 18 hours to get from Airlie to Brisbane - but atleast most of it was through the night. The worst part had to be stopping off at one of the 24 hr petrol stations where dead cockroaches inhabited the toilets and toads had been squished by lorry tyres - nice. I was glad to arrive in Brisbane though! It's quite quiet here for a city, and not as touristy as other places. After settling in at the An...

THURSDAY By now Georgie and I both feel a lot more at home on the boat and in charge of steering it. I've had a fair bit of practise behind the wheel by now, including sailing back to the marina at 18knots! I've even begun to think of the boat as a little home, and talking to Pete it's very tempting to think of owning a nice boat in the future! (the picture above is the boat we were on) and I'm quite used to living in small compartments since most of our tim...

MONDAY Today was my first day of my sailing course with the Whitsunday Marine Academy to become 'competent crew'. Two other people were doing the course with me; Georgie from London (although she has been in Australia so long now she might as well be an Auzzie!) and Sasha from Switzerland. We were on the boat Eureka II - a bloody nince 'Sydney 60' racing boat that has taken part in the Sydney-Hobart race a few times and can get upto speeds of 30 knots! We s...

SUNDAY Today I spent virtually a whole day on the Greyhound getting from Cairns to Airlie Beach, an 11 hour journey which wasn't as bad as I thought it would be but it's the first time I'm beginning to comprehend just how HUGE Australia really is! There's not alot to look at along the way, although during a quick stop off for breakfast in Caldwell there was a mini lookout beach. Lucky I didn't walk along it for long though since a few metres down there was a ...

WEDNESDAY Arrival in Australia!! My god it took a loooong time to check in- but I still had a couple of hours free before my flight from Sydney to Cairns so instead of wasting time in the airport I took the express train into Circular Quay in the centre of Sydney and I am so glad I did! I immediately fell in love with the place; it was sunny and warm and the views were incredible. I had a whirlwind wander around Circular Qua ywith views of the famous Syndey harb...