Leaving Forster we drove through Booti Booti National Park (ha) and the Great Lakes which had some amazing scenery but it was a bit grey so difficult to appreciate fully. When you aren't on a bus you realise how many place names in Australia are just taken directly from home, Newcastle, Gloucester and, just for Grandad and Auntie Ruth, we even drove past a Stroud! Our aim was the Blue Mountains National Park which apparently shouldn't be missed, so doing as we ...

Well where do I start with DARPA, our home for the forthcoming two weeks? We booked her from spaceships and she is a big, orange Toyota Estima, the biggest car I have ever driven, has automatic transmission which took some getting used to, has an ipod connector, fridge, gas stoves, dvd player and bed in the back seats. We immediately loved her, although I did see a spaceship called Shatner which I would have killed for! Just to make the Shangri-La staff a littl...

Upon arrival at our hostel at 8.30am, we were unsurprised to find out that check-in wasn't until 2pm. Since Sydney was approximately 50 degrees colder than Brisbane (or so it felt) we went coat shopping on the Pitt Street Mall. Now this was meant to be the best shopping in Sydney, but in all honesty I was very disappointed! Not only did neither of us find anything but the clothes in general were pretty rubbish. Give me Leeds or Manchester any day of the week! S...

Upon arrival in Brisbane we had a ten minute walk to our bright orange hostel near the city centre. Whilst garish the colour did mean it was very difficult to miss! We dropped off our bags and went for a wander into the city centre with Sam, who had to wait 5 hours for his flight. Brisbane is only a small city but my first views were very positive - not at all swayed by the fact I was relieved to be back in civilisation and no longer 100s of miles from the near...

After a humorous day or so in Agnes Water we were ready to sample the delights of Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world. Now if you've read previous posts you may well be thinking to yourself - 'but Becca HATES sand, how is she going to cope with three full days with no respite?'. That would be a good question to ask, and I have to be honest it's not something I'd really considered when we booked it. BUT, never fear, it was such a fun three days I m...