The day of Nina's departure saw me, bags in hand, getting on the train at 9am to visit Marshall station.

I was to spend the remainder of my time in Australia with the wonderful Gabs, take a deep breath, my Grandad Fuller's cousin, so my second cousin once removed. I think. She picked me up at the station and drove me to the brilliantly named Gingerbread cottage. No word of a lie, it looked like something out of Hans Christian Andersen as well, replete with wood burner. We went on a walk around Anglesea, the seaside town Gabs lives in, which sadly isn't highly populated except in the holiday seasons when everyone flocks to their beach houses, so it was a quiet place. The evening was spent cooking a gorgeous (if I do say so myself) pork bhuna with chana. Just delicious, and sitting in front of the fire after with a good book was my idea of heaven after a 14 bed hostel room.

The next day Gabs was taking me back along part of the Great Ocean Road and up through the Great Otway forest, where Nina and I hadn't driven previously. We visited the Otway Treetop walk, which was surprisingly different to the one I went to in the Valley of the Giants in Denmark, I guess I kind of forget that this is such a big country that the flora is different from region to region. Otway forest had a lot more eucalyptus and gum trees, with a startling array of greens from the mosses and lichens growing on the trunks, as well as ferns scattered all along the ground, giving a spectacular pattern when you looked straight down on them from the 50m suspended bridges we were walking along. Nature really takes my breath away sometimes! I also found out that a leaf isn't always a leaf…I'll let you google that conundrum yourselves.

Friday night saw us staying at a caravan park in Port Campbell, but not in a camper like I was used to, no in one of the cute little cabins that I lusted after when sleeping in chilly DARPA. Very cute it was too, replete with fluffy towels, sky tv and miniature toiletries. Swanky!

Our drive back along the Great Ocean Road took us the same way as Nina and I had travelled the week before, but evidently we had missed some of the main attractions as Gabs and I spent nearly two hours around the Loch Ard Gorge and Thunder Cave. Thunder Cave does exactly what it says on the tin, the noise from the waves booming into it sounds just like thunder echoing round the sky, whilst Loch Ard Gorge is the site of the wrecked Loch Ard ship which grounded on undersea rocks just out of the mouth of the little bay, drowning all on board apart from a cabin boy and a young woman who was travelling to Australia. The woman was washed up on shore along with the cabin boy, and whilst I hoped that they lived in the gorge forever and made a little family that wasn't the case, the cabin boy managed to scale the sheer walls of the cliffs and go get help, and the helpless woman was winched to safety a few hours later. After giving myself the jitters thinking about being shipwrecked and drowning we carried on along the coast to the 12 Apostles, which Betty finally managed to see, hopefully the Brownies will be very proud. The weather was wetter than when Nina and I were there, and the rocks really do seem to have a different mood in alternative light. Strange.

A return to Apostle Whey was on the cards on the way back to Anglesea where Gabs bought nearly every cheese, delicious! I was glad to have introduced her to such delicious artisan cheeses. Now we were going to visit the Cape Otway lighthouse but the price just to even see it made us balk so we left and instead I saw the most magical thing of my life. As we turned a corner a koala walked across the road in front of us. I was unimaginably excited as I'd wanted to see a koala walking - they have a really cute little waddle on the ground - so I promptly grabbed my camera and dashed out of the car ready for some koala stalking through the bush. True enough I crept alongside him (I'm assuming it was a he, he was very oblivious to my presence) getting about 2 metres away and hiding behind a tree. If I say it made me very happy that would be an understatement. Back at the car I was nattering away to Gabs as we turned another corner to see cars parked haphazardly all along the side of the road. There was only a whole host of koalas in the trees above us, at least 30 all crowded together on the bare branches. It's pretty sad really since they are eating all the leaves and they won't grow back due to the sheer number of them so they will have to relocate - which I'm not sure how well koalas react to, they are pretty lazy. I hope they will all be OK. They were all sleeping curled up in the forks of the trees, Gabs says it is because they get drugged off the eucalyptus oil in the trees which is quite funny. I managed to nearly fill my camera with pictures, including getting super close to a koala sleeping in the bottom branches of a tree at head level, I could have stroked it if I wanted but obviously didn't, it is a wild animal no matter how cute and cuddly it looks. The poor things were probably just thinking 'go away with your cameras, I just want to sleep!'.

I was ecstatic, no exaggeration, and driving once again through the Aire Valley and finally managing to get a photo almost put me through the roof with joy. We did a little detour to try find platypus but they are just too shy, you can't have everything I suppose. I don't think we waited long enough since they come out when it's a little darker, but we'd been driving all day already and it was getting cold so we went back to the house for a well deserved glass of wine, and an attempt to play the ukulele on my part - think I've found a new favourite instrument.

Sunday was the day of Kohema's 6th birthday. I don't know if I've spelt it right but he is named after an Indian village, and is Beth and James' son. Beth is Gabs and Dave's daughter and we spent the afternoon at a pretty spectacular indoor waterpark, which is like some kind of waterpark heaven, and surprisingly cheap entrance, only 6 dollars which is even less than at home, and it had fountains and slides and allsorts. I suppose the important things are cheap out here. The only downside of the day was the amount of cake I ate - I think I had enough sugar for the entire week.

My last day with Gabs was a nice lazy day, we went for a walk up to the outdoor chapel where Tim's funeral was held, it was a gorgeous place with beautiful views down the coast and surrounded by trees, a perfect peaceful spot for a funeral. Pity the weather at home doesn't really allow for that kind of thing. I had a lovely time with Gabs, she really spoilt me, and it was great to see Beth, Jem and Evelyn, I was 15 the last time they all visited Yorkshire. On the way to the train station the next day we had a quick stop in Geelong to see the Wool museum (Gabs likes knitting) and the outrageously quaint painted bollards along the waterfront, a lovely end to my week(ish) with the Aussie rellies.

One night in the hostel and I'm back on the road, so I'll close this chapter of the trip with some reflections.

Odd encounters in Australia

• Literally everywhere has sharp disposals - now either Australia has a drug problem or a lot of diabetics, I can't decide which.

• They are a fan of little rhymes, alliteration and triplets for their traffic signage, it evidently helps them to remember important things: Stop, revive, survive. Drowsy drivers die. Greener, cleaner, better. Etc etc.

• Shortening words is a big thing too which I don't think I've ever seen at home - McDonald's is advertised as 'Maccas', breakfast is 'brekkie'…you get the drift. It's odd.

• Purple cars are HUGE, I've never seen so many on the roads. They are still better than a Ute though.

• They love Mel B. Or at least it would seem so the amount she is on TV.

• Random statues in cities appear to be the order of the day. These include bronze pigs in Adelaide, engine kangaroos in Brisbane, anatomically incorrect monstrosities in Sydney and naked people in Melbourne.

Thus ends my time in Australia, the land down under, full of ups and downs, but all of them teaching me new lessons - if nothing else I can at least make a tingle cocktail now. I've tried new foods (beetroot was my favourite), been poisoned by KFC, slept under the stars, on a boat, on a bus, in a car and in a 5 star hotel, been shouted at by drunk shearers, swam with whale sharks, fed kangaroos, run away from a giant spider, found Nemo and caught up with family and friends. It's a good job I've written 2 and a half dissertations worth of blog to remember all my antics (26,291 words if you're wondering).

Important notes about the Aussie Experience

Songs played to death - Maroon 5, Payphone; Gotye, Somebody that I used to know; Matt Corby, Brother; Fleetwood Mac, Sara

TV Shows - The Voice (go team Joel); Masterchef; The Block; The Biggest Loser (a lot of reality shows)

Films watched at the cinema - John Carter, The Hunger Games, Men in Black 3, Prometheus

Puzzle books completed - 1

Local animals seen - kangaroo, wallaby, emu, eagle, kookaburra, galah, koala, blue wren, green turtle, whale shark, clownfish, camel. No platypus

Chocolate bars consumed - approximately 60 (very broad guess)

Shops walked round looking for Nina's boots - 20ish

Family and friends caught up with - Lauren, Josh and Hannah, Gabs

Nationalities met - French, German, Dutch, Irish, Italian, Swiss, Canadian, American, Korean, Taiwanese, Hong Kong, Kiwis, and of course Aussies!

Now it's time for the next adventure - Lord of the Rings here I come.

Becca