I can't believe that my time to leave wonderful Australia has now come. I have had such a brilliant time with, I can honestly say, not one bad day. I feel so sad to be going. No time for sadness though as my next stop is New Zealand for which I am so excited. The flight from Sydney took me over the Tasman Sea and west coast of New Zealand, over the Southern Alps, finally landing in Christchurch. I spent one night here before joining 'The Magic Bus' - my transpor...

Once fully recovered from my star struck state, I embarked on a journey that took me along one of Australia's great scenic coastline drives - The Great Ocean Road. Three of us hired a car and by chance it was bright yellow; I've never been in a yellow car before! As designated driver for the first part of the journey, my challenge was to get us out of the city and onto the motorway. It didn't help that it was rush hour plus, in Melbourne there is an intense netw...

Melbourne is the second most populous city in Australia with a population of about 3.8 million. Located around Port Phillip Bay in Australia's south-east, Melbourne is the state capital of Victoria. It is referred to as Australia's sporting and cultural capital... So, after enduring a flight from Brisbane back to Cairns (don't ask), a night in the airport and then another flight from Cairns to Melbourne, I finally arrived! I am staying in a place called Elwood;...

It feels so good to be away from the tourist beaches and blend in to the laidback city life of Brisbane. It's the capital of Queensland and Australia's third largest city (following Sydney and Melbourne) and has seen a lot of development within recent years. The river cat ferry zig-zags across the meandering banks of the Brisbane River which runs through the city separating the North of the city from the South. Along South Bank lays many cafes and slightly set ...

Most of the action in Noosa happens in Noosa Heads; home of trendy Hastings Street and access point for the main surf beach. I couldn't come to Australia without at least attempting to surf - so I did! It was such great fun and although the waves weren't too big, they were still strong enough and lasted long enough for me to stand up on my board successfully, more than once, infact, I manged to stand so often that I lost count. After my lesson I joined a walkin...