We are about to leave Australia and make our way to New Zealand for five weeks.Australia has been great; I can see why so many people want to stay after visiting, I was almost tempted but can not wait to see family and friends in the near future.

We traveled down the east coast in a camper van; me, Annie and Ian who 'has a head like an orange'It is so good to travel by camper van as you can come and go as you please and stop off at places which may have been missed if we had raveled by bus.There is so much to write about our journey down the east coast so I will try my best to keep it short.

Our first night at Mission Beach just south of Cairns where we sunbathed, had a bonfire and got very drunk on cheap wine.A long drive took us to Airlie beach; we spent the day by the lagoon and were up early the next day to catch our sailing boat where we spent the next two days and one night traveling around the Whitsundays.We were taken snorkeling and to the most beautiful beaches but had to wear wet suits due to the jelly fish, Ian and I both looked very silly as we put it on back to front with the zips at the front!

Another long drive took us to town of 1770 which is where Captain Cook landed in 1770!!!It is a tiny quaint village with a lovely beach.We stayed in a camp site and had a great bonfire with a local couple.

We drove further South to another small fishing village called Tin Can Bay whose name originates from the aboriginal name meaning 'town of big fish'.This is where Annie and Ian took up fishing.Annie is very successful with here hand line, unfortunately Ian does not have as much luck with his rod and only managed to catch a toad fish which puked up the bait and then died!The next morning we fed dolphins and made our way to Rainbow beach to relax on the beach.The next morning we left our little camper and went camping on Frazer Island in a 4x4 with about twenty other backpackers.From a view point we could see turtles, sharks, whales and dolphins.We had a great night camping and drinking, the next day we drove to stunning lakes and sand dunes; I had a great time driving along a huge beach right next to the ocean.After two nights and three days we headed back to Rainbow beach.

We drove to Steve Irwin's zoo where we saw lots of crocks and fed, kangaroos and elephants.We went to Brisbane where we visited Toby who we had met in Broome.It was the first time I had seen high rise buildings in ages.We spent the day at the lagoon and went out that night to Fortitude Valley, not before teaching him how to play 'curby'. The next day he took us to the Gold coast for more fishing.We left surfers paradise and went to the beautiful Byron Bay.From there we went to a little place called Nimbin which is basically an old little hippy village selling lots of cookies.

Making our way to Sydney we stopped off in Coffs Harbor and the most amazing Crescent Head.When we got to Sydney we stayed with a friend of Annie's in a northern beach called Curl Curl; it was a true ozzy beach.We then stayed in Manly where we had a surf lesson in big waves and I felt like I was in a washing machine, I am also very scared of sharks!In Sydney we drank a lot, visited New South Wale's oldest pub in a beautiful area called The Rocks sampled the bars in Darling Harbor, went to see an opera called 'La Bohiem', Annie did the Bridge Clime while Ian and myself walked across it, we went out in the busy Kings Cross area meeting up with Adam who we had met in Vietnam and Christian who we had met in Cairns and strolled around the Botanical gardens.

In Melbourne we stayed in the lovely St Kilda area where Ian's friend took us to see a lovely sunset and pointed out all the wrong tourist sites of the city.We finally met up with Dan and Em when a crowd of us went to the local bowls club, it is very popular for young people to go and play on Sundays; they also have live music.We went to see England lose very badly against Australia in the rugby league world cup, we enjoyed a bank holiday for the Melbourne cup, saw penguins at the pier, enjoyed a great night out at Neighbors night where I got a kiss of Karl Kenedy and a few of the other actors, I have become a neighbors fan again so much so that I went to Ramsey Street.Tonight is our last night in Melbourne and Australia; I am sure New Zealand will bring just as much beauty and fun.