Australia, MondayFeb 4th

Good 'morrow English beings!

It's Debs - I'm stuck with the boring part today of waffling along about Oz while Chris gets the better job of oggling over our piccies and videos! I need to be firmer with that boy! Only kidding everybody…………..

So Australia. IMMENSE!!!!!! Honestly, it's so nice to be in a sunny England! We obviously miss Thailand, but it's so easy with the aussie culture, and the people are the best!!! Between the Irish, the Geordies and the Aussies, we don't know which on we prefer!

So, lets get down to business! We left Singapore at 10pm and had quite a bad time! I was sat next to an old couple snoring their heads off (the only snorers on the flight may I add, typical) so got no sleep, then when we were finally justnodding off about 3am we were woken up and told to exit the plane……we had landed in Darwin!? What's that about?! We didn't know about the 1hour stop off at the wrong end of Oz! Ha! Not to panic though.So we eventually landed in Cairns around 9am absolutely jiggered! To make things better, half of Japan was there so passport control took forever…and then…..we had to declare our backpacks for inspection! Or face a hefty fine as Oz is really strict on quarantine (a very proud nation) Was a right pain in the bottom! Had to COMPLETELY empty EVERYTHING!!! We were tired, hungry, thirsty, and definitely not in the mood to dig out our hiking boots from the very very very bottom of ourbags (they had dirt onthem and might infect Australia's entire animal population or something )…but they washed them for us for free so hey! By this point it was 11am and we'd missed the shuttle bus to town so had to get a taxi. When we tried to check into 'Gilligan's hostel' (main backpacker digs, dorm rooms, lounges with wide-screen tv, pool, night club etc.)they told us we had to hang around until 2! I think I swore. A lot. Was very tired and the 39 degree heat wasn't very helpful.Bear with a sore head scenario. When we finally got to our rooms, we completely crashed out until about 8 o'clock! So we had a great ol' time getting to Oz.

The next day we awoke early and tried to pay for another night at the hostel and they told us we had to check out and check back in at 2pm, so we told them where to go, and went over the road where it was much cheaper and included a free meal everyday! HA! That afternoon we had a walk around Cairns and ended up at the lagoon - a big open air public pool on the sea front - where we enjoyed the sun! The beach was a no go as at certain times of the year, unluckily for us that being now, it's 'stinger season' where the waters full of deadly jellyfish, box jellyfish in particular, where even if you're knee-deep in water you could be stung and need CPR…or die.

That evening we went to 'Woolworths' supermarket and stocked up on pasta, oh yes the dorms have kitchens (which is great cos it makes living well cheap) and headed back to our hostel waving at all of the restaurants we would normally frequent if we were in Thailand, and got ready for a student meal!!! Was really good fun cooking actually, quite a novelty! Think we picked up some cheap wine (4litres for 6quid) and stayed in with our roomies. Just a quick note on this, we, or should I say Chris, was lucky to have two 19year olds from Cornwall who looked exactly like Paris Hilton and friends and because it was sooooo hot, had to sleep naked and sometimes their sheets fell and we'll leave it at that!

For the rest of the week we just bummed around in the sun at the lagoon, went for our free meal in the evening (think we had chilli every night at the 'Woolshed' actually - not a very diverse menu for freebies, was good though!) and tried to drink cheaply with our roomies!! There was deals on of 5 drinks for $12,which was 5 'scooners' (the aussie name for ¾ of a pint) for 6quid, so we had those and watched whatever competitions were on for backpackers! Our favourite was the goldfish race! Ha! Travelers could place a bet on which fish they though could swim to the finish line first and win a sky dive or cash! Well good prizes! Not fair on the fish like but was hilarious to see a load of drunkards cheering at a fish in a pub. So that wasted a week.

The 2nd week in Oz was rubbish!!! The rain kicked in, its monsoon season and the end of their summer, but was still friggin well hot though! So we hung around the dorms with fellow bored backpackers all sweating and saying how crap Carins was.Seriously, it's overrated! There's nowt to do! It's like a ghost town.All the 'blocks' were bare (the streets are yankified) even on a Saturday afternoon, and there was no traffic ANYWHERE! So we became productive and organised getting our campervan!!!! We had to wait until Friday to pick it up so I think we just got drunk, sneaked over to the first hostel to watch tv, and read our books!

Whoops, I forgot Valentines Day! Well, I ate cheap baby yoghurt for dinner (managers special) and at night Chris cooked me pie, mash and mushy peas to celebrate our5year anniversary - how sickeningly long?! Was very romantic. We went to watch the new film 'Jumper' at night - well crap film, don't bother, it's all in the adverts, and went to sleep early ready for getting our van the next day! Yippeeeeeee!

So that was our initial experience of Oz, wait for the next blog though………..

Hope you're all well and that the sun comes back for you!

Lots of Love Chris and Debs xx