I arrived, Wednesday the 19th of April, without my guitar because the airline had lost it! So I was a little bit annoyed to say the least. Landed in Brisbane at about 10am, and went to find a phone. I rang bash (sorry, I'm gonna call chris - bash all the way through) and he was sat upstairs in the airport, apparently waiting for me. We eventually found each other, and after an emotional reunion, we caught the train to Surfers Paradise (its really called that!!).

When we got to bash and debs' 'house', and woke debs up, we had a fine dinner of sausage, beans and toast. Then I tried to convince them two to come for a swim, but they complained that it was too cold (in Australia!!) and only stayed in for about 5 minutes. Cafflers.
After meeting Paula, we went out for my first night in Oz, first to the casino to fritter away some cents, then to have in large in town. Except me and bash were shattered so we left the girls to it, and went home for an early night. Cafflers :)
The next day I got my first taste of aussie rain, and filmed it, thinking, "I won't see much of that" Ha!

A couple of days later we were off to Byron Bay. Its mint. We stayed at a place called the Arts Factory. There's a jungle-type area to camp in, some chalets around a billabong, a massive tee-pee that sleeps 12, and dorms as well. We camped for the first few nights, then had a night in the tee-pee. The communal area has hammocks dotted about, as well as a few picnic tables, and there are water lizards (they look like iguanas) and bush turkeys (they look like turkeys) wandering about as they please. I don't know how long we were meant to stay in Byron, but we stayed for a good week, cos its just so relaxed and, well…. mint.
We saw a quality reggae band twice, we saw some guy sat on a big patch of grass next to the beach, playing his didgeridoo along to some chilled out dance beats, with a big screen showing Planet Earth (the tv thing). We saw a group of 9 or 10 dolphins playing in the waves when we were up at the lighthouse, which had amazing views of Byron, and pretty good ice creams as well. Me and bash played ping-pong for about 6 hours straight, and keepy-uppies all the rest of the time. And we still managed to find time to drink loads of goon!! The cheapest, nastiest, wine in a bag you've ever tasted - and it's made with fish eggs. But, its only $10 dollars for 4 litres, so why not??

On our last night at the Arts Factory we got to watch some fire dancing, which was very cool, and we got to go a bush party, with people jamming with bongos, a guitar and didgeridoo, and hippies dancing round a fire!! For Free!! We celebrated by drinking loads of goon, but we were sober compared to most people, who were definitely seeing things that we couldn't :)
We decided to leave Byron after a couple of nights in the camper van. We were politely asked to leave after spending two nights sleeping outside, but still using the toilets, showers and kitchen. Ha! We managed to squeeze in a little trip to Nimbin, which is the strangest town ever. I don't know what I expected, but a crazy museum and killers (well, almost) in the toilets put us off a bit, so we only stayed for a couple of hours.So it was time to do some proper travelling. Four of us in a three-man van made it quite a squeeze, but it was alright, and if you were in the back, you could have a nap, which was normally needed, sleeping in that van. It was a Wicked van, which is a little camper, that's got a rock star/cartoon character/actor/whatever spray-painted on the side. We were lucky enough to get Stevie Nicks. Rock & Roll eh?

On the first day of driving we stopped off at a place called Lake Ainsworth and saw the biggest, smartest waves ever, and a town called Red Rock, where we saw loads of wild kangaroos hopping around the golf course. One of them had a proper pink, hairless, ugly joey in its pouch. Then it was off to Coffs Harbour to stay the night. We found a pub that had an open mic night on, and I managed to have a jam with a couple of Australians, who were quality. Next stop was Port Macquerie, via the koala sanctuary, although it was more like a zoo. We all got to stroke a snake, croc, koala, kangaroo, and wallaby. We got to feed the roos and wallabies as well. There were a couple of albino kangaroos as well. They were a bit weird, with the pinky eyes and everything. We got to feed a kangaroo, and its joey at the same time, while the joey was in the pouch!! After the zoo, we got a chippy tea and went for a game of 10 pin bowling, which, by the way, I won by miles :)
After bowling, we decided to do some night-time driving, setting off at about half 11, so that we didn't have to travel as far the next day. It was absolutely lashing it down, and you could hardly see out the windscreen in our crappy van. Me and debs were being the navigators, while paula drove and bash slept soundly in the back. About an hour into driving, we were about a kilometre past the closest rest area, Tom Cat Creek, when the van decided to stop working. I'll just point out that this was a single lane motorway, with no hard shoulder or central reservation, or streetlights. So it's a back road really. Paula was franticly pushing the accelerator, while me and debs screamed to accelerate, and bash slept soundly in the back. We spotted a right turn 50 yards ahead, and we were all willing the van to roll across without stopping. Which of course it did, leaving about a metre of van sticking out in the road. Then, with perfect timing, the headlights of one of those big rigger lorry things creep of a hill, coming straight towards us. Cue panic, and shouting and bash sleeping soundly in the back.

Despite what debs might say, the lorry managed to miss us quite easily, and we just about managed to get back to Tom Cat Creek, breaking down again just as we pulled up to park. We quickly set up the tent for me and bash, who had now woken up, and called out the mechanics to have a look.
We got to spend a few hours the next day hanging around the rest area with a football, while the girls went to get the van fixed, and eventually got back on the road, towards Nelson Bay. We were struggling to find any pubs in Nelson Bay, apart from what looked like a posh complex, that debs was determined we would go drinking in, regardless what anyone else thought. However, she proved to have good judgement. The bad news was there was some sort of radio roadshow on, so it looked like everyone from the town had turned up, loads in 80's fancy dress (I hope), to dance to Cher's 'it's in his kiss' and other poptastic classics. The good news was, Arsenal v Reading was on. Debs was well chuffed. We decided to stay another night in Nelson Bay, so that we could go on a boat trip to see some dolphins, and hopefully spot some penguins on the beach (I know, I thought debs was lying too). We did see some dolphins, but unfortunately they didn't come right up to the boat. The boat had a big net that it dragged through the water, and you could jump in and get dragged along if you wanted. So I managed to convince bash to get in with me with a good old guilt trip - once in a lifetime and all that :) It was mint! if a little cold. We didn't get to see any penguins, but we did have a good game of football on the beach. Then it time for a few beers before the last night in the van. Paula and debs took over the driving, and me and bash fell asleep in the back, and more or less woke up in Sydney. We jumped out at the hostel, and the girls went to drop to van off No more Wicked van! I get to sleep in a bed again!!

The girls had a nap when they got to the hostel, so me and bash went to scope out Sydney. We walked past a cash machine that was spitting a $20 note at us, took it, and bought some beer and chicken wings. Sydney likes us!
From now on I got a bit lazy and didn't do my diary thing, so I might remember everything. Sorry.

We booked into the 'Chilli Blue' hostel for a week, with bash, debs, and paula in one room, and me in another. After a couple of quite lazy sightseeing and drinking days I went down to Thirroul, about an hour and a half south of Sydney, to see Paula and Nick, friends from Barlick. I was unbelievably rough on the day I got there, so I had an early night in a big double bed, after being told I could help myself in the fridge!! Bliss! Bash, debs and paula arrived the next day, and we commenced a mammoth drinking session, that led to the funniest photos of bash I've got, and a few stinking headaches. I've got to recommend drunken didgeridoo playing though. It's a quality party game!
The next day was ANZAC day, a day when Australia and New Zealand commemorate the people who died in the war. This is done by spending all day in the pub, playing heads or tails for insane amounts of money. Looked like immense fun, but I could hardly talk, never mind drink. Plus, we had to get back to Sydney, so that we could see the Blue Mountains, and go out for our one and only posh meal. I had steak and it was great! And this chorizo starter that me and bash both got….. mmmm I'm drooling just thinking about it.

The Blue Mountains trip was a complete success, apart from debs and paula getting annoyed by the loud American girls. Ahhh. Ha! The views across the mountains were amazing. Little nugget of knowledge - they aren't mountains, and they're not blue. They are on a large plateau, apparently, and the blue misty stuff comes from the eucalyptus trees. So there you go. We also got to see Katoomba Falls from a big cable car thing, that supposedly had a glass floor. But you couldn't see through it, so honestly, what's the point? We also, got a cable car down to a sort of jungle trek, before going back up on the steepest railway ever, that goes through a natural tunnel. Trust me to be sat where the drips were. We got to see an aboriginal carving, the Olympic Stadiums and some more kangaroos as well, before getting on a boat trip into Sydney Harbour. We saw a beautiful sunset and as we went past the Opera House it was all lit up, which was nice.
On the second to last day me and bash entered a football competition between different hostels, which was very competitive. I got knocked on my backside a couple of times, and bash managed to beat a guy who was about 6"4 for a header, but unfortunately got a massive in the nose for his troubles. No worries though, he was still skinning the foreigners with a t-shirt being held up to his nose - we didn't have any subs! We won one lost one, which wasn't too bad for 7 strangers from across the world playing for the first time. Obviously me and bash were the shining lights of the team :)

After a last night of pizza and beer in the hostel (my last supper) I headed for my last nights sleep in Australia before going back home to Barlick, where the sun was shining brighter than anywhere I went in Australia. Typical.