Hello!

I thought i'd better write something to let people know i am still alive and not lost in the outback or something. I am actually still in Tasmania and living near a place called Cygnet, which is practically in the middle of nowhere. I'm staying in a working hostel which means they help you find work and give you lifts there if you need it.

For the last 8 weeks i've been picking strawberries, which sounds nice but believe me it isn't. It's hard on your back because you spend the whole time bent over and make almost no money for doin it. It's ok for me though because the days are short and i'm only doin it to get days done so i can apply for my second year visa. For the last couple of weeks i've also been working as a cleaner at the hostel to get free rent, so the fact i'm making next to no money picking strawberries doesn't matter too much.

The hostel itself scared me when i first got here and i couldn't imagine living here for more than a week, but i've actually now found myself quite settled and enjoying it! There's a great crowd of people and even though there's nothing to do we make our own fun. There's always drinking at the weekends when people don't have work and many a random thing has happened since i've been here! It's weird how you get used to being in the middle of nowhere - i don't really mind it anymore. I have left a couple of times though. When two of our friends left we went for a night out in Hobart (the nearest town - 50 mins drive away!) and a few weeks ago i went camping for a weekend on Bruny island. That was an experience to say the least - me in a car with 4 guys, staying at the most random campsite ever and two of the guys tried to catch a wallaby with a piece of string. Shockingly they almost succeeded, but not quite.

I'm still with Laura who i started my travels with in Sydney, but we've lost Kate. She left after the first week here cos she decided against fruit-picking for her second visa. Laura is now planning on staying here for a while cos she loves it here, and i'm staying til the end of April probably, to try to get as many of my seasonal work days done as possible.

I can't put pictures up until I get to a better computer somwhere in civilisation, but i will hopefully be able to soon.

xxxx