Hey guys!

Well as I write, i am now in Bryon Bay, staying at the hippiest place I have possibly ever seen, but will come back to that later.

Ok so last night, sue's daughter, Lesley took me to a place in Surfer's called 'Draculas', think Gothic Cabaret and restaurant, and you're quite close. The building itself is a big, looming gothic building on Hooker Boulevard (yes i know) and every night it puts on a show, aimed at adults because the content is very risque. The decor is amazing, lots of black, red and purple paint, velvet cushions, skeletons in the floor, gargoyles etc etc, you get the point. When i went to the bathroom, i looked in the mirror and a face appeared!! (no not mine, obviously, a clown was in one mirror, then 2 other faces i can't even describe).

we got there, and lesley had paid the $15 each to bump us up to VIP (check me out) so we walked right past the queue and straight in, where we were faced with our greeter- an undertaker so creepy every time he looked at me i looked away. We were led through a door where we headed to the bar and got a drink. The bar staff, in fact everyone working there was in full get-up, the make up was great, incredibly gorey, dark and some were very scary. The next step was to get a ghost train to where we would be sitting. Now those who know me well, know how easy i jump at something, even when im expecting it, ill jump right out my seat, so i was a little bit nervy doing this, expecting someone to jump out and grab me, i didn't want to spill my drink! There wasn't much, just a few parts that made me jump a little- including one part where they blew air right into our faces, it didn't sound much but it was weird in the dark. What i didn't know was that they taped everyone going round that corner to show during the interval... we'll come back to that later.

So we got our table number and headed up to the VIP area, where we had good seats facing the stage, higher than the regular seats. Each seat had a Draculas goodie bag and we had free canapes (finger food literally- chicken shaped like fingers, i couldn't look at it while i ate it! We also ate some crackers with camambert and strawberries on, drizzled in balsamic vinegar, sounds odd but YUM!) and the guy on meet and greet- big blonde wig, white contact lenses, TIGHT leather trousers, very nice guy) chatted to us while seating everyone else. Draculas has been open for nearly 30 years and last night was some sort of VIP function- the first ever Dracula to appear there had come back to visit.

what was great is that the staff on meet and greet were also in the show, there was a cast of 7 members, including a band, but they changed so much i thought there were at least 12 people! It's funny how a wig and costume can make you completely unrecognisable. The guy with the white contact lenses appeared in a brown wig minus contacts,and i didn't even realise it was him until the end of the show! The cabaret show was great, fab singing and dancing, they were really talented! They sang their own songs and some others like the Chili Peppers and Justin Timberlake- anything that was dark and gothic. The songs were broken up with comedy sketches that were hilarious, i haven't laughted so much in a long time. Once they went from a sketch with a magician and his helper, to a song/rap about sperm. Yep that's right, sperm. The actors dressed in black so the lights were turned out, they just had these big white 'hats' on, and then the tails were attached to their hands, very very funny.

Eventually it was over, but you stay in your seat until you've paid your drinks bill, then you get a wristband to show you have paid. Lesley and i were given ours straight away, which we thought was a little odd, but we sat there waiting for the waitress to come round and give us the bill- there was probably $70-$100 for the 2 of us, we waited, and waited, then about 20 minutes later we managed to flag a waitress over and ask her if we could pay, but for some reason, and we really can't work out how, our drinks bill had been paid!! By who, we have no idea, but whoever that was, thank you!!!!!!!!!

We decided to stick around for a bit and have a drink. Because Lesley smokes, we went to the smoking deck upstairs before hitting the bar, where a guy came up and said something, we realised it was the guy with the contact lenses in, once again, completely different and unrecognisable in his normal clothes. Then the 2 leading ladies came up as well, (we could tell it was them, they had these long false eyelashes on- about 2 inches long) and we chatted to them about stage makeup and stuff. It was great! How often do you go to a play, in say the Everyman Theatre in town, then the actors just come up and start to chat to you??

Downstairs after grabbing a drink we found a seat and was approached by a guy wearing the full make up still- scar down his face, red lips, quite scary. This guy was from Inverness in Scotland, but had been living in Vegas for a year before heading here. He did magic tricks, and within 3 minutes had me completely stumped. I was amazed at what he did. He gave me a red sponge ball, i held it in my fist, then he made his disappear, when i opened mine up there were 2! Then he did some amazing things with cards, even the way he shuffled them, i had never seen anything like that before. it was great, a lot of fun and laughter, and i can honestly say i've never been to a place like that before.

So now i am in Byron Bay, just south of Surfers, staying in a hostel called The Arts Factory. Let me paint you a picture. On one side of the hostel is a field, next to a small lake where tents and teepees, that's right, big teepees are situated, you can sleep in these, and the teepees are also used for the yoga and meditation classes everyday. There are hammocks next to the coffee shop and juice bar that is open until midnight where you can buy fresh juices, smoothies, coffees, cakes, sandwiches etc etc. It has dormotories- i'm staying in one of these) and a pool and hot tub- although these are being mended at the moment. It has a pool table, a fussball table, a reading room, plenty of computers, and lots of things to do like make your own digeridoo and a free lesson in how to play them. This place is great! I've just been accosted by a guy who leads you around a bush tucker trail where you learn how to get waer from trees, make toilet paper from leaves, make natural soap and shampoo and sun screen, but i gave it a miss, will do that tomorrow if i can.

My next destination is Sydney for a few days, but its about 14 hours in a coach, so i'm thinking of stopping somewhere else along the way, i think i would go a little stir crazy on that journey! But then, it would save me money... we'll see.

Hope you're all ok! Missing you lots!

xxxx