We're in Oz! The last two days have mostly been a knackering blur so I'll try and bring you up to speed on what we've been up to.

We landed in Cairns at 5.30am yesterday after quite a turbulent flight, but that didn't bother me so my fear of flying must be cured. Going through immigration and quarantine was funny - they're ridiculously strict about things like bringing food into the country or having foreign soil on your shoes. It was exactly like that Bill Bailey sketch "Have you ever left a country gate slightly ajar?"! The bloke at passport control also laughed at Jim's photo.

It was raining all day in Cairns (what is THAT about?!) so we had a wander around the town, down to the deserted Esplanade, and then chilled at our hostel. It was really nice actually, called Dreamtime Traveller's Rest, and we're appreciating that now... My bed was SO comfy and I was keeping myself awake all day by pacing about just imagining the amazing night's sleep I was going to have. Unfortunately that dream was shattered by our Canadian room mates whose snoring sounded like industrial drills.

As we're on quite a tight time frame we decided to get the hell out of Cairns (it seemed a bit inbred) today so got the 9am Greyhound to Townsville. So we've been on a bus for six hours today and only travelled about half a centimetre down the East Coast of Oz. Exhausted, we tracked down the hostel that we managed to book on very short notice. It was the only one left with room availability and now we know why!

Adventurer's Backpackers was, and still is I'm sure, an absolute dive. It looked like some kind of 80s council estate with balconies full of chavvy Brits getting tw*tted and our room was a pigsty. So, what started as a casual suggestion from Jim became a concrete plan: we have booked into a hotel for the night! As soon as we saw that comfy bed and the free tea and coffee we knew it was worth blowing the budget for!

My first impressions of Australia are interesting... Cairns wasn't really for us but the journey down to Townsville confirmed why we're here. The sun was shining and there was some beautiful scenery - field after field of crops, sea, hills... It is a bit of a culture shock after Japan though.

It's bizarre being in a country where I speak the language. It really hit home when I was outside the airport having a cigarette and I felt like I was eavesdropping on the staff's conversations simply by virtue of the fact I could understand what they were saying. It's like we'd been trapped in this bubble for the past three weeks where you're surrounded by chatter you don't understand so are completely isolated from it. It almost feels like someone turned up the volume in Australia because mundane conversations interrupt your thoughts!

I don't feel like we've really begun here yet - it's all been waiting and travelling on buses. But I'm really looking forward to tomorrow when we catch the ferry to Magnetic Island for two nights. The beach is calling me...

Love you and miss you all x x x