Hi Guys,

I arrived in Auckland on Saturday and was met by my Aunty and Uncle, it was really nice to have some one meet me at the airport and not have to try and find my own way to a hostel! I am staying here for about a week, its really nice we have been on a few day trips to see a gannet colony (mini petes on a cliff!! Hee Hee!!) and along to some beaches on the coast, plus to Devonport. Next weekend we head up to the Bay of Islands for the weekend before I head to the south island to Christchurch for a few weeks.

Australia was reall good, firstly I did the Great Ocean Road with a good group the scenary was really good, the 12 apostles (Rock formations) are now 8 as they have eroded and washed away! We got to see alot of Kangaroos and wild Koalas which was really cool, we went to Bells Beach famous for its surf - people say point break was filmed there but it was filmed in America. The next tour I did was the Kangaroo Island tour, we stayed two nights in a "cottage", well thats what they called it, it was actually a shack!! But it was good fun and got to go quad biking in twilight and see all the animals come out! At least this time I didnt get stuck up a volcano.

The scenary on the island is amazing, the beaches are beautiful, very rough with the waves, we went to sealion beach and sat and watched them surfing in the waves and playing. There are some really good rock formations that we were able to climb on that had been formed by the waves and the volcanoes.

From there I did a wine tour in the Barossa Valley and went to Jacobs Creek which was really good, they have started doing a sparkling red wine which was actually really nice.

I then did a desert tour from Adelaide to Alice Springs taking in Cooper Peedy in which we slept in under group caves and tried to find opals! But alas just found broken glass! Then up to Ayers Rock, the Olgas and Kings Canyon stopping at various little towns on the way. William Creek was the fastest growing city in Oz in went from having 2 people to 4 people over night! The formations were really good to see, and I had really good fun with the group in which practical jokes were played which included a water fight, dye in shampoo bottles, flour and rice fight and the best was flour in the air conditioning unit of the bus, we were all covered in it, that was thanks to Geraldo and Connie!

Anyway relaxing in Auckland for now will write soon..

Love Me x