Hello everyone!!!! Ian's finally let me get my hands on the journal side of things instead of doing the photo's so here goes......!!! Well since setting off from Sydney we've been here, there and everywhere so to make it a little bit easier for you to follow I'll go through the last couple of weeks place by place.

Coffs Harbour - Coffs was our first stop off and there wasn't that much to do in the quiet town so Ian hit the surf on his body board and we hired mountain bikes, that's all the excitement Coffs had to offer!

Byron Bay - Byron is a fantastic, chilled out place full of surfers! First day at Byron we hit the beach where I attended the McGee School of Body Boarding! Ian trying to teach me how to catch my own waves was going slowly mainly due to the sea being fairly calm. The helpful boyfriend he is, he proceeded to push into waves so I could ride them into the beach! One wave caught us both by surprise and took us both out, a bit like being in a massive washing machine! As we were being thrown around I could feel Ian's strap from his board wrapping around both legs and getting tighter and tighter! Fortunately my legs were'nt cut off but I was sporting some very fashionable bruises for the next week that looked like I'd been whipped on the back of my legs!!!! Our next day in Byron we went on a mad trip called Jim's Alternative Tour to the hippy town of Nimbin (we'll leave it to your imaginations as to what the alternative was-look at the pics!!). Part of the tour was a visit to Dr. Paul Reacher's hippy heaven in the middle of the rainforest, this was quite an experience and again you'll have to check the pics to understand the weirdness of this trip!!! Our last day at Byron and the clouds had come out so we booked a surf lesson at the last min. With our boards in hand and Danny our instructor we headed down to the beach and hit the waves!! Like surfing pro's we were both up on our boards and riding the waves on our first goes! Ian being the pro he is was nearly catching his own waves by the end and I wasn't too far behind although I did have a few comical falls.

Surfers Paradise - Surfers was like a holiday resort and had 7 miles of golden beach (that's why it's called the Gold Coast). Landing here on a weekend luckily we had found ourselves in the middle of Australia's biggest Aerial Surfing Comp lasting for the full 3 days we were there! The world's best surfers had all gathered to compete so lucky for us we got to see the likes of Kelly Slater and Taj Burrows (the world top 2 surfers) pull some amazing moves in the surf! Caught up in the surfing mood me and Ian headed out with our body boards to show the Gold Coast our moves! The only thing I could offer them was the blood pouring from both of my knees as I left the water after catching a wave on my board then grazing my knees as I got pushed right up onto the beach on all the pebbles!!!!! What dramas will I cause next eh???? The hostel we stayed at in Surfers was fab and organised The Big Night Out which mainly involved drinking Goon (cheap Ozzy wine) beside the pool before everyone went on a bar crawl (which went down well with Ian as the first bar we went to passed finger food round)!!

Maroochydore - Basically the only reason we went to stay at Maroochydore was the main reason we had come to Oz..... to visit the home of Mr. Steve Irwin, yes Australia Zoo!!!!!!!!!!! It was kind of sad  bing there and seeing everything he'd been working on was at a stand still! We managed to catch a show in the Crocoseum but it wasn't the same without the Croc Hunter himself and we got to feed an elephant! At the end of the zoo there is a memorial for him with loads of shirts, pics, paintings, cards, poems........ all that were left by people after he died.     

Noosa - Noosa is a lovely little place on the beach with a huge National Park right next door to it. After a day tanning it up on the beach we went for a walk in the National Park and this is where we spotted our first wild koala eating his dinner before going back to 20 more hours of sleep (almost as much as me)! Joe a lad who Ian had worked with in Sydney was working at the hostel we were staying in so obviously that meant WRECKAGE!!!! After 1 or 2 jugs of beer during happy hour I was met with Ian, Joe and Joe's mate all very wet after a late night swim in our hostel pool where they had been thrown out by Joe's boss (the hostel manager) who was busy (if you know wht I mean) with his lady friend at the side of the pool, how romantic!!!!

Well that pretty much brings you up to date on where we are so far! Next stop Hervey Bay and Fraser Island!!!!!!!! Love and miss you all loads xxxxx