Helloooooo from jess and Nicole!

We are in Cairns and alot has happened since we last wrote. Byron Bay was incredible, probably the best part of our time there was our surf lesson. We all managed to stand on the board, although our instructor told Nicole and I that we simply needed to try to move on the boards rather than just lie there lol! Had a couple of fun nights out in Byron Basy and spent alot of time chilling in the beach. We stayed in the Arts Factory which was a cool hippy hostel completely in keeping with the Byron Bay atittude, definitely reccommend it to anyone going.

Jess stopped in Brisbane to collect her passport etc and had some retail therapy while the rest of us rocked in for the night before getting an early bus to Hervey Bay. We thought Brisbane was a disappointment but little did we know what was to come!

We spent the next 3 days at Fraser Island. The one good thing was our group was awesome-3 British girls, 4 Finnish people and us; but it rained and there were gale force winds up until our last day. Therefore we barely saw anything of Fraser Island and spent most of the time in the van trying to dry off. THEN...............

our 4x4 broke down on the beach at high tide. After getting the other groups tp help us push the car and jump start it so we dfidn't get swept out into the shark infested ocean we managed to get hold of the mechanic on the island who couldn't get to us til the next morning. By this time it was pitch black and still pouring with rain which made tent assembly and dinner really really fun. Other probs with our vehicle were that the seatbelts did not work and the roof leaked. If you know anyone going to Fraser Island tell them to avoid Koalas Adventures at all costs!!! On the last day we went to Lake Wabby where Nicole, Matt and the other slightly crazy members of the group and I rolled down the sand dune straight into the lake-it was soooo much fun! We then went to Lake McKenzie which is the famous pretty one.

Next up was the Whitsundays which we reached after a 13hr bus ride. As soon as we got off the bus we could tell we were in the tropics because it was much warmer! Our boat was called the Pride of Airlie and we stayed at South Molle Island at night. The whitsundays are beautiful, white sands and clear ocean. On Whitehaven beach Matt found a dead stingray which was really cool, and snorkled over a 5ft mantaray which he said was awesome but scary! Once again we had fun with our group who were the same Fraser Island group-cue loads of drinking games! One night the 4 of us and our new friend Blondie dressed up as superheroes: superman (Matt) Batgirl (Nicole) Princess (Jess) and Nap Girl (Ayesha who is proving to be a champion napper on this trip). During one night of drinking games Nicole even tried some pole dancing, and Matt kept losing the 'Game of Life" and had to do 10 push ups about 5 times a day.

We are now in Cairns after another overnight journey. Yesterday Ayesha decided to chill at the hostel so the 3 of us hired a car and visited the Kuranda Koala Sanctuary where we both cuddled a koala called Chippy before heading up to Cape Tribulation. In Cape Tribulation we did canopy surfing, which is where you fly acorss the rainforest on zipwires. Jess cried when the instructor tried to make her let go of the handles then started to abuse her for being a wimp, but Matt and Nicole were fantastic at it!

Today we went on a boat trip to the Great Barrier Reef, it was really lovely to sit outside on the boat in the hot weather-32C today! Jess did a couple of dives which were amazing, she saw a stingray, a white tipped shark, giant clams, barracuda and tons of pretty fish. Matt did an introductory dive which he loved whilst Nicole snorkled and took some awesome shots on her underwater camera which is now acting a bit weird...tonight we are going out with the 3 british girls and tomorrow Matt is doing a 14,000ft sky dive. All our mates from the Whitsundays are staying in the same hostel as us which is pretty cool.

After all this were going to Bali in the next day or 2. Nicole and Ayesh have travelled about 4000km from Melbourne in just over 3 weeks, and Jess and Matt about 3000km in 2 1/2 weeks. Impressive. It makes Europe seem really small. Matt is getting colour all over while Jess is all freckles and Ayesha is getting far less donuty by the minute. Nicole's still white..

Will write soon from Bali

Jess and Nicole xxxxx