G'day from Brisbane, Australia!

In the 10 days since I was in Sydney I feel like I have seen quite a bit of Australia and am now almost half way up the coast.

The first stop after Sydney was surf camp which was so much fun even though I was pretty useless at it! If you've seen the pictures you can see that although I did eventually manage to stand up it would barely last 2 seconds before I fell straight back off the board again! It was so much harder than I thought it was going to be, and even getting yourself and your board out into the sea without being swept back to the shore again was enough of a challenge. After about an hour I hadn't really got very far but a lot of the people in my group gave up and went back. Because there were only a few of us left, I had an instructor to myself and I don't think he knew what he had let himself in for when he offered to help me! He would push me out as the wave came and I would manage to get to my knees before falling head-first off the board and having a bit of a strop and struggling back out into the sea again. It was on about the 12th go of him pushing me that I finally stood and I couldn't have been more relieved that I could finally give up and go because at least I had some pictures of me standing and that will do! Surfing may have been fun but it seems like a bit too much hard work for me, and I don't think the frcition burns that I had all over my legs are such a great look!

After spending a day at surf camp I got back on the bus and headed for Byron Bay. Byron is possibly the coolest place in the entire world and I would have stayed there for much longer if the accomodation wasn't so expensive! With some girls from my bus, I stayed in an apartment and it seems strange how much of a luxury it was to have a kitchen between just 8 of us and not be fighting 100 other people for the saucepans!!

Although the hostel was pretty cool, the town was ledgendary. It was as if we stepped off the bus in the 70's. Everyone walks around in their tie-dyed long skirts with no shoes and plays their guitars on the beach in the evening which was pretty cool. While I was there I also took a trip to the nearby town Nimbin which is unofficially Australia's answer to Amsterdam. It was interesting to see but I will not be going back there any time soon.

I left Byron with some girls that were in my apartment there and we moved on to Surfers Paradise. I had heard that if you like Benidorm then you would like this place and that generally most backpackers don't have good things to say about it, but I didn't mind it so much. The beach was lovely, even if the sky scrappers do go straight onto the sand. It is true that after Byron this city does feel quite strange and seems like it is trying to be like LA, but I had a good time. We stayed in a hostel quite a bit out of town but we met a big group of guys there and went out partying every day which I can't really complain about! Surfers Paradise is also home to all of Australia's big theme parks and while I was there I went to both a water park and Dreamworld which might not have quite compared to Alton Towers but was worth a visit!

A few days ago I moved on from Surfers Paradise to Brisbane and on the bus I bumped into Katrin who I had first met back in Brisbane which was great. We decided to stick together and have now been in Brisbane for the past 4 days. We are staying in the valley which is party central, though I have been doing so much here that I have only been out once which makes a change!!! Before I got here people told me there was nt much to do, but I have seen so much and really liek this place and could happily stay here. In fact I'm even a little bit jealous that Katrin has just got a job here and that I am moving on tomorrow.

The highlight of Brisbane has to be the koala sanctuary that we went to the other day. I now have a new favourite animal lol. Although it was a rip-off to pay $16 to actually get to hold a koala it had to be done and was such a cool experience

While we've been here we've also visited the lagoon/man-made beach, the modern art museum, west-end and supposidly the best nightclub in Australia (though I disagree). Tomorrow I am moving on to Noosa and meeting up with some girls that I first met in Sydney which I am really excited about!! It is great that I now know quite a lot of people that I keep bumping into in different places and I am generally having an amazing time!

Lots of love xx