Hey folks, Here's the latest update from my travels in Oz, from a somewhat perky Jo this time! Guess what, I've met a nice young man! :D Early days but who knows, could be the beginning of a beautiful thing! Basically my days in 1770 were supposed to be a week of chill out and organization after the craziness of Fraser Island and Rainbow Beach. Needless to say, these went out the window on meeting said young man. Heh heh. ;) So what have I been up to? Well, the hostel I was staying at did free scooter tours every afternoon out to the bush where the kangaroos were, so on my first day I did this, meeting young man in the process - double the bonus. Was super cool as we zoomed around with kangas bouncing all around us! Awesome fun. We were even asked by the owner if we wanted to be "Scooteroos" in the local town carnival parade at the weekend, so naturally we said yes! Spent a couple of days just lying on the beach with Rhys and his friend Adam, (utter k*** but what can you do?), watching them surf and sunbaking, (the Oz term for sunbathing, sounds much cooler). Still getting used to the language out here, "sick" is good apparently as is "sweet as". "Pash" is used like kiss and "root" well...I'll leave that one to your imagination! Have found myself constantly saying "no worries" all the freakin' time too! Day of the 1770 carnival, (think the Downton Cuckoo Fair but in Oz!) we all got up early and hopped on scooters with giant inflatable kangas on the back and drove in the parade waving to everyone and beeping our horns. Was quite the celebrity!! Rest of the day was spent with an esky full of beers down at the beach and we messed about in the carnival for a couple of hours, finally dancing to local live bands with fireworks. Ended up sitting on the beach watching the stars, they were soooo amazing! You could see the Milky Way and everything, even ended up seeing a couple of shooting stars, even better with a hottie to point them out to you. :D Unfortunately the evening was somewhat ruined with Rhys' k*** friend thinking it would be hysterical to soak my dorm bed and belongings with a hose in the middle of the night. Needless to say I had a scary person freak out and went mental at him. Though luckily this didn't mess up too much and I spent the next day surfing on Rhys' surfboard while he worked, actually turned out to be AWESOME AT SURFING!!!! You just need the right board! Caught the biggest wave of the day by sheer fluke and actually surfed properly all the way to shore. Was utterly gobsmacked! Ended up having an awesome campfire under the stars on the beach on the final night, before I headed up to Airlie with my new pal Kelly in her campervan. Was really gutted to leave behind my guy but we'll see each other on Saturday here. Meanwhile I'm sleeping in Kelly's campervan to save a bit of cash, needless to say it's a bit grim but that's the highs and lows of traveling! Also still have half a beach in all my stuff which needs to be emptied out at some point! Start my diving tomorrow, wish me luck folks!!! :D Jo xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx