Before Dad actually gets on a plane and physically forces me to sit down at a computer and do my blog I thought I should let you all know that no, I didn't lose my camera in Tanzania, and no, I didn't die falling out of a cable car attached to a bit of elastic in New Zealand, and no, I haven't been struck down with swine flu since arriving in Australia (although I'm not sure that's something I should joke about just yet?!) and yes, I am now going to write a quick update on what we've been up to over the past few weeks! Although it will never be as detailed as Kirst's so you may as well just read hers... :)

So, just a quick bit of geography... since I last wrote in here, when we were in Queenstown (yes dad, I know it was a long time ago), we have travelled just a little bit and left beautiful, majestic, every photographers dream, New Zealand behind and are now down under in Australia. We flew from Christchurch on 4th April, where we first began our Kiwi adventure six weeks previous, to Melbourne, and have since travelled up the east coast on the Greyhound bus passing through Canberra, Sydney, Byron Bay, Surfers Paradise, Brisbane, Hervey Bay, Fraser Island, back down a bit to Noosa, and then back up again to Hervey Bay which is where we are now. I'd never be able to describe everything we did at all of those places without sending you all to sleep, so I'm just going to pick out a few of the things that stand out in my mind!

Firstly, Sydney. The most amazing city on earth? Quite possibly. Being a country girl I can't say I've been to many, or am really that interested in visiting any more, but Sydney certainly made a huge impression on me. There's just something about it, the way the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge dominate the skyline, in such different ways during the day and then at night, the smells and sounds of Darling Harbour, the buzz of the streets of the inner city... And then there are the hidden parts of Sydney, that you have to go and look for, but don't ever want to leave once you've found them. Manly was one of these places for me, just seven miles from the centre of the city but feeling like a whole world away from the exciting, noisy confusion of day-to-day life in Sydney. The easiest way to get to Manly is by ferry, and by getting a week's travel card for the trains, buses and ferries, Kirsty and I ensured we could go back and forth as often as we liked for the few days we were there without it costing a fortune. Manly is really just a seaside town, but it has an atmosphere that hits you the second you step off the ferry, somehow generated by the huge stretch of sand and blue sea that help frame the sunrise every morning, the buskers with their long, sun bleached hair and their acoustic guitars, and the cheap little cafes along the front that smell of coffee and freshly baked bread. Sydney is yet another place I'd go back to in a heartbeat, given the chance...

It's not all been about lying on the beach, listening to music and drinking coffee though! In Byron Bay we spent two days getting up at dawn and learning to surf which was great fun (photos to follow at some stage!) - it's so much harder than it looks to catch a wave and stand up on one of those things! I got more confident on the second day and attempted to catch some green waves (as opposed to waves that have already broken) and subsequently spent the majority of my time on the seabed, having mis-judged my points of balance on my board and nose dived into the water. At no point did I stop wanting to get back out and give it another go though! I just won't be adding 'professional surfer' to my list of potential future careers anytime soon...

Rally driver, however (particularly according to Kirsty's account of our trip to Fraser Island) is maybe something I should be considering! When we first came up to Hervey Bay last week it was only for one night, so we could join our tour group heading to Fraser Island the following day. We were part of a group of 33, split into three 4x4s (we later found out we had the oldest vehicle in the fleet, obvious in retrospect as we were instructed before we left how to 'coax the engine into life' in the mornings, and how to shut the driver door in a particular way to get it to close - it still flew open a couple of times when I was driving), let loose on the largest sand island in the world for two nights and three days. I was one of the four people over 21 and so old enough to drive, and I loved navigating my way over the pretty rough inland terrain (apparantly as a result of the cyclone that hit the north of the island six weeks ago) and along the beach, past the spot where those two backpackers were killed when their 4x4 rolled just a week before. It was great fun, but a little overshadowed by such a recent tragedy, and put harshly into perspective when another girl was helicoptered off the island right in front of us when her 4x4 hit rocks at speed and she flew out of her seat and hit her head on the roof of the truck causing spinal injuries. It was still a good few days though, as we slept under the stars, swam in the clearest, bluest freshwater lakes I've ever seen (and will probably ever see) and barbequed on the beach.

The other thing we've done that really stands out for me is when we went to Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo a couple of days ago. I'm not normally the biggest fan of zoos, and having done several safaris in Africa so recently, seeing an elephant in a pen wasn't really going to cut it ... but this one was fantastic! I got to feed an elephant, cuddle a koala (I seriously considered stealing it - it would have been worth doing jail time for), feed the kangaroos, watch the keepers feed the crocodiles that made the place so famous in the first place, and watch the tigers play in their big pool. As a park, it's just so well-maintained (I'm sure there were more staff there than there were visitors), and Steve Irwin's slightly contagious 'save the planet' spirit is just everywhere. Pippa, you would have been in your element...

I think that's it from me for now! Dad you can stop sending me abusive emails with the subject title 'Blog!' now... Or at least wait a couple of weeks before you start sending them again. A sailing trip in the Whitsundays is next on our list of things to do... If you don't hear from me I've been eaten by a shark.

Lots of love! Heather x