So once again I find myself back in Sydney. This time for only a few hours however as I await the long journey back to Heathrow. Since I have become accustomed to the tropical weather of Queensland, I am finding Sydney rather chilly! 18 degrees and I am cold! How will I survive back in the UK? Anyway, time to kill before my flight - and internet credit to use up - why not update my blog.

Monday 14th March Canberra and Sydney!

(okay so im over a month behind. Clearly I have been having too much fun to update!)

Arrived in Canberra to enjoy a lunchtime drive around all the embassies. They are all in one road and they all kinda look like their own countries. For example, the American Embassy is massive and

Took a tour around Pariliament house and the War Musueum and enjoyed lunch on top of capitol hill. Our bus driver really rushed us through Canberra, claiming that there was not much to see and we had to get into Sydney. I could have spent more time there! There was lots to see!

In the evening we arrived in Sydney!! Decided to check out a few bars and ended in an Irish pub called Scruffy Murphys.

Tuesday 15th March Sydney

Time for sight seeing! The opera house and the Harbor bridge were amazing! We took millions of pictures trying to get the perfect angle for the perfect Sydney shot! Having spent the whole day walking we were pretty exhausted so we went to bed.

Wednesday 16th March Sydney

Beautiful sunny day. Walked from Coogee beach to Bondi Beach - passing 5 of Sydneys beaches on the way. Definitely caught the sun today! But there is one thing i did not catch...the bus! But nevermind, that just meant it was time to go get a cocktail before the interesting bus journey home (wrong bus!) I think it was one of those days because when we got home and cooked an amazing meal consisting of sweet potato, curry sauce, corn on the cob and brocolli we decided to have a quiet drink in a bar. Of course this turned into more than one drink and before I knew it, my friend Maria was being sick in a bin outside the Irish bar...I thought the Irish could hold their drink! Oh I think she also abused some scottish guys in the lift on the way up...she does not remember this.

Thursday 17th March The Hunter Valley, Sydney

Up. Headache. Drag self to bus. Sleep. Don't want to get off bus. Forced to go on wildlife walk. It was actually really good. We saw big Kangeroos up close and weird birds that make whipping noises. Then onto wine tasting! Not the best thing to do when hungover but as soon as the port was readily flowing we were happy again! I wish i had bought a bottle of that port. Yum! Then time for a quick nap before a night on the town for St Paddys day. The streets were packed with mostly people who were not Irish. But as I with my 3 Irish friends, I was okay! Great night!

Friday 18th March Sydney

Casually got up at 5pm for a Chinese and prompty went to the bottle shop (they don't say off licence over here - they also have drive through bottle shops, how odd!) to get some goon. Hours later, we were dancing in an Asian club. We hadn't realised it was an Asian club until we got inside but it was pretty fun all the same! Many a dance move later we were making our way back to the hostel.

Saturday 19th March Sydney

Had a look round Paddys market today - its a massive market full of lots of cheap goods. I picked up a few presents, mainly for baby Lexie and then we went to watch the fireworks at Darling Harbour. Well, I say we went to, we actually got there when the fireworks had ended but we saw Darling Harbour all lit up at night. It was pretty beautiful! Randomly decided to go bowling - this is not like bowling at home. I mean the game is the same but I thought bowling was for families or for people who wanted a quiet night. Not in Austrailia! There were hen dos, stag dos (sorry bucks dos!), fancy dress, crazy drunk rowdy dancing people. All part of the fun! On the way home it started to piss is down and was still raining the nest morning!

Sunday 20th March Sydney to Surf Camp

Spent most of the day on the bus, hoping the rain would stop. It finally did as we got to surf camp. Surf camp was just a hostel next to the beach. We sat round the camp fire, eating and drinking and generally being merry and awaiting our surf lesson which would come the next morning.

Monday 21st March Surf Camp to Byron Bay

Nothing like a Monday morning surf lesson to start the day. I actually managed to stand up on the board as well! However, not for long. I could kinda get up in a crouching position but then very quickly fell into the water. I guess it takes a lot of practise!

Randomly watched transformers whilst waiting for the bus. Great film, even though we spent the first few minutes confused because we were told we were going to watch transporter...an entirely different film all together..less robot aliens.

Bus to Byron bay - time to check in, grab a pizza and some goon and head across to cheeky monkeys for a night out! Our hostel was only across the road from the club but i seem to remember our friend Steve managing to get lost on the way home!

Tuesday 22nd March Byron Bay

Ventured out to the beach today for some lovely sunny weather. Sat in the cafe and relaxed and had a aussie bbq when we got back to the hostel. lots of meat! Awesome day.

Wednesday 23rd March Byron Bay and Nimbin

Day trip to Nimbin which is a crazy hippy town consisting of about 1 street. Every 2 minutes down this short street though you are asked if you want to buy weed or cookies. Very interesting place. In the evening, back to Cheeky Monkeys for a $5 meal and some drinking games!

Thursday 24th March Byron Bay

Another lazy beach day today followed by an awesome night out again in cheeky monkeys.

Friday 25th March Surfers Paradise.

Was definitely feeling the 3 dollar glasses of champagne this morning as we got up early for the drive to surfers paradise. It was really hot weather but I don't think any of us were in the mood to even look at the sun. So, randomly, we went to the cinema. Not really a thing to do when you are traveling but its nice to go back to normality once in a while. Plus, by this point i had been on the road for over a month. On the way back we called into an Irish pub, and then another one and the night basially ended with a Irish bar crawl of which there were 5 that we saw in surfers paradise. Actually, the night ended by meeting this weird rat girl on the way back to the hostel. She was just there, walking around with her pet rat, as you do. Got into our 20 bed dorm sauna which was basically a tin can with 10 bunk beds in it and was woken at stupid o'clock in the morning by a girl claiming someone was in her bed and he should get out. Very odd.

Saturday 26th March Brisbane.

Time was getting on and with less than a month left I knew I had to speed up and get up the East coast faster if I was ever going to get everything in. Entered Brisbane in sunshine and after a brief walk around the city decided to get the ferry up the river and go for a picnic. Standard couple of drinks in the hostel bar and off to bed. I believe the hostel was haunted because it was built during victorian times and still had an old victorian lift in operation. It reminded me of a horror film I had seen. Also had long corridors like where the two girls appear in the shinning! Scary stuff!

Sunday 27th March Noosa.

Off to Noosa today in sadly, not so good weather. Noosa is a lovely beach place but very small so there wasn't much to do except wait for the free BBQ in the hostel which consisted of 1 sausage and 1 slice of bread. The live band more than made up for it though.

Monday 28th March Rainbow Beach.

I didn't have enough time to go to the Steve Irwin Zoo as I had to rush up to Rainbow Beach to sort out my Frazer Island tour. Did a long scenic walk in the morning and sat in a cafe for a rest. When I glanced at the floor, it looked to be moving...I think I walked for too long! Then bus to Rainbow Beach where we bought supplies for the camping trip on Frazer Island that would commence the next day.