So we're currently in New Zealand but I'm sure you'd all like to know about our trip up the east coast of Oz first! We set off in a bright green camper van called Jerry and headed for Byron Bay. Unfortunately the weather was so bad that we had to abandon the trip after about 10 hours and slept in a rest station (a secure lay by) on the side of the Pacific Highway - not exactly the start of the trip that we were hoping for! We reached Byron early the next morning and went to find somewhere to stay the night - as part of a deal with our camper van we can stay in the car parks at certain hostels along the way for $5 each to use the facilities. Byron Bay was nice but the weather wasn't great so we only stayed the night and got up early the following day to reach our next destination, Surfers Paradise. The weather here was definitely warmer, so after checking into a campsite we headed straight to the beach! It was so nice to be able to just relax in the sun for the first time in ages. The next day we got up early again as we planned to go to the Gold Coast theme parks. As most of you know I'm not really a rollercoaster kind of girl so after the morning at Warner Brother's Movie World, we went to a water park which is much more up my street! Despite exhausting ourselves on the rides we pushed on and went straight to our next stop, Noosa.

Noosa was one of my favourite places we visited, there were 3 or 4 areas to it all with lots of nice bars, restaurants and shops. We started the day at the spit and walked along the beach to Hastings Street, the main area, which reminded me a bit of south of France! We then went back to the beach to sunbathe. The next morning we got back on the road fairly early again (we're getting good at this) and headed to Rainbow Beach. Rainbow Beach was very nice but fairly small. We had another Jucy Stop ($5 car park stay) at Pippie's Hostel, which was a very friendly place. After a day at the beach we joined a group from the hostel who were going to the local sand dunes to watch the sunset. It was really fantastic up there and had some of the best views I've seen. That evening the hostel was having a party for an English couple who had been working there but were leaving. There was a camp fire and bbq and we had a great night. It turns out that the girl that was leaving had previously worked for Eurocamp like me which was a bit strange!

The next morning we moved onto our next stop, Hervey Bay, which is where we wanted to base ourselves for our trip to Fraser Island. We had a fantastic time on the island although it was extremely tiring! We got up at 6am to meet everyone at the tour office to have our briefing with our guide, Tony, and watch some safety videos. The videos drummed on about the dangers of driving a 4 x 4 on sand (the entire island is sand) and about the dangers of dingoes. So after we'd all been scared a little we were on our way. We were part of a tag-a-long tour, which meant that we had a guide in a lead car with 4 passengers and the other 8 of our group in the following car, we all took it in turns to follow the lead car and drive. The ferry got us on the island pretty early and we went to our first stop at a freshwater lake although no one was quite brave enough to go for a swim as it was quite windy and a little chilly! After a while here we moved onto our next stop, which was at Lake Wabby, another freshwater lake that was at the bottom of a sand dune/sand blow. When we were finished at the lake we thought we'd take an alternative route back to the car but we ended up takinga route that led us to a dead end so we had to double back on ourselves and ending up walking about 6km - through sand I'd like to add!! After this exhausting walk back to the car we headed back to our camp to get everything organised before it got dark. We were staying on an aboriginal camp, which is the only one on the island with toilets and running hot water which was a bonus! Before we left Hervey Bay, everyone in our group had done a group shop so we all pitched in and cooked a bbq together and had some drinks around a camp fire. Everyone got along great as we had a nice group - there were 2 English couples, 2 German couples and a Belgium guy and French girl. The next day I did the first bit of driving for our group. It was really fun and certainly an experience driving down the beach! Our first stop of the day was at Champagne Pools, some shallow areas of water in front of the sea that you could stand in and get soaked by the big waves. We then drove back along the beach to Indian Head Point, which was a lookout on the top of a cliff with stunning views of the sea and beaches. Apparently in the summer you can see whales, sharks, dolphins and turtles in the water as it's so clear but unfortunately we weren't lucky enough! It's called Indian Head Point as Captain Cook sailed past and first spotted Aboriginals and thought they were Indians. In the afternoon rain we briefly visited another lake to see the turtles before heading to the Maheno Shipwreck, which the Japanese bought from Australia and then unfortunately crashed it onto the island! After another group dinner and camp fire it was time to start our third and final day on the island. We started the day with a rainforest walk and then headed to the main attraction on the island, Lake McKenzie. It was the first lake that we visited that had clear blue waters and even I ended up going for a swim in it! After a relaxing time here it was time to catch the ferry back to the mainland. On the way back to drop the car off, our guide, Tony, pulled into a paddock that was full of kangaroos, which got me really excited as we hadn't seen any yet (except for being dead on the side of the road). That evening we had the best fish and chips ever and bumped into a few people from our group!

After a great few days it was time to move onto our next stop, Agnes Water, where our old house mate from Sydney, Issy, was living and working in order to get his second year visa. The town was pretty small and it was a miserable day so unfortunately there wasn't much to do in the rain! We played cards and had a good catch up with Issy, which was the main reason for visiting anyway. The next day Issy had to work so we moved on to Airlie Beach, the base for our second island adventure - the Whitsundays. We arrived on a Thursday but couldn't get booked onto a tour until Saturday so had a day to relax, which was really strange for us and we got a little bored! Our boat trip didn't leave until 4pm Saturday and as chance would have it we bumped into the 2 English couples from our Fraser Island trip who had both come back from different Whisunday trips. After a catch up with them we lost track of time and bombed down to the marina to catch our boat, On Ice. It was a lovely catamaran and there were just 10 of us on the trip, which was really nice. We sailed for a few hours that evening, watched a gorgeous sunset and had a lovely dinner cooked by Mark, the deckhand. The next morning we got up at 6.30am to watch a sunrise and be the first people at the look out point at Hill Inlet, which had stunning views over the Whitehaven Beach and aqua water with sand swirls. We then got back ont eh boat and had some breakfast, while Jessie, our skipper, drove us to Whitehaven Beach. We all had a go at stand up paddle boarding and then Jessie drove 5km up the beach and we all had to paddle board back to the boat. Sam was the fastest and probably the best but I was 1 of only 2 people that didn't fall in the water! We then relaxed on the white sand of Whitehaven Beach and as we got up so early we were the only people there - we felt like millionaires with our own private beach! In the afternoon we sailed to a new location and went snorkelling. The water was freezing and we didn't see that many fish (I think we were comparing it to our snorkel in Phi Phi, Thailand). That evening we had another lovely dinner cooked by Mark - beef stroganoff, which apparently all the deckhands have competitions who can make the best of! The next morning I was really tired so was having a bit of a lie in when Sam came running into our room to get me up as he'd just seen a whale. To start with I thought it was a ploy as I couldn't see anything but then a few minutes later, in the distance a crescent of black rose slightly above the water. It did this a few times before finally disappearing but it was pretty amazing! We went out for an early morning snorkel and saw lots of colourful fish but the water was so cold I got same to bring me back on his paddle board that he'd become rather attached to! They had another fun thing on board called the Aqua Glider, which is like a big mattress that can be pulled along behind the boat. Sam had a go on it, however I just used it as a comfy sunbathing spot! Our next stop was at a sand spit opposite the exclusive Hamilton Island, which was another good snorkel spot. I didn't really fancy another snorkel so Sam and I hopped into the see through/clear kyak and had a paddle around. We didn't see many fish but we did spot a turtle, which swum along under our kyak which was just amazing! It was then time to head home, which took a few hours and the water was quite rough and I was feeling rather sea sick. We had planned to stay anothernight in Airlie Beach but when we docked at 2pm, we decided we should just get straight on the road so that we got to Cairns (our last stop) sooner.

We decided to head for Townsville roughly half way between Airlie Beach and Cairns. After a slight detour early on - our sat nav took us down a dirt track to a farm! - we reached Townsville at around 7pm. After a well needed shower (we hadn't showered at all on the boat, unless the sea counts?!) we went out for dinner. The next day we got up early and started our last big journey - we actually decided to go to Port Douglas, about 90mins north of Cairns as we'd heard it was nice there. There was a very long palm tree lined street with lots of nice restaurants and bars. We went to the beach but it was far too windy to sunbathe so we played pool, had a couple of drinks and decided to head back to Cairns for the night. We stayed on a campsite for the last time as we had to return Jerry the next day. After we gave the van back we checked into our pre booked hotel as we wanted some space to sort out our huge amount of luggage. The hotel was lovely and it was great to have space, a comfy bed and a toilet within easy reach! That evening we went out with Kathryn and Andy, our friends from Fraser Island. It was so lovely to see them again. We had a great night and the most random thing happened when Sam was tapped on the shoulder and turned around to find two of his school friends in the same bar as us! The next day was just spend relaxing in the sun before meeting up with the boys from Sam's school again and a friend of ours from Sydney. It was then time to say goodbye to Cairns and catch a flight to Brisbane, where we spent the night before flying to Auckland, New Zealand the next day.

This brings us up to now…we're staying in Waiuku with Sam's half-brother and his family. We've had a lovely time relaxing and being cooked for and well looked after! We've also had a day in Auckland which was fun. We're flying to Christchurch on Saturday 24th September where we're picking up another Jucy camper van (although a bigger one this time as we'll have longer in it) and then travelling around the south island before the north island and heading back to Waiuku to spend a few days with the family again before we leave for Fiji. We don't have much planned for the next couple of days, just getting ourselves sorted for the next part of the adventure!

Lots of love, Kirsty and Sam xxx