Hello again, long time no speak! We've had a lovely relaxing week, hence nothing much to say on the blog!

Left Rainbow Beach last Sunday after walking down to the beach to watch the sunrise as we had seen so many amazing sunsets! Headed to Brisbane and met up with friend Tom, ex work colleague from the sports centre. Went out on his works do and had a great night meeting new people and dancing to the lively band!

The next day we visited the lagoon after missing the last bus to the lookout point over the city as it turned up 10 minutes early so instead eneded up at the cinema followed by an excellent Italian dinner! Enjoyed our stay in the city as was nice to see some civilisation after so many days on the road and staying in villages.

Headed to Surfer's Paradise on Tuesday, which can be seen for miles as it's full of high rise buildings, hence the nickname The Concrete Jungle. Had an ice cream before meeting Ken (Lauren's Uncle) to go and stay with Lauren's family :) Went back to their house in Cabarita, New South Wales, for a family reunion. Thankfully we got to wash our clothes at last and had a few nights off of sleeping in a bunkbed. Has been so nice being here, with the lovely weather and welcoming family, and all the food we've been given- much appreciated!! In fact we can prove we've been fed well this week with all the weight we've both put back on afer Asia!

Wednesday we walked to the girls school and watched them in a lovely dance performance (well done Jessica and Georgia!) Then Ken's parents took us to their house for coffee, cakes and sandwhiches ;) then Barbara gave us a tour of Tweeds heads and we stood on the Queensland/New South Wales border line.

For some unknown reason we chose Thursday to check the beach out... Sat for a few hours reading huddled up in our towels, but it was way too cold to brave the sea and headed back for hot chocolates after walking up to the top of the headland. Gay and Ken went out for their anniversary, so we had pasta for tea (nice and adventurous) and played Guitar Hero and Singstar until they got home!

Friday was rest day. We unintentionally stayed in bed all morning and apparently missed a lovely sunny day, typical. Went out for a drink with Gay's work colleagues then she dropped us off in Byron Bay to check the clubs out! The drinks were really expensive, so neither of us did anything embarrassing, unless you count dancing on the tables, but everyone was doing that!! Had a great evening and Gay picked us up at 2am... THANK YOU!!

Saturday was really fun. Gay decided to do a surprise anniversary party for Ken on the beach. So we got ready and invited everyone down for 3pm... Luckily we missed Ken coming home from work by about 4 seconds as we saw him the other side of the roundabout as we were driving down! He was very surprised and confused when he found us and even more bewildered when Joseph gave him a ring to give to Gay! He hadn't had time to prepare a speech! Drank lots of bubbly and had snacks then went back to their house to watch the All Blacks vs Australia game. Had "heaps" more food :)

Had a lovely BBQ breakfast on Sunday morning, with the whole family, then squeezed everyone in the car with the surf boards and hit the beach. Splashed around in the sea with the girls for ages then Ken took us out surfing! It was great fun but neither of us were very good- We're blaming the sea for being too rough that day!! Jumped in the pool when we got back then had a lovely bubbly bath with all 5 of us ;) it was a bit squishy! Went out for a lovely evening meal (thanks Nanna) then went through the photos from the day before.

Attempting to organise ourselves today... booking accomadation in Byron for tonight and planning our trip around New Zealand! It'll be sad to say goodbye, but I think we've used enough of their water and eaten our fair share of bananas already. Many, many thanks to the Maynards for having us :)

Speak soon
Lauren and Jenna xx