OK guys, this is it. What will probably be our last blog from far away lands which for us currently is Byron Bay, in New South Wales. We have made it safely to the bottom of our road trip and tomorrow we will be driving back up to Brsibane to drop off our camper van which has provided us with so much joy! :(

We have had a great few weeks though, our first trip was the Whitsundays, a 3 day, 2 night sailing trip around a group of islands called 'The Whitsundays'. We boarded the ship late in the afternoon and got to know our fellow passengers and over enthusiastic crew! We met a lovely couple from Manchester and spent the evening with them on deck sharing drinks and laughs. The next morning we were woken bright and early to go and see Whitehaven beach (voted the 2nd most beautiful beach in the world) and it was truly stunning. We climbed up to the lookout point and all you can see is pure white sand and turquoise blue sea surrounded by lush green forest, it took our breath away. We got to spend the morning on the beach which was fantastic apart from you arn't allowed to swim in the water without a full wetsuit on as there are marine stingers which can kill you! EEK! But we tried brushing our teeth with the sand as we were told it made them whiter, not sure how true that is but they certainly felt cleaner!

That afternoon we sailed to a dive site and did some snorkelling, it wasn't as good as our trip to the Reef in Cairns as the water wasn't as clear but it was still fantastic to be swimming with the fishes. We spent the evening again chatting to the couple we had met and in the morning we did another dive. We had a great time on the boat and were really pleased to have met such nice people who we had so much in common with. We agreed that we would meet up in Byron Bay a week or so later and enjoy our last few days with them.

After the trip we were back on the road and heading south, we made a few stops at some nice places a long the way, including the small town of 1770 where we pretty much had a beach to ourselves! Our next trip was Fraser Island, (the biggest sand island in the world). The trip basically involves you and 10 others in a 4x4, supplies for 3 days and a map! It was crazy, you get the barge over on the first day after packing up your 4 wheel drive and start driving down the beach, which goes on forever. The hard sand is easy to drive on but you have to watch for washouts which can send you flying if you're driving to fast, our first stop was at a place called Lake McKenzie, which, like Whitehaven has beautiful white sand and clear waters except this time you can swim all you want and the water is clean enough to drink! After a few hours there it was time to get to our camp site for the night where we set up tents and made dinner on a gas stove right by the beach. A drink or twelve was had, and a good time enjoyed by all! In the morning we headed up to beach to a place called Eli Creek which flows into the sea, then up a bit further to a ship wreck which was cool to look at but had no information near it so I don't know anything about it (sorry). After lunch on the beach listening to Christmas songs we walked to Lake Wabby, another freshwater lake situated right next to some huge sand dunes!

In the evening again we set up camp, enjoyed a nice rice dinner and sat a listened to one of the guys in our group play guitar. In the morning we went back to Lake McKenzie as we had to be on the barge by 2, I had a go of driving both on the beach and a long one of the dirt tracks, it was fun but a bit scary. The soft sand is really hard to drive on as it just takes you where ever it wants and you have to do your best to keep the wheel straight, my arms hurt after a while!

We got back on land safe and sound though, glad to be off the sand as it is of course everywhere! The next morning after struggling with a flat battery on the van which we eventually managed to get fixed we stopped for a couple of nights at a place called Noosa, which is meant to be the posh area of the coast, and it was lovely. All the houses were beautiful and set on the river and seas with boats outside! After Noosa we drove down to our current location of Byron Bay our last stop before Brisbane and home! As we said we would, we met up with the couple we met on the Whitsundays and have spent the last 4 days lazing on the beach with them and going out for dinner in the evening. Its been a really nice wind down for the end of our trip. On Wednesday me and Lou had a surf lesson, in which we both our pleased to say managed to stand up a grand total of 4 times! We are very proud but very achy, we both have a new found respect for all the surfer dudes out here!

Tomorrow we drive up to Brisbane and drop the campervan off and then on Sunday evening we catch our flight which will then take over 24 hours to get us home safe and sound! We have been having a great time in Australia and our last few weeks have been a lot of fun. Byron Bay is beautiful and we went to watch the sunset from the lightout which you can see in the picture. The weather as you probably know has been fantastic but we are very excited about coming home and seeing everybody.

So guys, thanks for follwing our adventures and we will see you very soon!

Love Lauren and Louise

xxxx