Hi everyone! So I arrived in Melbourne at the very end of July and stayed in St. Kilda by the beach. It was FREEZING (compared to Asia, at least) - the first day I was walking about in socks and sandals and about every jumper I owned. It didn't occur to me that winter in Australia would actually be cold. Melbourne is a cool city - the International Film Festival was on so I went to see a couple of films in a big gilded theatre and a tiny arthouse cinema. There was a David Bowie exhibition on so obviously I went to that, and then spent the rest of my week hanging out in art galleries to escape the miserable weather. I did venture down to the pier at sunset one day to see penguins huddled in the rocks - so cute! I took a tour of the Great Ocean Road before I left - the wind and rain suited the craggy coastline and I felt like I was in Wuthering Heights. Beautiful.

Then it was straight up north to Cairns to get back to the sun! It was 24 degrees up there, thank god. I booked to do my PADI diving course and it's the best thing I've ever done - we spent 2 days in the pool and classroom learning the theory, then spent three days on a boat on the Great Barrier Reef putting it into practice. I also did my Adventure Diver course while I was there so I can go up to 30m deep and explore shipwrecks too - I'm already planning my next dives in Fiji and Hawaii - I absolutely love it! We did 9 dives in total including a night dive which was INCREDIBLE - you can only see where you shine your torch, otherwise you're in total blackness - and the silence is only broken by your own rasping breath. It feels like being in space. We saw a turtle the size of a dinner table (his name was Brian and he was 114) and every type of fish you can imagine; a mean looking barracuda hung out underneath our boat the entire time, adding a pleasant air of threat to our pre-surface safety stops.

My diving buddy was an English girl Rozz, who'd quit her high powered job in Singapore to 'find herself' - she'd just finished living in the rainforest for a month. After we were all done with diving, Rozz, Greg (a teacher from Leichtenstein who was also on our course) and I all hung out in Cairns for a few days, going to the Botanic Gardens, Mt Whitfield National Park, the Tanks Art Gallery, hanging out in Rozz's hippy hostel or by the Esplanade swimming pool and eating fancy cheese for dinner. I miss them!

I went on a day trip up to the Daintree Rainforest on my last day in Queensland, taking a tour of Mossman Gorge and sunbathing on Cape Tribulation which was beautiful - I managed to go about 3 shades darker in about an hour to the amazement of everyone on my bus. A successful day all round.

I was terribly sad to leave Cairns but Sydney was calling - I arrived there to find that it was my hostel's 2nd birthday and they were throwing a super cheap boat party under Sydney Harbour Bridge for all the guests. I met a few lovely Scottish girls and went with them - the view was amazing, with the bridge all golden against the black sky. The next day I explored Darling Harbour and the Circular Quay; and the day after that I visisted the Chinese Garden of Friendship, the Museum of Contemporary Arts, the Opera House, the Gallery of NSW and rounded the day off watching the sun set in the Botanic Gardens. I'd expected to like Melbourne more than Sydney but Sydney was by far my favourite (and quite a lot warmer).

The next day I took the ferry to Manly, had a huge ice cream on the beach and set off on the North Head Circuit around the northern outcrop of the island, through Sydney Harbour National Park and up to Fairfax Lookout, where the view was without a doubt one of the most beautiful I'd ever seen. No picture could capture it - towering Sydney in red and gold as the sun set, hustled up against the clear blue water - amazing.

I arrived in Auckland on Tuesday but I'll save what I've been up to here for my next update. Love and miss you all! xxxx