5th july Byron Bay the land we stayed on last night was owned by mojo surf.... a guy we met in phi phi worked for them and as well as sorting us out half price surf lessons he directed us to the land as it would be free, and camp parks in byron are expensive! so after a good nights sleep we head into the town centre to make breakfast and find a camp site for that night as we needed to power up. our surf lesson was 12-4 at a beach just outside byron bay. we learned about safety and stuff first, then how to get up on the board, and a short warm up before we got into the freezing waves! the first half of the lesson was really fun.. and one of the instructors was helping us get the knack of getting up on the board by holding it steady while we got to standing. the first time i did it i stood up great! i was so pleased! and then i never got it again the whole lesson, typical! lol. the second half of the lesson wasnt quite so enjoyable for me as the waves were much bigger and you seem to spend half an hr wading out, then to try and get on and fall in the water took 30 secs haha. it was a good day though!! when we got back that afternoon we were all cold and knackered so slept for a few hrs in the van. that evening we went for a nice meal at an italian restaurant and then for a couple of drinks ar beach club bar and to a club called laa laa land which was cool! music was good, and a nice local crowd in there, we got chatting to a couple of locals who had recommended it.

6th july Byron Bay next morning we checkd out of the camp site and had a few bits and bobs to do in town before we started our next rd journey to sydney, .... internet, shopping etc. we had a late lunch and didnt end up setting off from byron until about 5 when we had stocked up with some shopping. we drove for 4/5 hrs and then spent the ngiht in a rest stop off the highway. actually the nicest place (that wasnt a site) we have stayed, as they had toilets! beats the side of the rd!

7th july arrive Sydney after a lie in we started the second leg of the journey to sydney. we arrived a little later then planned and ended up getting a wee bit lost in the city looking for our destination... we fell very lucky and stayed with friends of caz's family who lived in lilyfield (few min tram from central station!). we got there and they were really friendly, we had pizza and lots of wine! and then a late night dip in their hot tub! it was so luxurious, and a shock after two days in the rd without a shower!

8th july Sydney another lie in (which kind of became standard while in sydney). we head into the centre to sort out our indian visa's. when we eventually found the building we were given the news that it could take up to ten working days to process, and we had 10 days until we fly to NZ.. we have paid for a courier service to send them to a friend of daniella's in melburne and all we can do is keep our fingers crossed! (the lady said it shouldnt take that long at all, but obviously couldnt promise) so that set the day on a bit of a downer! then we had to walk the length of george st (sooo long, and we became well accustomed to it) to find peter pans and arrange our hop on/off bus for NZ, and book our opera house tour for the next day. by the time we had done all this we were knackered! we had offered to cook dinner that ngiht so went to the supermarket and got the stuff for a spag bol. after food we ended up watching lots of MJ on the tv, caz and daniella are gutted! and then an early night!

9th july Sydney it turned out mine and caz's college friend shelley is in sydney same time as us, so she spent the day with us. after lunch we got the ferry to manly and back to take in the sights of the harbour and beyond from the water. was a nice ride! our opera house tour had been cancelled due to staff sickness so we booked it for next day and shelley joined too. that afternoon we went to peterpans to pick up NZ tickets and then looked for somewhere to get food. ken and karen who we were staying with had family there so we stayed out for a few hrs. we went to a bar called scary canary for a glass of wine and they had live music on which was pretty cool!

10th july Sydney sight-seeing ken had recommeded a walk along the coast which was pretty. so he dropped us off at a place called coogee and then we walked about 2 hrs along the coast to bondi beach. thankfully the weather was actually sunny (for a change as we had been frezzing so far in sydney). bondi wasnt that spectaculr really, maybe its more so in the heat of summer when its busy and has lots of beautiful people sunbathing and surfing etc, but that day it could have been an english beach really. the coastal walk was also very 'english', very similar to cornwall or devon. after that we got the bus into the city again and went to harrys cafe de wheelz for pie. the lonely planet recommends one in a place called wooloomooloo which is where we went, which is a bit of a trekk! we found out later that there is also another one in the city centre whcih was a bit annoying. the pie was ok, but not worth the long walk! lol. personally i am majorly craving a roast dinner,and still havnt had one yet! later that afternoon we went for the opera house tour. the tour took an hr and was really good! we learnt about the history of the opera house, and it being built etc.. it was really interesting and made the place seem more spectacular! (as none of us had been blown away by it at first sight!) we decided to stay another night after this so we could go see a show there, so leaveing for melbourne sun instead of sat! that night we had been invited for dinner with the family, so we took back plenty of wine as a gesture of our thanks for having us stay! we had yummy seafood and a few drnks! the girls went out into sydney after but i was so knackered that i went to bed for an early night!

11th july more sightseeing a late night (no surprise as the girls didnt get in til 4am) we made lunch before we left the house. we went to the opera house and booked a show for that night, and then we went to the australian museum. we got in for a good student price which was good. the museum was really interesting, i recommend it! it has a section on aboriginal history which was really good, and also a section called surviving australia about extinct ozzy animals. (you must go read about the demon duck of doom... i was well impressed!) we then met shelley and went to see the sydney symphony orchestra at the opera house. it was held in the concert hall, which is so amazing! the music was really good!..i was a particular fan of the percussion instruments in the second half (triangle and cymbals in particular lol) we came out at 10pm and hadnt eaten so we ate a meal on the harbour. we were chatting about how accustomed to the city we had started to become, getting used to the tram/train network and hardly even noticing the harbour bridge anymore as if we had seen it a thousand times! we are all pretty sad to have to leave. sydney is def a place i would come back to! i hope i love melbourne as much, as tourists we have spoken to say that you tend to love one or the other, im hoping i love both! :)

12th july Sydney-Melbourne a looong day of driving. we set off at 1030am and arrived in melbourne about 930pm. anna drove the first leg and me the second leg! after a slight hiccup when we got there, we eventually found St Kilda (where we are staying at a hostel called base).