G'day again everyone - has been some time since we've managed to write one of these!

Afetr we left the Blue Mountains we made our way to Bondi Beach, where we stayed at an awful awful hostel - do NOT stay at Noah's backpackers if you're ever in Bondi, unless you want to eat your breakfast in akitchen filled with pigeons! Spent a good few days laying on a beach and soaking up the rays which was nice, and we rejoined our Caroline in the luxury that was the YHA hostel.

After leaving Bondi we went back to Sydney for a night, where we ended up going back to Scruffy Murphys - this time with Eddie, who we met in New Zealand - and his friend Baz. Showed them the sights of Sydney the next day before lazing in the botanical gardens in theafternoon, being entertained by Baz and his very impressive card tricks! Also gotsome pretty cool photos of some absolutely huge bats which lived in the trees of the gardens - made an absolute racket too!

That night we said goodbye to Caroline and Eddie for the last time, and endured another overnight coach trip - this time to Byron Bay. Spent another few relaxing days in Byron Bay - quite a hippy little town, with lots of cool shops and cafes. Met some cool Mexican guys who we shared a room with, although i'm not sure they were being entirely truthful when they told us their names were Taco and Nacho. Went to the famous Cheeky Monkeys bar with them one night- which really did have people dancing on the tables. We declined to take part in the wet t shirt competition- even with the lure of $300! Whilst we were here we also took a day trip to Nimbin, an even hippier town, well known amongts backpackers for its reputation as being the marijuana central of Australia.

Leaving Byron Bay we headed to Brisbane for a brief stop. Spent the evening having a lovely thai meal, followed by drinks at yet another irish bar - got to listen to some cool live music though. The next day we saw the sights (well the river) and did some shopping, before grabbing our coach to Noosa. Noosa was lovely, although we again had limited time here. Spent a day visiting Australia Zoo which was really impressive. Won't bore you with all the details fo the animals we saw - but the crocodile show was really good! I was almost a little star struck when Terri Irwin came out as we hadn't been expecting to see her (Rhian wasn't quite as impressed, seems she wasn't the Steve Irwin enthusiast that I was!) Also saw a cool collection of snakes - although slightly more concerning when you know that the highly venomous ones are in the wild all over Queensland! Had a really enjoyable day here, would definitely recommend the zoo.

The following day we travelled to Hervey Bay, our base for our Fraser Island camping trip. Set off camping with our group the next day aboard our 4X4. First stop - Lake Mackenzie. Absolutely beautiful, we all enjoyed swimming about in the clear waters, blissfully unaware that our sacred cookie stash was being devoured by a hungry dingoe. Learnt our lesson after that, we guarded our food with our lives from then on! That evening we made our way to the beach where we were to camp. That's right - the beach, no facilities whatsoever, not even water! As it turnd out, no lights either, the lamp we were given refused to work, so we ate our dinner in front of our headlights, in complete darkness from 6pm, watching the lightening in the distance and praying it stayed there!

Got up at 6am the follwoing morning and spent the day at Indian Head and the Champagne Pools, trying desperately to spot sharks (unsuccessfully!) Rhian got to drive for the first time - G force Jones lived up to her name, being asked by another passenger to slow down! Stopped at the maheno wreck for some photos on the way. That night was slightly more comfortable as we stayed in an aboriginal camp and were entertained with an aboriginal dance around a camp fire. Saw some huge huntsmen spiders too, luckily the snakes stayed away! Off early again the next day, we drove to Lake Wabby which was also beautiful, and watched the boys in our group racing up and down the sand dunes, whilst we yet again lazed on the beach! Made our way back to dry land safely that afternoon - where we enjoyed some much needed showers! Said our goodbye to the rest of our group that evening - who we had become quite fond of, but we're now much looking forward to our next stop, sailing the Whitsundays!