Thank you for all your emails, sorry if I haven't repled to them yet, but the internet cafes cost an arm and a leg .... but do keep them coming, as it is lovely to hear from you. From a hot, hazy and sticky Hong Kong, my next port of call is bright and sunny Sydney.  You would never know it was Autumn here as the sun shines every day and I don\'t think it has been less than 25 C since I got here (I just thought I\'d get that in, as I hear it has been freezing back in the UK!) I have a bit more colour now - I am now a shade of white with a few freckles instead of just translucent. I spent most of my first week in Sydney catching up with some old friends from the UK which meant I could continue to stay in relative luxury; with cars, washing machines and double beds!  As this is my second time to Sydney, I have been doing some futher exploring:  I have been to nearly all the Northern Beaches now (Dee Why Beach, Whale Beach, Palm Beach, Newport Beach, Bigola Beach etc) they were all very beautiful beaches with orangey sand and very blue seas.  I have not actually been swimming in the sea since I got here, as last week there was another shark attack off one of the Sydney beaches and whilst we were sunbathing at Manly the first weekend, there was a shark sighting and sirens were going off and everyone had to get out of the water .... it just reminded me of that scene in Jaws (the one with the yellow lilo) too much .....! I have also been to a couple of national parks, where I did manage to see a Kookaburra, but the kangaroos, wombats and Koala\'s stayed hidden - so I had to do another trip to the very cool Tarronga Zoo in Sydney to remind myself of all the very odd and strange things living in Australia (and that includes the locals!). Last Friday, 4 of us travelled up to Melbourne for a long weekend.  I got to experience the hostel living again .....  in the first hostel, the bedroom I was sleeping in, was right in between all the toilets and showers for the whole hostel. I had to put up with noise of water running all night long.  The second night we stayed in a hostel in St Kilda, which is a really funky area of Melbourne, with the beach on the doorstep.  If you ever go to Melbourne, this is the area to stay in as there are loads of bars and restaurants.  We also got to watch a game of Aussie rules football which was very fast and quite brutal, but the guys are wearing very short and very tight shorts! On Sunday, we hired a car and drove down the Great Ocean Road - the views are absolutely amazing.  We drove all the way down to the 12 apostles (which are these rock formations in the sea).  The road was pretty windy and you wouldn\'t want to meet too many trucks or coaches on some of those bends!  We stayed the night in Port Campbell, some hick coastal town, in a very very basic hostel.  Penny, one of the girls I was travelling with, woke up to find a massive hairy spider on her pillow.  Naturally, I did what i could ............... I went into the kitchen to find someone who was brave enough to get rid of it!  We drove back to Melbourne in the cold driving rain yesterday, before flying back to a roasting Sydney (apparently it was 34 C here yesterday). I have a few more days in Sydney now, before I fly to the Whitsundays (for more sunshine and beaches!) on Saturday. I hope you are all well? big hugs m x