We get up ridiculously early to get a taxi to the bus station and are kicking ourselves for all the stupidly early mornings whilst we could've been enjoying the luxury of a bed these past few days, never mind!

So we get to Rainbow Beach at 7:30am and luckily enough right across the road is a caravan park, we pay for our site which is really nice, pitch the tent and then we head straight for the beach where we have breakfast (hot dog rolls, banana and nutella, mmmm) and then spend the rest of the day sunbathing/sleeping/swimming, I love the 3 S's!!!! Rainbow Beach is a cute little place, there's not much here except a butchers, a bakers and a candle stick makers and an ice-cream parlour, what else do you need?

We then book our trip to Tin Can bay so we can go an feed the Dolphins for Mattie's Birthday.

The next morning we get up around 6.30am and get the bus which is filled with sprawled Zee Germans (Family of four) who eventually sit together when more people get on the bus. We get on the boat and make the 30 minute journey over to the bay, our Captain talks about the area and what to expect when we get there. He tells us that there is a limited number of fish that they're allowed to feed the Dolphins each day (3kg) so it is a first come first serve basis. We all get of and join the queue, Zee German kids head down to the little sandy beach to view the Dolphins and the mum edges her way over 'pretending' to look at what they're up to whilst steadily making her way up the queue. I am not having any of it and when the queue starts moving I tap her on the shoulder and ask her if she's in the queue, she says 'yes, I think so' so I politely tell her that she can't be because she was two couples behind us and is now miraculously two couples in front of us. She gets annoyed and starts making a bit of fuss, saying fine, fine, no problem but the only reason I moved was because you were on the phone which was disgusting in itself! I was on the phone to Lisa who rang me for my birthday for like 3 mins and was really quiet for me so I'm still not having any of it and tell her I didn't want to cause a scene. Anyway the kids come over to see what's up and in English she tells them it's just the English and their queues!!!!! Then we realise that they are staying in the tent next to us at the campsite, fun. Although the daughters and the husband give us apologetic smiles for the rest of our stay meaning she is probably at that kind of thing all the time or so we tell ourselves!

Anyhow there is plenty of fish and we get to feed the dolphins twice which is really cool, they are so gentle when they take the fish but you have to keep a steady stream up or else they get bored and leave! We hang around for a bit until they swim away and then go back to Rainbow beach on the boat where we have an inventive BBQ breakfast of toast, nutella, and milky coffee all done on the free BBQ, it is amazing, although I think the other people at the campsite think we are crazy using our pan on the BBQ but still it worked so hey!

When we're done we head down to the beach for the rest of the morning/early afternoon. Then we go to the butchers for some Guinness sausages and chicken kebabs, the bakers for some bread rolls and have another BBQ lunch, we are pros at this now, total pros. We also get some yummy cakes from the bakers because it's Mattie's birthday, yay for me too! In the afternoon we just chill by the pool and read our books until we fall asleep, then we go for a walk by the beach and sort out our stuff because we are leaving tomorrow. I promised Mattie that for his birthday we could get a massive tub of ice cream so we go to the ice cream parlour and spend $11 on a big tub. I also mention to the guy that we're not total fatties but that it's Matt's birthday hence all the ice cream so he gives us a small tub for free, it does not take long for Matt to demolish it all, he has been starved of good ice cream for a while now!

In the morning we get up really early to catch the bus to Tewantin but packing up doesn't take as long as usual so we treat ourselves to yummy breakfast at the bakery mmmmmmm! The bus to Tewantin only takes a couple of hours and Brian picks us up when we get there. Kath is playing golf, so we just read and chill outside for a while until she gets back and then we all have lunch together before heading down to Brisbane for the night. We go straight to Craig's house and then meet up with everyone else for dinner later at a local pub which is very good. So far the past few days have mostly been about eating and chilling, I can honestly say it has been a happy time!

The next day we have a final BBQ breakfast with Kath and Craig and say our goodbyes before we catch the bus to Byron Bay at midday. We arrive in the late afternoon and go to the Arts Factory with hopes of pitching our tent but they don't book you in, you just have to go and see if you can fit your tent in somewhere amongst the warren of tents. Luckily we find a space for our wee tent. Some people are obviously living here and have been for some time so they have huge tents, one of them even has graffiti all over it and there are people singing, drumming and playing guitar here at all times of the day, it's a pretty cool place. After we've set up we go to explore the town and buy a bit of shopping.

During the night it has rained and our tent has started leaking. There is pure panic and I pack to get ready to abandon the tent but we manage to carefully position ourselves in the middle and away from the drips! And then I go out side and hammer in the guide ropes, which probably didn't help with the tent leaking. The next day we wake up to rain and decide this is an admin day so we just sit on the computer and read our books. The next night the tent still leaks a little but no where near as bad. Over the next couple of days it either rains or it's to windy to sit on the beach. We do manage to go for a good walk up to the light house and to the most easterly point of Australia. We explore the rest of the town, relax by the pool and enjoy the hippy atmosphere. On one of the last days we sea one of the many water dragons digging a hole right next to our tent, we assume it's after something, after a little while we leave it still digging only to come back to it laying eggs!! It was crazy especially with all of the people around here. We eventually leave Byron, liking the place but just wishing we had some better weather.

We land in Sydney and go back to the Wood Duck inn, which in hind sight we should have probably tried somewhere else. We settle in quickly and head out to re-acquaint ourselves with our old area, buy some food for dinner and then chill for a while before bed. We're both so tired of the tent and the rain so it's such relief to finally have a bed and we intend to make the most of it. The next day we got up early, grab some free breakfast and head to Bondi beach on the bus. It's not the greatest day weather wise but we make the most of it and Mattie hires a surf board, he's a bit out of practise and keeps wiping out but still he's loving it, water baby that he is!! The only thing that gets him is the frequent announcements from the lifeguards over the tannoy, he thinks they are telling him to get out coz there are sharks, ha ha! When we're done we treat ourselves to a battered Mars bar and ice-cream (blast from the past) amazing, and then get the bus back to town. We don't do much in the evening except a bit of chin wagging and I watched a crazy druggie/addict movie then we go to bed.

In the morning we go over to Darling Harbour and just walk and sit around wasting time before we need to get the bus to Tom and Angela's. We stop to get Krispy Kreme's and they have a promotion on jelly beans that they give you a couple of packets with each purchase……………..we took 12! Times can get hard when you're travelling and our klepto side came out. We get to Canberra without too much trouble and it's great to see everyone again, we all talk plenty and go to bed. Breakfast and talking follows the next morning and in the afternoon Erin is going to the cinema with her friend and offers to take us. Naturally Mattie is film starved so almost bites her hand off at the offer. We end up watching Couples Retreat which is really funny and we return back to a yummy BBQ complete with potato bake!!!! Little Preston provides all the entertainment at the table which is a good effort because he is not very well. The next day Tom and Angela take us to Cockington Green which is lots of miniature villages and buildings, some of them remind us of home, sniff, and they are so detailed. One of them has over 40,000 individual roof tiles! Afterwards we get a drink at the pub and when we return Deed has brought round dinner. We're leaving in the morning so have to say some goodbyes tonight.

The next day we head back to Sydney but when we arrive the reception is shut so we lock our bags up and head out for some lunch when we stumble across a really good cheap Thai place. Then we go back to the hostel and watch some TV until reception opens, which takes forever because the lazy guy who is supposed to be on reception has so many calls to make he couldn't possibly do his job, then when he finally opens up we are told we can't have the room we booked because they can't guarantee it, even though I booked it (we later find out it's because he has moved into the room we booked) then he wants to charge us more for a 6 bed room than we paid 3 days ago for a 4 bed room, I'm pretty pissed by this point after having had to wait all day and tell him we'll go somewhere else but he relents and gives us the room for the original price we paid. When we get to room you can't see the floor for stuff and we have no idea which beds are free because there is stuff all over them, joy. Anyway we eventually get it sorted and then we head off to Darling Harbour to the Aquarium which is very cool and we see Dugongs, Sharks, massive Rays, everything imaginable!!! It is brilliant. The next morning we get up super early, and head to the train station to go to the Blue Mountains. The double decker trains are cool and give us a really good view the whole way up. When we get to the town we hop on a crazy little trolley bus for $1.80 each and head out to the lookout where we embark on a big walk over to the falls and sky rail thingy. We get a little hungry so stop for a tin of rice pudding at the base of the falls before we come back to the lookout (for free on the bus) and walk down to the Three Sisters. The views are awesome, it's a national park and it is humungous, as far as the eye can see there is mountains and trees, it's stunning. When we're done we head back into town and have some time to kill before the train so we have a drink at a lovely little pub (which serves pints!) and watch the world go by for a bit, all in all, a great day out and well worth a visit! In the evening we head to the little Thai place for a yummy dinner coz we don't get back until late and can't be bothered to cook!!!

Our last day in Oz is here and it feels so weird after all this time that we're actually going to be leaving tomorrow. In the morning we do boring stuff like close down our bank account and then we get the ferry over to Manly for the day. The boat goes right past the Opera house and Sydney Harbour Bridge so we have an excellent viewpoint. When we get there we head straight for the beach and just chill for a few hours, it's really cool round here but we can't stay all day so we head back late afternoon so we can go to the food market in Hyde Park for noodles and beer with our old roomies Amy and Jonas! We have a good catch up but we can't stay out late because we have to be up at 4:30 to catch the bus to the airport for our flight to New Zealand boo! All in all our time in Oz has been great and we both have really mixed feeling about leaving, on the one hand it's really exciting on be on the move again and closer to seeing everyone but on the other hand we know we're getting closer and closer to the end of our travels which means soon we'll be back at work and all the boring stuff too…….

Anyhow, we'll post this for now even though we know we're really behind!! There will be a few albums to post and too and we may post some from New Zealand while we have the good net xxx