if that pic wasn't a boy i was going to say that it was me sufring - he ruined it for me...

well i have touched down in oz - that happened yesterday morning and we forced ourselves to stay awake all day and planned on an early night. ew're staying in a 10 bed mixed dorm and the first thing that we noticed when we walked into it, the odour. there's a reason girls refer to the inferior sex as smelly boys. though in fairness it's one guy that lives ehre while he's working - he's a construction guy apparently, he also doesn't do washing very often apparently. haha, you get used to it after you've been in there 10 mins or so. Anyway the day wasn't so eventful, the hostel runs free shuttles to and from town so we got on one of those and took a walk around - did some shopping as there's a kitchen for us to use here, and the supermarket we went to was woolworths... when they said this initially there was great confusion - as we all know from our recent grieving woolies recently went bust (btw is it still going to be reborn as wellworths??). but all the colours are different and it's like a big supermarket with a hardware section and the like so it can't be the same one. shame, it'd be nice to think somehow it had survived somewhere. we got back and had our free evening meal, they say it's entree size, but if you supplement it with a little muesli for pudding, it's just right! and it tasted good - was noodles with bacon and something else, beef maybe. oh we tried an oz kebab yesterday after having been told how good they were by some aussies we metin cambodia, it's a better form than ours, it's a wrap and in a foil pack so you can eat it without a knife and fork, but they recommended hummus and tahini - hummus i'm down with, i'll not repeat the tahini! we got back and chilled out for a bit, i did some laundry, i knew i wouldn't have awhole load so i just put one of those colour catcher sheets in - that's right i'm clever. except i'm not, one wasn't enough and a new red dress has turned all my whites pink. fortunately rather evenly. my one tip to travellers is don't pack white clothes - they get messed up in the wash and until you get a chance to wash them the sweat turns them yellow. we all know backpackers are not glamorous!! anyhoo i got over it. then there was an announcement about a pub crawl starting at 9, our early night idea went bang out the windo, we got ready and went out. got there the guy double checks we've got id... ummm no. 'ok ok i'll try to tell them i know you if they ask but it might not work". In cairns they all drive at the speed limit, with the correct no of people in a car - none crammed in behind the driver's seat or anything like that, they all check id... this is a law abiding place. it's all good the free shuttle runs late (it even picks you up at the end of the night) so we got a lift back and the guy ran us back out once we'd picked up our licences. had a few drinks, met an oz girl who made me feel pretty old, but she wanted someone to dance 'like a retard with' i thought she was kidding... she was nice though, and actually looked like janae from neighbours. we lost the pub crawl lot, but still had our drinks vouchers so used them on our own then headed back. bumped into a couple of northern scallies, they objected to being called this til we explained we know what they call us southerners (too rude even for me to put on here!) and had a laugh at their expense - always good :) then it was late so we went to bed, slept til midday today (the time difference is going to tke at least a day or 2 to adjust to, had a shower and got online. we're going to go for more of a wander today, i need a pair of shorts that actually fits and might invest in a couple of other essentials. we're also hoping to look into a bus for port douglas tomo, it's supposed to be beautiful. i'm going to try to put my pics up later, you'll find out if it's successful or not later i guess!

thank you for your messages btw guys, they made me laugh - and aunty maris taking nanna and nannu to a brothel? shame on you! haha.

keep missing me and take care - oh and i'm glad my GERBILS are good, they will get fat coz they're so damn greedy!

love you all lots

xxx