Hi Nats. Thought it was time I put a message on the board. It was great to talk to you the other day. Sounded as though you were "just down the road" not halfway around the world. Hope the jobs are going well and you two are keeping out of mischief!!! Impossible I know!

We are all fine over here. Terry popped over last night and asked me to send their best wishes to you. They are so pleased you are having such a good time. They have nearly finished their work on their house and I am popping over next week to do "my inspection". Anyway, take care you two, I will speak to you again soon no doubt. Now get back to work!!!

Hello yet again!!!! Well, guess what, Nik and I have jobs!!! We have been working really hard over the last few days registering with recruitment agencies - thanks Steve!!!!! - and handing out so many cvs and we have both been lucky today! Nik has a job in telemarketing on the phones, and i have been really lucky and got a job for a cruise company down on circular quay where i am right on the harbour with the bridge and opera house as my work place!!!!!! Cant believe i have been so lucky! We both start tomorrow so after a celebratory drink with a nice girl from our dorm called Sophie who has been with us today, we are off to our room to get prepared for a working life! Violet is now in Kings Cross car market so we are just waiting for a call really! We are in hostels now, which was weird at first but nice to have the luxury of a bed and carpetted floors again! We are in the Wake Up hostel, best in sydney, where we will stay for our working time i expect. We are having lots of fun, made lots of friends already. Also, when we took Violet to the car market, i drove through the city centre - scary! - and i even drove over the harbour bridge! Very exciting. Anyway id better go, hope to hear from you all soon on here, getting a bit lonely typing messages to myself!!! Only joking! Take care, love Nat xxxxxxxxx

Hello everybody!!! We are in Sydney Airport at the moment after just waving Jeni through to the departure gate. Its very sad that she is leaving - we will miss you so much Jeni! We have loved having you travelling with us, and cant wait to see you again when I come home!!! I feel a little jealous that she is going home and will, no doubt see my family around, but Im pleased we still have time to work and go to the other countries. Think I will be excited to get home in November though! We are now going to hopefully get a job and sell Violet so we will probably be in hostels in a few days. Well, just a quick update as Im making use of the free internet. Bye Jeni, hope your flight is good and you sit next to a Johnny Depp look-a-like!!! Speak to you all soon. Love Nat xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hello everyone!! Well, we have had a great few days, been to South West Rocks, as recommended by the nice whale watch lady which was beautiful, to Port McQuarie which was right by the sea, and to Newcastle, the Aussie one anyway, where we went on a ferry across the harbour to a nice pub which a lovely elderly couple in Port McQuarie told us to go to!! We then went on to the Blue Mountains. We spent two days there in a campsite with a lovely couple there and a cute dog called Angel. Mum - I promise, we werent drunk, we read that at this time of year up there they have a yuletime festival, and there were decorations and everything, even a Christmas decs shop that is open all year round, my dream job!!!. Very weird, but great for me as you all know i love Christmas!! We went on a hunt for a Xmas dinner, but unfortunately we were told very kindly by the posh waiter in the very posh Carrington Hotel, that you have to book. I just think we looked a bit too scruffy to be served there!!! Very funny, so we settled for a chinese takeaway instead!! The Blue Mountains were amazing, absolutely beautiful. We were stayin right by Katoomba falls and had a great view of the three sisters rock formation. We also went on the steepest cliff railway in the world which im sure was just vertical and was so scary, and got a cable car back up to the top after some rainforest walking. We also got on a little trolley bus for $12 for the days travel to see the sights. We did an hours walk between two waterfalls too which was great, through the rainforest in the heart of the blue mountains. It was beautiful, Dad - you would love it there. Lots of walks to do! We have now arrived in Sydney!! Yipee!! We are in a lovely campsite, probably our last one before we sell Violet - Boo Hoo - so we have a few days of sightseeing to do before Jeni leaves us - Also Boo Hoo - then its time for selling Violet, and getting a job. Fingers crossed!!! Hope you all liked the photos. Take care, Love Nat P.S. To Daddy and the family, have a wonderful holiday, cant wait to hear all about it, hope you have that cardboard cut out of me, and dont forget my cd of songs!!!!! xxxxxxxxxxx

Hi Girlies. Just a quickie to say "Thank you so much for the message left on the ansaphone". What a message. M_E_O_W!!!!! Made me smile, bringing back memories of the one I had from someone who was in France. Nats I am sure you will remember it! Couldn't quite understand the text message this morning though. Christmas in July!!!! Are you sure you have not been drinking again???? Anyway hope to speak to you lot again soon.

morning chick, so brilliant that i got to talk to you this morning. thankyou for phoning. really cheered me up. glad your still having a fab time. say hey to the girlies for me. very much looking forward to your return (its so far away). in need of a good drinky poos with my nat-bat. i will try and send you a proper email soon, but at the mo i have been banned from hotmail at work and dont often use the net at home but i will email as soon as poss. right well i guess i better do some work. take care babes. love you billions and missing you millions. bye for now xxxx

woo, it worked! If you want to make paragraphs like that last post you need to type without the spaces :D

Ruthie

Hello beaner!

Thought I'd post a message as noone has left you one for a while! Was nice to chat to you yesterday morning, sorry I had to run off but you can be sure I'm not running today - limping around more likely! Managed to finish in 40 minutes 18 seconds, not bad seeing as 2 months ago the same distance was 42.08. Getting there slowly!

Just been swimming with fen at leisureworld - we get in for half price because we're students! Bonus! And now I have a car there's no excuse! Next week we're going to deep water aerobics - basically they throw you into the diving pit with a flotation belt and webbed gloves and you do aerobics suspended mid-water ..... you would most definitely have a giggle fit but it looks quite fun!

Finally going to visit the vampires, hope they will be able to take my blood ok! Never actually been able to for various reasons - travelling, injections, illness, etc etc. so here's hoping!

Also I've been offered a job writing game guides for a game which I play - should pay a minimum of $400 - $600 and I get a cut on the revenue depending on how well the guides get rated! Should be good to keep some money trickling in while I can't work "normal" hours!

Am starting on placements on 15th August following my exams on 2nd August and 5th August - quite scary! Anyway I've rabbited along for long enough! Not sure if the html formatting will work, so if you see
its just my playin ;)

Lots of Love

Ruthie

P.S. John says hi, he thinks you're all mad, and his job is going great. He's just put a deposit down on a car (ford focus 2ltr 2nd hand) so he's all good!

Take care you three! Ruthie XxX

Hi everyone. Went whale watching today, and it was fantastic! Saw two whale up close and personal. Got some great footage of them swimming and lots of the famous tail pose when they are about to dive! A very memorable experience!! Just put some photos on here. Sorry its taken ages, but its hard to find somewhere it works well. Speak soon. Love Nat
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By the way, forgot to tell you. If you havent already realised, we have crossed our first Aussie state border!! We are now in New South Wales!!! Yipee!!! There are a couple of post cards for you to look at. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hey everyone! Just to let you know what we have been up to. We spent a few days in Surfers, shopping, surfer watching etc, and also went inland to the National Park and up a mountain there. Very impressive views! Also managed to find a cafe selling Devonshire Cream Teas at the top!! Yum! We are now in Byron Bay which is lots of fun. Its a small little town, full of backpackers, with lots of little shops and things. We went to the lighthouse and walked around Cape Byron today which is the most eastern point of Australia and it was beautiful. The beaches are huge with lots of surf, and guess what we saw, dolphins jumping over the waves!! Got some great video footage! Amazing to see that though! Tomorrow we go back to Surfers to go to Sea World as Nikki is doing a training with dolphins tour and Jen and I are just going for the day. So excited to see the polar bears! Expect some silly photos from the rides!! Then it is down south towards Sydney.
Hope you are all well, please keep in touch.
Love
Natalie xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

hello darlin! its me! just to let you know that i am having such a nice time with you and nik! thank you for making me feel so welcome and showing me some great fun! love you very much! xxx