Hey Guys!

I am SO sorry for not updating at all in the last few months, I have been so busy working and having fun that I have not had time! To say the least, it has been a hectic period culminating in me moving up Australia's east coast in a relocation to tropical Cairns! What have you been up to I hear you cry! Well, here it is...

My time in Sydney came to end on the 11th of October, after which I made the short two hour flight up the coast to Cairns. Before I left, however, I managed to engineer a week off work to take a short trip north to Byron Bay with my companion Anne. This was, to say the least, a bit of an adventure! After a 14 hour coach trip, we pulled into a wonderful hostel called the Arts Factory, basically a hippy paradise complete with a lake, volleyball court, table tennis tables, swimming pool, didgerido making and, by far the most awesome, tipees!! Obviously, we were very impressed, a sensation made all the sweeter by the fact that we had rangled the first three nights free, and a huge discount for the other nights. Hats off to Dev, our boss at the Maze, for sorting that out for us!

We had planned a pretty full week, again making the most of industry connections to save cash. Our first experience was of a activity called Zorbing, where basically you are suspended in a giant inflatable ball and rolled down a hill! On the second day, we took a day trip to a small town called Nimbin, which is basically a hippy commune complete with shared accomodation and laid back atmospehe. We spent some time in the town itself, before heading a bit off the beaten track for a BBQ lunch. The highlight of the day for me though was a short stop at a good old fasioned Ozzie watering hole! Two leaps of faith off a overhanging ledge into a waterfall later, and we were back off to the hostel.

The third day of our trip we spent on the beach having a surfing lesson. This was just as amazing as I thought it would be, and, inspired, I quickly purchased a second hand board for a fisffull of dollars (sorry mr. Eastwood!) from a person at the hostel. Surfing was, however, just the apperitif for the more adrenalin pumped second half of the week...

On the fourth day, we did the seemingly impossible and arose from our beds in the pre-dawn light. One short bus ride later and we were at the site of the days activity...SKYDIVING!! We, for some reason known only to the heavenly powers, had decided to throw ourselves out of the back of a small plane at 14,000 feet, with only a small piece of canvas to protect us from a highly messy rendevous with the ground! Needless to say, it was so worth it, once we eventually got Anne out the plane anyway!! 60 seconds of freefall later, we were cruising down gently towards terra firma, with a breath-taking view of the beach and early morning sunrise. I was even given control of my 'chute for a while. We were, shall we say, impressively pumped for the rest of the day, my face actually started to hurt from all the smiling!

The next day, we were once again much closer to the clouds than I was used to, but this time it was a much more sedate experience. After another amazingly early start (I thought this trip was meant to be a holiday!!), we were off up the hills on the outskirts of Byron to sample the delights of hang-gliding! Again, a brilliant experience, especially when I was allowed to steer the tandem hangglider for a while. After this, we were both pretty tired of flying and wanted to keep our feet firmly on the ground, so we went for a walk along Byron's amazing sea front. It took about two hours but we walked the entire length of the bay, seeing some brililant wildlife on the way, including snakes!! A highlight was definately the carefully placed information signs that informed the passing public of Aborginal stories based on the landscape around the area.

After all the fun we had had, we spent the final day chilling at the hostel, going out for dinner and drinks, before hitting the hay early due to the mamouth bus ride home the next day.

The one other activity of note that happened during my final few weeks in Sydney was the HUGE joint leaving party Anne and I had before coming up the coast. The immenseness of the occasion was added to by the fact it was also Alice's, one of Maze's long termers, birthday that night. We started with lunch and drinks at Sydney's infamous Irish bar, Scruffy Murphies, before dinner and drinks at a cheap steak place called the Shark Hotel. We then adjourned to Darling Harbour and a posh club called Pontoon for, yes you guessed it, drinks!! It was a fantastic way to say goodbye to all the great friends I had made over my months in Sydney, and a night that I will not forget (well, the bits of it I can remeber anyway...)

So, as I said, Anne and I ended our time in Sydney and decided to teleport ourselves up the coast to find some sun. Unfortunately, the teleporter was out of commission on the day we had booked to use it, so we decided to fly to Cairns instead. Cairns is a wonderfully laid back city compared to Sydney, and the weather is truely tropical, warm and sunny with the occasional bursts of rain coming in over the mountains. It is let down by a lack of beaches, but makes up for this with a lagoon, a waterside esplanade and a huge multi-million dollar outside public swimming area. We settled in quickly and found work; Anne as a room maintanence expert in our new place of residence, the Beach House hostel, and myself as a hostel recpetionist on the aforementioned Esplanade. Still, however, we have had time for fun! Firstly, we have twice been on what is called the Ultimate Party. This is similar to Sydney's Route 69, as in you get free entry to five clubs and transport via a 'party bus' between them. Here in Cairns, however, it is of a much larger scale (the bus is an open-topped double decker!!) and it includes a BBQ and pizza at two of the places. It is a lot of fun, especially the second time we went as it was free due to my job.

More excitingly, we have also spent a day diving and snorkling on the Great Barrier Reef, which was truely breath-taking. The water was as clear blue as it looks in the pictures, and we saw loads of aquatic life, including the new dubbed 'Nemo' fish, known to scientific boffins everywhere (incorrectly) as the clown fish. My personal highlight of Cairns so far, however, took place today. Once again we left Mother Earth and were propelled into the air, this time on board a small plane. For the next hour we were treated to a flight over the deep azure waters of the Great Barrier Reef. The water was fantastically coloured, ranging from deepest dark blue to light sky blue and every shade inbetween. Visibility was perfect, leading to us sighting many Manta Rays, several turtles and even one solitary White Tipped Reef Shark. The flight back took us over the town of Port Douglas and the rainforest, before, hugging the pure white sand of the Queensland coastline. It was truely breath-taking, and I will post the pictures as soon as I have found some batteries for my camera!!

So, thats all for now, I apologise once again for the delay, but I will be back soon with another update and the pictures of my latest adventures! Keep safe!!