Right then, catch up time, sorry for lack of bloggin hard to keep up

11th Dec

So off to Oz today, time to change my kiwi boxers for my kangaroo ones.Didn't do much in the morning in Christchurch, was a bit of a nothing city to be honest, was very pretty and rustic, but all you felt you could really do in 2 hours was just walk around.Got to he airport just after midday…usual crap….delay, the inevitable anti-social behaviour that happens in airports, even Russell brand would resort to reading a book, its almost as if there's a silent button on as soon as you walk in.Literally in a room of about 50 people (small waiting area) about 40 were just sat reading, the rest were eating! Just before boarding I also had the pleasant experience of going to the loo only to find someone had not made the toilet and had decorated the walls in a butter chicken brown..very fetching……So eventually got to Cairns, and as soon as I left the plain, the heat hit my like a Tyson cross, and I immediately started sweating my backside off.Managed to get my shuttle to hostel, literally dumped my bag and went straight to the pool side bar for a pint.Hostel was wicked, pool, kitchen and bar all next too each other happy days.

12th Dec

Off to see the glorious barrier reef today at Green Island.The trip was brilliant, did a lot of snorkeling so fish with thousands of different colours, was like something out of a dream sequence absolutely loved it, and even got to see a huge turtle, which apparently you don't see this close to the coast normally (although I had swam about 20 meters out).Overall was a lush day the reef was sooo clear.Day consisted of seeing an awesome turtle, getting shat on by a bird, eating rainbow flavoured ice cream (didn't know they could tell what a rainbow tasted like), getting sand absolutely everywhere and finishing with a few beers and then going swimming when a thunderstorm hit, after meeting some wicked people in my hostel (including encouraging a Swiss guy to come swimming although he hated water!)…Good Day.

13th Dec

So today I was jumping on my new 'Oz Experience' bus to move down to Mission Beach.The buses were a lot different to that of Kiwi, in that they were half the size and so a bit more intimate, and so you were kind of encouraged talking to everyone on the bus which was really cool.Got to Mission beach which was a really quiet beach village even, was pretty nice to chill out.A few of us booked a skydive for tomorrow, that night about 8 of us then decided to do a group BBQ, which was good fun, although it didn't help my sweating doing that, bit of heat on heat action!!Day was nice an relaxed by the pool and BBQing before jumping out of a plane tomorrow.

14th

So today was a day I jumped out of a perfectly good place from 14'000 feet!!Was an earlyish start and as normal I was buzzing like Lemmy from motorhead is when he gets a fresh bottle of whisky!!Met my tandem dive guy and he was miserable as sin, didn't even introduce himself until I asked. I kind of thought that if someone's crotch is going to be that close to my ass, I would like to know his name at least?!So in the place, my heart crashing against my ribs with adrenaline, as we got to the top, my guy told me the motions, but that for some reason, we'd stand and jump out instead of sit and jump like everyone else????I was last to jump, and watching everyone else just zip away was a strange feeling, but it just made me crave it more.We moved towards the exit, the closer I got the more of the clear sky I could see the ocean beneath me…..then….DIVE!!Was such a bizarre feeling but I absolutely loved it, just falling at that pace, not a care in the world, was sensational.Then when they pull the shoot you just enjoy the oil painting of a view that was the ocean, with so many colours of green and blue, streaking across the ocean, was amazing.Afterwards, I (as normal) was just bouncing so we went to chill at the beach for the afternoon, with a few beers and generally relaxed again with the infamous Goon (the cheapest of cheap boxed wines in Oz, I'm sure some of you have experienced it).

15th

Today we were leaving Mission beach for Magnetic Island.Was a relaxed bus journey, Magnetic Island was a pretty beautiful place off the coast of Townsville.The trip to these places we saw some wicked scenery were these dry fields just seemed to go on for ages, with all the trees leaning sideways due to the strong winds they get up here.That night was very entertaining, I got free drinks by dressing up as a women (things I do aye), then won a $50 bar tab by winning some games….I won't say what, and I won't put any pictures up, don't want to inflict family with those…rest of you will see them when I get back….put it this way I looked awesome!!Just so you know the $50 bar tab, I spent on everyone else, so I didn't just neck it all….just some of it!

16th

Magnetic Island to Airlie Beach today…bit of a nothing day, just chilling out all day as it was a long drive, didn't really see anything that cool, maybe the giant mango.That night just consisted of a walk around, drinks and that's about it…..nothing interesting, I was leaving early next day, rest of group were staying to a certain trip but I didn't have the time so had to press on.

17th

Today we were heading to a Cattle Ranch in place called Kroombit.On the bus there was a lady from Austria who looked around 65, from Austria and spoke no English, so we kept trying to find someone from Germany to translate for us.Bless her I hope I have that much adventure when I am that old!!On way to Kroombit we stopped to play some 'Barefoot Lawn Bowls', which is huge out here, there are clubs everywhere like.Was actually quite fun, and could easily do this all day with a few beers (note: there was a local there at 10am with a beer in his hand…legend).Carried on journey, and started to notice in this country the large amount of German and Irish on here backpacking (lots of Irish on my current bus), which is all good as all a good laugh.Got to the cattle Ranch, all had a few beers, had a go on the mechanical bull (maaan you need something to protect yourself on that (if you're a guy….between your legs….i aint spelling it out for you!!)), also did some whip cracking which was great fun, you could tell which of the girls were S&M by how quick they got it…or at least wind them up about it.After that a few of us stayed up pretty late, drinking with some local aussie cowboys, which was pretty stupid as we had to be up at 5am next morning oh well………

18th

So 5am and blurry eyed, we got up to learn how to lasoo, and then lasoo some goats, which I wasn't half bad at, but seemed to find it easier lasooing tall leggy sticks (you thought I was going to say girls didn't you??I tried that they frowned upon it), so struggled a bit with the goats.Went for a stunning walk afterwards with some of the girls from the group, and so some proper bush/outback country, was stunning.After this we headed down to Rainbow beach.And literally enjoyed the scenery, I did a rain dance and of course the welsh rain came tumbling down in Rainbow beach, but we made fun of it and enjoyed a few drinks, attempting ping pong, using the entire wall and just chatting away, was wicked fun.

Will try update more asap, hope this gives you a nice taste of all antics I've been up too so far!!