Hey guys,

Thought I would take a break from sunbathing to update you on my travels. How thoughfull of me I hear you cry!

I really liked it Airlie Beach, where I last wrote to you. We met some really fun people there - namely the guys from our dorm. We had such a laugh with them and they even treated us to a BBQ by the beach for dinner on our last night. It was the first time I was actually sad to leave a place since we got here. But goodbye we had to say as we were travelling overnight on our Greyhound bus down the coast to Hervey Bay. My god, not the best idea we've had! Trying to sleep on a coach that stops every couple of hours is not that easy! But hey - we saved on a nights accomodation costs.

We were at Hervey Bay (a small town with not a lot happening) as this is where our 2 night Fraser Island trip left from. We got up the morning after we arrived to meet for the briefing. This involved watching a dvd which bascially scared the crap out of me, led me to believe that I would be eated in my sleep by dingoes (wild dogs). Either that or the 4 x 4 vehicle we had to drive around in would flip over or get stuck on the beach with the tide coming in! We got split into 2 groups, which subsequently got named the Tiger Sharks (my group) and the Lazy Lizzards! We had 9 people including a swedish guy, an english guy, an american girl and 4 chinese. I ended up being the person who had to drive the truck to the shed to get our equipment. It's the oddest vehicle I've ever driven but great fun. After we got kitted up and the guy explained what we had to do with the tyre pressure when driving on sand and how to change between the different 4 wheel drive options (yes, my head was spinning at this point!) we made our way to the supermarket to get the supplies (mainly crisps and sweeties) that we would need for our 3 day trip. All going well until I parked the truck and couldn't get the key out of the ignition!!

We got the ferry over to Fraser Island which is an amazing World Heritage Listed sand island. The largest sand island in the world, and stunningly beautiful to boot. We were so lucky with the weather and had such a great time. In fact, this is one of the most fun things I have ever done. As it happened it was mostly me and Caroline that did the driving as of the 2 chineese lads, one didn't know how to drive a manual and the other was well....not very good shall we say!! But I didn't mind as driving on the sand tracks was wicked and on approaching some of the hills you just thought 'we are never going to get up there'!! Driving across the beach with the sea so close on my right was one of the most surreal experiences and a little unnerving at first until I got used to it. Before long we were whizzing our way around the island, bouncing the truck all over the place (don't worry mom, it was perfectly safe!!). We stuck to the suggested ittinnery, mainly because it worked with the tide times ensuring we didn't get stuck on the beach when the sea came in, and boy did it come in high and fast! We drove right up to Indian Head with amazing views of the island and visited gorgeous sand dunes and the most stunning Lake Makenzie where the water was the clearest and bluest I have ever seen. The first night we set up camp right next to the beach, cooked a massive BBQ - far too much food, and slept 5 of us in a 4 man tent. Cozy is the word I'll use for it! The second night we had to find a different camp site as there had been a weather warning and where we were supposed to camp had been closed. So driving along the inland tracks as it was getting increasingly dark we managed to find a site next to a lake. The lads did a fantastic job of making a little shelter for us and again the 5 of us crammed into the 4 man tent! The only rain we had the whole time was during the last night while we were in the tents (which leaked. Right onto my head.) but by morning it was fine so we were really lucky. Fab, fab, fab experience. I'm so glad we did this trip :o) I really think I should become a racing driver or something. The guys were impressed with my gutsey moves anyway!!

After Hervey Bay/Fraser Island we moved on to Noosa which is rather a posh place! It's not that big a town but really quite nice and we walked to a lookout just in time to see a pretty glorious sunset. We also went on the big costal walk which took us, completely innocently may I add, across a nudist beach!! It was all hanging out on that beach I can tell you - we didn't know where to look. And why is it that the only men on these beaches are the ones post retirement age with saggy man boobs and.. well...lets just leave it there shall we. Saw a poor blow fish washed up on that beach too. Interesting place!!

From Noosa we went to Brisbane which in all honesty is a bit of a none descript city. Fairly nice but nothing speacial, I much preferred Melbourne. The weather was a little bad while we were there though so maybe that had something to do with it. We made good use of our time though by shopping (obviously), going to the cinema (Angels & Demons - don't bother), walking through the Botanical Gardens (very nice) and visiting the Modern Art Gallery and Museum of Queensland (how very good of us eh?!) Oh. and we also went to the Australia Zoo which was really good. I actaully think it should be called the Steve Irwin Zoo as there are so many shrines to him I was quite shocked. We watched the croc show which was good but I can imagine Steve would have been brilliant to watch doing it. We were really lucky again as the rain held off for us while we were there. We really are quite jammy where weather is concerned!. We saw loads of Aussie animals including a Tasmanian Devil (not road kill this time!) and kangaroos which we fed!

Surfers Paradise was the next destination on our list however we weren't overly impressed with it! It's an ok place but a little chavy and the hostel was less than impressive! We did visit the Q Deck which is an observation deck on the tallest residential building in Australia and the 20th tallest builing in the world. Well worth it for the view you get of the Gold Coast. And we got to top up the tan a little on the beach which was nice for a change!!

So now we are in Byron Bay and we'll be staying put here for a while, about 9 days which will be the longest I'll have spent in one place since I left my front door at home about 5 months ago! It is such a cool place though. Really laid back, good atmosphere and a nice hostel. We are in a 16 bed dorm!! And this morning as I picked up my clean knickers from the rail at the end of my bed where I had hung them to dry the day before, I found a note that a cheeky little b***** had left saying and I quote "I love to sniff your pants"!!!! That made us laugh. I tell you, the things that happen in these hostels just crack me up!!

We have just under a month left in Oz now so have plenty of time to get back down to Sydney. I'll be in Sydney for my birthday - pretty cool eh?! We have moved our flight to New Zealand forward by about 2 weeks, leaving Oz on the 30th June, so we now have time to do both the North and South Islands which we are so excited about! We will have seen and done all that we want to in Australia so thought we might as well make the best of what time we have left and get to see as much of NZ as possible! We have hired a Spaceship to drive ourselves around in for the month!! That is the camper van hire companies name! They look like really funky little people carriers that have a double bed, fridge, cooking stove and even a dvd player in them!! Absolutely cannot wait to start our road trip around New Zealand, it's so much fun driving wherever and whenever you want! I can sense a lot of fun will be had in our little Spaceship which we have already name Apomie 12. Get it?? Apollo 12. We are pommies. Apomie 12. Ha!

So that's just about everything I think. As ever, I hope everyone is keeping well at home and you are enjoying the spring sunshine.

Please take care all and I will blog again in the not too distant future :o)

Lots of love and hugs
Nic
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