Hello everyone, Im in Cairns, just about to fly across the country to Perth but I'm afraid doing this blog on a day by day basis has become a bit of a pain in the arse so I'm going to do it a bit more briefly from now on. Here goes.....

Sunday 21st - Monday 22nd November
Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast, Qld
We didn't do a lot for the rest of our time at surfers, the place was mobbed with 'schoolies' - kids celebrating finishing school - and they took over the town a bit. The weather was overcast and occasionally rainy so we didn't get to the water park as we had hoped. We decided to head for Brisbane on the Monday.

Monday 22nd - Sunday 28th November
Brisbane, Qld
The first ashes test was in Brisbane starting on the Thursday. I had already arranged to buy a ticket for the 1st day from a guy on the barmy army messageboard and had previously booked 3 nights accommodation from the wednesday night but the others had nothing arranged.

The 5 of us plus another english girl who had joined us got the train from gold coast to brisbane and, happily, we managed to get rooms in the hostel which I had booked in at for the rest of the week. In the end I picked up a ticket for day 3 of the test as well and ended up staying until the Sunday while the others were staying on indefinetly looking for work.

We spent the first few days wandering round the city and socialising on the hostel's roof top terrace which had great views across the river to the city centre. They also put on a free BBQ one night which was nice. On one afternoon I met up with Dani who I had met in Athens and who lives just outside Brisbane and we went for a few drinks and some food.

Brisbane is quite an attractive city built around 10km up the river from the coast. It doesn't therefore have a natural beach but they have recently built one next to the river to compensate! The area around here is known as the south bank and was really nice to stroll around it had bars, restaurants, gardens and civic buildings whereas the main high rise commercial buildings filled the opposite bank.

Whilst I was there I ran out of phone credit again and I had the same difficulties topping up as I did back in munich so I decided to get an australian SIM card. I now can't pick messages on the old number so if you want to get in touch I'm on 0061402531132. I managed to speak to my old mate Danny Lomax who lives in perth now and we picked up two tickets for the 3rd test in perth on the internet. The perth test is towards the end of december and I'll be flying over to stay with Danny and his fiancee then.

On the Wednesday night, after picking up my ticket for the first day of the cricket, I went to the impressive Suncorp Stadium (rebuilt for the 2003 rugby WC I think) to watch a game of footie, the ground was only 5 mins walk from the hostel, quite a few of the barmy army where there too! Table topping Brisbane Roar were taking on Perth Glory who have Robbie Fowler in their ranks, they all refer to him as God! Despite the crowd in the 50000 seater stadium being less than 7000 it was quite an enjoyable occasion, Brisbane won 3-2, which flattered Perth.

On the Thursday morning I made my way over to the 'Gabba' on foot for the first day of the ashes and I was feeling pretty excited about fulfilling a bit of a boyhood dream! After a bit of crowd conjestion outside I managed to get to my seat just as the national anthems were playing. We had won the toss, were going to bat and the atmosphere was fantastic. The stadium is a fully enclosed bowl which keeps all the noise inside brilliantly.

Unfortunately, as most of you probably know, our captain Strauss got himself out for a duck third ball of the series and the place erupted! We lost a few more wickets as the day went on but were looking ok around at 180-4 just after tea. At this point I witnessed a bit of Ashes history as opening bowler Siddle took a hat trick (3 wickets in 3 balls) and the place went crazy! The pom bashing now went into overdrive and I had to endure a bit of (mostly) good natured stick from a bunch of aussies behind me for the rest of the day! We eventually made it to a well below par 260 before being bowled out and they faced a few overs from our bowlers before the close of play without much trouble. I went home pretty disappointed with the outcome but it had been a pretty good days cricket and a great experience. I find watching us bat quite stressful and sitting there in the sun all day drinking beer had also left me feeling absolutely exhausted and I had to have a shower on my return to the hostel to wake myself up.

On the friday I hired a car with Kenny, Trevor and Michael and we went up to a place called tambourine mountain which had some nice jungle scenery (waterfalls etc) and great views over the gold coast. On the saturday it was back to the cricket where I watched the aussies make more history with a record 6th wicket stand of over 300. I won't lie, it was pretty depressing to watch as an englishman surrounded by drunken aussies! However, we made a bit of a comeback in the evening which cheered me up a bit. Back at the hostel I got chatting to a few people on the terrace over dinner and we ended up going out to a local club til the small hours. I had considered staying a day or two longer in Brisbane as there were plenty of tickets available for days 4 and 5 but as we weren't in a very good position I decided to move on up the coast to Noosa as planned.

Sunday 28th - Tuesday 30th November
Noosa Heads, Sunshine Coast, Qld

I got the greyhound bus to Noosa in the morning with a nice couple from birmingham who I'd been out with the night before. There, I also bumped into a couple of Danish girls who I'd met in Coffs Harbour and bizarrely kept coming across time and again along the way! We arrived around lunchtime and I checked in to the new hostel which was basic but good fun.

Noosa is a beautiful little, quite upmarket beach town with a lovely beach, a river, little lakes and a small area of national park headland. Although it was even more expensive than the rest of queensland and there wasn't much nightlife, it was a great place to spend a few days chlling out. The day I got there it was overcast again so I had a little wander around to get my bearings and I did a bit of shopping as some of my clothes are getting worn out! In the evening they had a free BBQ at the hostel and I had a few drinks at the bar there.

On the second day it was lovely and sunny and in the afternoon I went and relaxed on the beach and had a brief walk around the national park. In the morning I had spent a few hours sorting out trips for the following week to Fraser Island and the Whitsundays as well as my flight from Cairns to Perth on the 11th. I had a few beers in the evening over the road at an Irish bar and celebrated england's monumental comeback in the cricket back in Brisbane!

On the Tuesday I spent the morning doing some washing and relaxing by the pool before I headed over to the river and hired a Kayak for a few hours. Whilst out in the estuary I stopped for a break on a little sand island and saw a pair of stingrays shoot past me. I also saw some enormous pelicans. When I got back I promised myself a quiet evening as I was spending too much money on beer - I managed to resist, I read my book and had an early night.

Wednesday 1st December
Rainbow Beach

I picked up the bus in the morning for the relatively short trip up the coast to Rainbow Beach, a quiet, pretty featureless little seaside town where the tour for fraser island was based. It has a beautiful long beach but swimming is seriously inadvisable due to the prevalance of dangerous sharks and jellyfish. After checking in we had an introductory dvd explaining about the trip and the island itself. I then met the rest of the group and we went out to pick up some shopping supplies for the trip. We shared a few drinks in the evening at the hostel then went to bed.

Thurday 2nd - Saturday 4th December
Fraser Island

Apparently, Fraser is the largest sand island in the world which was formed when a long spit made up of sand carried all the way up the coast from NSW was broken off from the mainland in a storm. It is famed for its untouched beauty and its population of pure dingos which have avoided contact with domestic dogs. It also has only a handful of residents and even fewer proper roads. It is therefore only accessible by 4WD vehicles.

The tour I went on was called a 'tag along tour' where the tour guide leads in his vehicle and the two other cars follow behind driven by the tourists - each of the 3 cars had 8-9 people in it. I was in the group with the tour guide so didn't get to drive which was at first disappointing but then a bit of a relief when the insurance/driver liabilities were explained to the other groups! We also had comfy seats and air con which the others didn't! After everything was explained and the cars packed up we left the hostel and set off up the road to the short ferry crossing. On arrival we drove onto the beaches of the island which double as the main roads!

Here again, swimming was not allowed on the beaches so we set off towards our first port of call, lake wabi. This is an absolutely stunning freshwater lake reached by a walk through sand dunes and forest. We stayed here for a few hours, swam a bit, relaxed and had an international game of football in the sand. The clouds had cleared and it got very hot. We then went to a freshwater creek that spilled over the beach, had some lunch relaxed a bit more then headed over to our campsite.

On both nights we stayed in shared tents at the camp site, cooked dinner in our groups and drank the night away. On the second night we were visited by an inquisitive dingo and on both nights we found bats and a variety of enormous insects around the place!

On the second day the weather was overcast to start with but cleared up later on. We drove to 'indian head' (the one large bit of rock on the island), a saltwater pool where swimming was safe, an enormous sand dune and a lake surrounded by rainforest and inhabited by terrapins which ate out of your hand. We also saw sea eagles, turtles at the headland and dead jellyfish on the beach.

In the evening we played a bit of beach cricket near the campsite. Watching germans trying to bowl was quite interesting as was dodging the 4wd vehicles coming past our wicket at regular intervals! Although the new milton express was far too quick for the inexperienced german batsmen he had some difficulties displacing a cocky young oxford graduate.

The guide had saved Lake Mackenzie, the highlight, until the last day. Unfortunately the weather was cool and wet all day but we all agreed to head over anyway. Once we got there it was such a breathtaking spot that we all jumped in despite the bad weather. The water was flat and crystal clear, the sand brilliantly white and the vegetation a lush green. I can only imagine how beautiful this place would be on a clear sunny day.

After grabbing some lunch we headed back to rainbow beach and I watched a bit of the 2nd test with a few of the others in a bar. Around 7 I got on an overnight bus north to Airlie Beach.
Monday 6th December
Airlie Beach
In the morning I arrived at airlie beach, a lively little resort with a lagoon (swimming allowed), a beach (swimming not allowed - jellyfish) and a marina where the boat for our trip to the whitsundays was moored. I was tired from the overnight bus and my fraser island exertions so didn't do a lot save for checking in for my trip, having a brief look around and watching a bit of the 2nd test on tv - england were well on top!

Tuesday 7th - Thursday 9th December
Whitsunday Islands

2 days, 3 nights on a sailing boat in the beautiful Whitsundays....more to follow

Thursday 9th - Saturday 11th December
Cairns

Very hot and humid, I was knackered, didnt feel like doing much! more to follow!