hello one and all.

The last few days in sydney were a bit of a blur. I helped Matt by moving all his stuff out of his apartment and moving it up to Newcastle in a hire van. The next day we spent a good 6 hours cleaning the flat from top to bottom. I had promised myself that i wouldn't do anything resembling work while i was away but i guess that this was the least i could do for him having let me stay rent-free for three weeks! We had a leaving night for Si a few days before all this. We went for a thai meal at Opium Den, up in the cross but it was a fairly quiet night. The last night in Sydney was pretty quiet too. Had a meal at Sopranos in Surry Hills and a few drinks on Oxford St before spending the night on the couch at the flat Katie had been flat-sitting in, which was in Glebe.

Then the east coast roadshow started. We have a bus-pass for Sydney to Cairns for the Greyhound bus. The first journey was to be our longest. a 13 hour overnight slog from Sydney to Byron Bay, 7pm til 830am. It was ok til about midnight but then i realised quickly that i wasnt going to get any sleep and had to sit there, getting progressively more uncomfortable and tired and not being able to do anything about it.

Byron Bay: We stayed at a really cool hostel called The Arts Factory. Its a really laid back place set in bushland with a small lake. There's lots of hammocks around and lots of hippies sitting about playing the guitar and the didgeridoo. Really liked it there. Byron is a nice wee town with a really good beach that i got proper sunburnt on a few times. We also took a walk up to Cape Byron, which is the most easterly point of Oz, and watched the sun set over the bay. It was also here that i had my first drink of 2009. I did my usual January detox and lasted two weeks before caving and going to the famous Cheeky Monkeys bar. Was there with a few guys i'd met on the Kiwi bus, Nick and Luke and a few of their mates. The idea at Cheeky Monkeys is to get drunk and dance on the tables, which is exactly what we all did.

Brisbane: A quick stop here on the way through to Noosa. Had a day just wandering around the city centre, did a wee bit of shopping before heading out to the Down Under Bar at the base hostel. Bumped into more folk from the Kiwi Bus and had a good night. I did, however, lose a dance-off for the first time in my life. The guy that won was a local and had all his mates in and he knew the compere. I maintain that i was the peoples champion and the true winner!

Noosa: Stayed in a crappy hostel-Koalas at Noosa Junction. From here we went to Australia Zoo, which was formerly managed by the late, great Steve Irwin. His wife Terri and kids did the Croc show were you get to see a croc try and attack the handlers and get fed too. The highlight of the zoo for me was the Tigers. They did a quick show where the handler basically just played around with them. Itwas really, really cool when the tigers would leap after a toy into the water, landing only a few meters from the audience who were watching from behind windows. Simply awesome and the handler guy has the best job in the world....fact!

Hervey Bay: From here we went to Fraser Island for a 2-night/3-day 4WD Camping Safari. This involves 9 people driving around the island on sand tracks or down the beach in a big jeep. The driving was absolutely great fun. The camping was not-Fraser Island is the biggest sand island in the world and it just gets everywhere...everywhere! On the 2nd night we had a lot of rain and our tent flooded. All in all though it was a really good trip. We saw some amazing lakes, great beaches and wild dingoes.

Having a great time going up the coast. Glad the Katie's here and i'm not on my own. We've manged not to annoy each other too much and have had a good laugh. I'm really, really looking forward to getting to Asia now though and just cant wait to get there.

Current listening: Interpol, Our love to admire (album) Bon Jovi, Blaze of Glory! Detiktivbyran, Wermland (album) The Triffids, wide open road. Katchafire, seriously.

Books read: Curious case of the dog in the night-time, A picture of Dorian Grey, Dont tell my mum i work the rigs-she thinks i'm a piano player in a w****house, Heartfelt: Sipping Bovril from the devil's cup, Mother Tongue, Any human heart.