TOWNSVILLE/MAGNETIC ISLAND Townville is weird, if you've heard of Eirie Indiana then this is the Aussie version, when we arrive it is a complete ghost town with not a soul in sight, which is very strange as it is full of shops etc and is the admin centre that serves the whole of Queenstown. We stay here a day and head straight to Magnetic Island. We had a brilliant couple of days on Maggie - again we were very fortunate with the weather (it's the wet s...

AIRLIE BEACH/THE WHITSUNDAY ISLANDS After a night on the very busy overnight bus we arrive in Airlie early in the morning to the sight of fabulous blue skys - we cannot believe our luck as it has been raining solidly here for the last 3 weeks so we thought our Whitsundays trip was going to be a total wash-out. The rest of our time in Airlie Beach is pretty hazy, as anyone who had every been will understand, it's a bit of a party place so it would be rud...

HERVEY BAY/FRASER ISLANDAfter a whole day on the bus up to Hervey Bay we are a more than a little underwhelmed on arrival. The hostel (Beaches) is fine but we have a complete nightmare over the trips that we have booked with them and end up having a massive row with one of the staff there (she's a total biatch) which is all a bit annoying. So we go out in search of dinner and realise that there is nothing here. There is literally one place open and we only ju...

BYRON BAY We had a passable night on the Greyhound and get collected when we arrive in the morning by a surfer 'dude' in a camper van who works at the hostel - a promising start to Byron Bay. After stopping off at Woolies to buy our rations for the week, we arrive at the hostel which is a good mile away from the town but makes up for this by being a really lovely clean and friendly place; it's more like a house than a hostel, so we are well impress...

SYDNEY 24th - 28th Jan Day 1 We leave the airport to the somewhat unexpected and very unwelcome sight of grey skys and RAIN!!! As such unfortunately the first views of Bondi Beach where we are staying intially, are not perhaps as stunning as they should be, which is a bit of a shame. All the same, this is Bondi Beach and boy does it feel good to be in Australia. The hostel is not bad for the money and we decide to catch up on some sleep after a disjointed f...