Australia...the end

So now we were just two, Dolly was no longer with us and we were feeling a bit lost. Cairns wasn't really what we were expecting, in our minds we thought it would be a city like Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne but it it wasn't at all, more like a seaside town on a bigger scale. Hence there wasn't a great deal to do but the weather was absolutely boiling so we took advantage of a few days rest and relaxation before New Zealand and chilled out at the lagoon emersed in our new books sweating in the 37 degree heat.

We've been in Australia now for just over six weeks and are feeling very at home. In Cairns it was almost like we were locals, bumping into people we knew in the supermarket, crossing the road, in the pub and by the pool. Crazy!

The hostel we stayed at was nice, we had our own room and it even came with a free meal each night - although we were never actually brave enough to try it. Having arrived at the Woolshed the first night where the food was served and seeing the queue of people out the door lining up to a serving hatch, it looked just like a prison slop queue so we gave it a miss.

We made the most of our first air conditioned room since...actually since we've been in Australia. We had a couple of lay ins, followed by picnics and sunbathing at the lagoon and then evenings out at Gilligans, a big backpacker bar and an evening at the cinema.

From Cairns it was back to Sydney and this time we managed to fly into Sydney without missing the plane and arrived feeling much more alive than we did last time. Our flight to NZ meant a very early start on Sunday so we didn't have much time there but we did meet up with Dangerous Sam and Dayle (who we'd met in Fraser Island) for dinner and drinks in the city on Saturday night. It was lovely to catch up with them, we had a brillirant night eventually falling into bed at 1am. It seemed like just minutes before the 4am alarm sounded, yuck.

So that's the end of six and ahlf absolutely fantastic weeks in Australia. We've both loved every minute and every time we try, we struggle to pick a place we like the best. There are so many highlights, from madness in Melbourne, the iconic sights in Sydney, surfing in Noosa, the casino win in Brisbane, Steve Irwin's amazing zoo, the dolphin cruise, Fraser Island, the Whitsundays and of course, Dolly. There has just been too much to chose from, we're going to miss Australia and it's super friendly (but foul mouthed) people a lot.

Time to see what New Zealand has in store.....