OK well I have now left Sydney and am working my way up the East Coast of Australia.

The last couple of weeks in the city were mainly about working and saving. I did go to Sydney's Gay Mardi Gras. Which was really cool.

I met Jayne and Laura from work and somehow, amongst the huge crowds, they had managed to find a really good spot right at the front. There were cool costumes - lots of glitter, wonderfully tacky and over-the-top drag queens, trannies, nudists wearing only a sock (not on their feet!), big beautiful carnival-style floats (with a queen on top), lots of dancers, a huge Kylie parade (with a tiny Danni parade following), and even a bunch of Vicky Pollard impersonators! There were floats from political parties and various companies were cashing-in on it too, like Ikea (with apron-only wearing men demonstrating their kitchen displays). But there was also parades and floats from every part of the community from Mature Age Gays, Gay and proud families, the Gay Police, football teams, the Fire Brigade, all religious groups (even Catholic), to Surf Rescue! It was a lot of fun!!

Afterwards we went out in the city, which was really busy and full of men in dresses (some of whom I must admit looked better than me).

The next week I just worked in the shop, finally got myself a cheap pair of shoes as was getting really sick of working in a shoe shop without a pair of shoes to my name.

Nikki was due to leave that Thursday with Sasha, I handed in my notice to leave 2 weeks later to get some more cash together. We went for a last night out in Bondi, was totally wasted - its all a bit of a blur, vaguely recall coming out and running down a hill after seagulls like a four-year-old. Hmm. The next day at work without sleep was a total nightmare yet again.

Annoyingly, the day Nikki left I got a call at work telling me the shop was going to close down that weekend! Talk about give me notice. We knew for a while that the whole shopping centre was going to be demolished but I was pretty angry they didn't tell me earlier as I could of left with the others and it also meant I was going to be short a weeks wages. Grrr. I also had the flu so was pretty pissed off that day.

I decided I should leave sooner than planned and booked the overnight coach for the following Tuesday. The last two days at work were hectic as there was 70% off everything but I was still left on my own.

On the Sunday I went round to Laura and Jayne's flat for a farewell girly-night (take-away and DVDs). Except didn't really want to say good-bye just yet so we decided we should also go for a farewell lunch before I left.

The day before I left Tibor took me into the city. We strolled around the Rocks, which is a nice area near the harbour with cobbled streets, old pubs and a more European-feel. Then we walked across the Harbour Bridge, which I'd been meaning to do for ages. The bridge itself is huge and from it you get a great view of the Opera House. We crossed over and by the time we got to the North-side it had gotten dark which meant we got an amazing view of the city's towering sky-scrapers, the Opera House and the bridge all lit up and reflected in the water. It looked as though it was a movie-set! I managed to get a good look and lots of pics before it started to piss down really hard and we had to take shelter under the bridge.

I spent Tuesday morning stressing over my bag as I have accumulated so much more stuff which I cant carry. Sent a whole load home and gave lots to charity - but it still doesn't fit! I don't get it!! Nightmare.

Then I went for a nice lunch with Jayne and Laura by Darling Harbour. We realised that the 3 of us have always been in the same spot for the past 4 months, longer than me and Nikki! So it was pretty sad to say bye and leave them in Sydney.

Tibor took me to the coach that evening and there was another sad farewell. Definitely one of the down-sides of travelling is having to say good-bye to so many people you meet along the way. And also leaving places you love, I'm really going to miss Sydney, its a great city.

Apart from being really long (12 hours) and me still being quite ill (flu and chest infection), the coach journey wasn't too bad, with help from my various medications I managed to sleep, or be knocked-out-senseless, for nearly the whole way.
The next morning I arrived in Byron Bay which is right up North of New South Wales on the East Coast. It was a bit odd being back in hostels. It kind of sucks. I was in a dorm with 4 boys. Ugh. They were nice enough though.

As soon as I got there I dumped my bag and went straight to the beach, only 5mins from the hostel. It it was baking hot! The beach was absolutely gorgeous, a long stretch of white sand and crystal clear water with a view of the lighthouse on the hill to one side and mountains and a volcano on the other. I lazed around on the beach all morning then took a stroll around the town.

It was very disorientating being in a little town like Byron after Sydney but I really love it. There's a laid-back hippy-vibe mixed i with surfers and back-packers. Its cool. Although its very touristy there seems to be a strong sense of community, who are particularly environmentally-aware Apparently the residents elected Australia's first Green Party council here to stop the area being spoilt.

In the evening I had a BBQ at the hostel and had a couple of beers with my new roomies, two English lads. I got an early night as had to get up early for dolphin kayaking! yay!
Had to be there for 8am, as I walked to the meeting point I saw lots of exotic birds in the trees going crazy tweeting away which was pretty cool.

The kayaking thing was a bit embarrassing at first as it was two to a kayak and I was the only one without a partner (what a loser), they were all bloody couples. Ugh. But actually it worked out even better as I got to go with the guide, who'd been doing it for seven years, which meant I got to hear all the interesting facts from him, we got to go first and spot all the dolphins (I was in front so was the official dolphin-spotter! Even without my glasses), and we were the only ones not to fall out! ha!

It was nothing like the calm waters of Fiji, first of all we had to get past all the waves, we had to jump in and paddle straight towards them, which was a bit daunting, the large scary-looking waves came towards us and really looked as though they would turn us over, then we'd rise over and crash back down with a huge splash (so glad I was with someone who knew what they were doing). Then we got to watch all the smug couples give it a go and topple over. Hehe!

It wasn't until we got right out far that I started to think about sharks! Which there are lots of! (later on one of my roomies, who'd done a sky-dive the same morning, told me he'd seen around 20 of them in the bay on his way up in the plane!). Anyway we paddled really far out, over the reefs, and past the Pass which is where all the surfers go. Then we saw one! A lovely Bottle-nosed Dolphin. It came up to around 30metres away from us, stuck its hump out of the water then it bloody disappeared.

Me and my captain paddled around searching for them - I would occasionally spot one jumping out of the water then disappear again! I think they were playing hide-and-seek with us.

Eventually we had to go into rougher waters where we saw loads - around 12 of them riding the waves - it was an amazing sight! Sometimes a couple of them would suddenly jump and do tricks, or would just be still and poke their noses out. A few of them came right around us. It was great. Then the water got too rough, a couple of people fell out so we headed back to the reef - where we saw two turtles! They are such funny looking creatures! On the way back we had to paddle really hard and quick to catch a wave, which we managed, then surfed it all the way in to the sand! Cool!

The next day me and three of the dudes in my dorm caught the Happy Bus into Nimbin (although the Happy bus didn't seem v.happy at all, it had definitely seen better days!). On the way we stopped off at a waterfall, well it was more of a water-trickle as there hadn't been much rain. There we saw some huuge iguanas.

A few hours more of struggling up hills and flying down them, the Happy Bus arrived in the tiny town of Nimbin. Its a really weird trippy place. In the 70's a bunch of students and drop-outs staged a festival there, some of them never left and started this little hippy community.

Its basically just one small street, mainly of shops selling bongs and other similar stuff, although there is a large police station (which the residents march through annually). All the shops and cafes are brightly painted and decorated with art and guys on the street sell yummy cookies and weed. For most of the afternoon we sat in the Hemp Bar, which is a bit like an Amsterdam cafe. It was pretty cool, everyone was sat in their smoking, you paid for your tea by giving a donation which goes to the collection for the legalisation of marijuana (you can also donate weed, although I don't think anybody did!).

It was v.crowded and smokey and we just sat at the bar and watched. Some old Californian dude came in ranting about something v.loudly as Americans do (no offence Yanks!) so for our entertainment the barman turned down the music and let him do his sermon for 4minutes and 20secs (?), he was so stoned he couldn't read one whole sentence within that time and made absolutely no sense. Eventually we dragged ourselves away from the mad-house although I couldve quite easily sat there all day (which I'm sure most of the people there did most days).

For some reason I then thought it would be a good idea to get my tarot cards done by a lady on the street. So I did. I cant really remember what she said but it was all a bit strange - like I should tell my secrets to a tree. Weird. But she did say I wouldn't live in the city much longer and would move to a small town (maybe she was trying to recruit a new Nimbin resident) and some other odd stuff. Turned out she was from London, she came over 30years ago on a two-year working visa and got stuck in Nimbin! haha. So you never know in 30 years time I might be a tarot card reader in some hippy town in Oz! Hmm. It was a v.surreal day - not helped by the cookies!

As I first suspected we had a bit of a hitch with the Happy Bus on the way back but we did eventually get back. That evening I went out with the guys. Tried a large bar by the beach which was pretty cool, then moved onto a club. I lost the guys and ended up hanging out with some English girls, we had a good laugh and started a little party by the beach which attracted backpackers and old hippys, stayed there till the sun came up.

Then it was time to meet Tibor at the bus stop. Yep he missed me so much (?) he decided to do a sicky at work and come to Byron for a few days! Nutter. I met him at 6am after no sleep, still in the clothes from the night before, still wasted and looking a bit crap, don't think he was too impressed after his 13 hour journey.

We just relaxed for a couple of days, the weather was a bit rubbish - rained quite a bit which was a shame. It was nice all the same. On our last day there we went on a nice walk to the lighthouse. We walked to the end of the beach, which is absolutely gorgeous, and watched the surfers for a while. Then trecked uphill through rain-forest, where there were loads of bush turkeys (but to my disappointment no wallabies). We walked right to the most Easterly point of Australia then further up to the lighthouse, which they say has the brightest light in the Southern Hemisphere.

The next day I took the bus to Surfers Paradise. On the road again - and a loner again!
Surfers is completely different to Byron. Not my favourite place, its full of ugly high-rise hotels and is one big tourist town. The beach is really nice though, the white sand stretches for miles and miles. Its supposed to be a great party town so last night I went out with two girls in my dorm to a couple of clubs- it was all pretty tacky, the club was full of kids and there was a male stripper. Not my kind of place at all. Had a good laugh though.

I leave tomorrow for Rainbow Beach where I spend one night before going on a trip to Fraser Island - the world's biggest sand island! Cant wait!