So its been a month since my last blog and that month has flown by! I am now in my final four weeks and attempting to enjoy them to the full!

My journey up the east coast of Australia continued successfully. I took my surf lesson in Agnes Water which was amazing fun! I fell off a lot, hit myself over the head with my own board twice, crashed into two other people in the lesson, ended up with very sore legs and toes after many scrapes on the sand...but managed to stand up twice or a few very short lived seconds!

I took a trip inland from Mackay to a place called 'Finch Hatton Gorge' in the Eungella National Park. It was stunning! I stayed in a bush camp. There was a very whacky guy called Wazza running it. Bascially he had built tree house style huts on stilts in the middle of the forest. He lived in one himself. The cooking area was a shack outside, camping style, and you stored your food in metal bins to stop the possoms getting to it. I had a small hut of my own which came with my very own pet lizard who kept me company, popping out from under the pillows every now and again. The huts were open around the sides so you slept under a mozzie net and listened to all the noises of the rainforest as you fell asleep (and hoped none of the forest animals decided to join you). There was no electricity so everyone had an old parafin lamp and the showers were three sided stone blocks with one side open looking out into the rainforest. It was very much back to basics and I loved it. I was lucky enough (after a few hours and early mornings) to see a duckbilled platypus and two babies! They are very shy and quite hard to see so I was pleased to have seen them once.

From the bush camp I headed back to civilisation and to Airlie Beach where I got aboard a sailing boat for 3 days and 2 nights sailing the Whitsunday islands. It was just perfect! There were 24 of us on board and everyone was great fun, as well as our three crew being great guides. We slept on the boat each night and enjoyed the days snorkelling, sailing, kayaking and bush walking. The weather was incredible and the sunsets were just stunning. We saw so many fish (jellyfish included!) and also turtles. One night a dolphin came to the boat to feed on the squid that had been attracted to the light. It stayed for about 3 hours feeding and we all watched for ages as the squid jumped out of the water and inked trying to escape him. When our three days were over none of us wanted to get off the boat and attempted to bribe the crew to give us one more night, which of course didnt happen, but enjoyed an afterparty back at Airlie Beach before all going our separate ways.

From there I headed to Townsville and out to Magnetic Island where there are lots of Koalas. Unfortunatley I was quite unwell so spent both days lounging an hammoks and trying to get better. But I did meet some fun people and on my final night I teamed up with three of the lads to play the hostels trivia quiz. Somehow we managed to come joint 1st so they made us do a tie breaker. I was hoping for a quick fire question round, but that would have been way too simple and far less embarrasing! Instead they gave each team and orange and we had to pass it from chin to between the next persons kness down our line. Not sure I ever want to have my face so close to a guys crotch that ive only known for a few hours again, but we won and enjoyed a $30 bar tab and plenty of beer for the rest of the evening so maybe it was worth it!

When I returned back to the coast I did a nights couch surfing. Its an online community where people offer up their spare rooms and couches for travellers. I stayed with a lovely couple Michelle and Rhett who cooked me an amazing dinner and breakfast and were really hospitable. I would have loved to spend longer with them! But I was off to Cairnes where I enjoyed a day relaxing by the lagoon and then a day snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef.

The days snorkelling was great fun. I saw two sharks which were certainly my highlight! They were small reef sharks (about the same length as me) but amazing to see in their natural environment. We also saw box fish, nemo fish and sea cucumbers along with many other things!

From Cairns I flew to Perth where I spent a lovely week with my cousins Tom and Emma and my new baby cousin Ollie who is six months and gorgeous! It was a really relaxing week (eating too much cake). They live in Freemantle which is about 45minutes south from Perth and is a really lovely area. I travelled up to Perth for one night where I linked up with a friend Rob who I met whilst travelling in New Zealand so it was great to catch up with him. Perth is a very clean and well looked after city (its a shame my hostel didtn match that!).

I spent my Birthday there and was spoilt with a lovely BBQ, Birthday cup cakes, and a great evening in playing a fun game called Catang. It was very civilised and relaxing which was perfect.

So now I am in Malaysia...a bit of a change from the western countries I have been travelling in so far! I spent three days by myself in Kuala Lumpur which is like any asian city, hot, humid, dirty, busy and rather crazy which to me is perfect! The markets there are great fun, especially the Chinese Market on Petaling Street which is full of street stalls and the perfect place to haggle like crazy over the very fake nike trainers or gucci handbags (I didnt buy either!). There was a Nando's up the street which had a huge sign above it reading 'Nando's peri peri sauce, the only thing that isnt fake on Petaling Street', very appropriate.

I got caught in one of the monsoon down pours which make the streets VERY slippery, I almost ended upon my bum numerous times! They seem to use bathroom tiles on their pavements in places which of course is a reciepie for disaster. I took a trip to the National Mosque which was stunning, however covering up the whole of my body was not fun in the 30degree 98% humidity. I took a trip to the Kuala Lumpur museum which has a bigger gift shop than museum section and also visited the very grand shopping malls which have some of the biggest Christmas decoartaions I have ever seen and are so big you can get lost in them for hours looking for the exits, which seem to be very well hidden in some! In the lake gardens I found myself surrounded by a group of monkeys who had decided to come crashing through the trees, and sliding down the lampposts like firemen before crossing just a few feet infront of me.

My friend Amy has flown in from the UK for two and a half weeks so we are now travelling together. We started our trip at the Batu Caves which are just outside Kuala Lumpur and really amazing, the statues are the biggest I have ever seen! We caught a bus to Jerantut which is north east of KL for one night before catching a boat into Teman Negara National Park. The boat journey took three hours (our bums were very numb by the end) and we were dropped off at a little village across the river from the park entrance where we found a small guesthouse to stay in. The owner was a very friendly man who gave us a room for 30Ringit per night (6 pounds) which had both a fan and air conditioning which prooved vital as it was so humid. There were lovely restaurant/cafes floating on the river to eat at and we rarely spent more than 1 pound for a meal and the food was great.

We took an afternoon trek in the national park which was hard work, our t-shirts were soaking wet by the end due to the humidity. There was lots of scrambling up and down hills over tree roots and we were luck enough to see some interesting birds and creepy crawlies. I was also welcomed by three leeches who had a good feed off my ankles! Luckily Amy had a sachet of salt with her (macdonalds special!) so we were able to get them off! During the evening we had a bit of an episode with a rather large cockroach that was flying around rather noisily outside our room...we retreated quite quickly not wanting to be landed on and were very impressed when the guesthouses cat managed to attack the cockroach and enjoyed a good, if rather cruncy meal, on our doorstep..."That cat is my hero" to quote Amy.

The following morning we did the rainforest canopy walk. Its a 500meter walkway rope system suspended 40meters off the rainforest floor. Great fun, but very high up! During the evening we did a guided night trek during which we saw a black scorpion, many stick insects, samba deer, huge crickets, a huntsman spider and a crab spider (very poisonous). The guide also told us that leeches can feel your footsteps coming when you are 500meters away and then align themselves to hop up onto your legs as you pass, really quite amazing and explains how I ended up with three and Amy had none...I was walking infront!

We had a giant spider join us in our room during the evening! We had to get the two men at the guesthouse to come and capture it for us as we wernt sure if it was dangerous, turns out it was just a common house spider "good for catching mosquitos" the men told us, however we decided we'd risk the mozzies and get rid of the spider (who almost crawled into Amys rucksack as it was being chased out).

So after a couple of days of eventful bugs we travelled to the Cameron Highlands where there are big tea plantations and strawberry fields. Its much cooler up here at 23degrees (which feels cold to me so im not quite sure how I will manage when I get home next month). Yesterday we did a 3 hour hike up to one of the tea plantations, stopping along the way at one of the strawberry farms where we picked some lovely strawberries and also at a butterfly house. The butterflies were incredible to see and so colourful, but the highlight of the day was the tea plantation. Amy and I are both big tea drinkers so we had been talking about our tea plantation trip since before I left the UK. It was a very long walk down into the plantations (most people drive), but we did some exploring along the way and almost got bitten by some rather fierce dogs when we strayed a bit too close to one house as we thought there might be a good view! All I remember is two dogs running at us and Amy yelling"Retreat!" before we dashed (very fast) back down the track we had taken.

At the tea plantations we were able to see inside the factory where the tea is produced and also enjoy a good cuppa overlooking the tea fields. Amy had brought out chocolate hobnobs so we had a good biscuit dunking session (a bit of a different location to our normal one sat on a sofa in London). We couldnt face the 3hour walk back and as there were no taxi's of buses we hitch hiked, one of the most fun things we have done! A lovely couple drove us back to the main road from the plantation where we hopped out and caught another lift in the back of a pick up truck (a great way to see the surroundings rushing by). At one point we hopped off in a village and visited a big chinese temple which was immaculatly clean and had the most amazing gold statues, before hitching another life with a nice young guy back to the place we are staying.

The Malaysian people are amazingly friendly and helpful, very different to India where everyone wants something from you. I have not once been asked for money, tipping is not expected and they just generally like to help you out.

The food here is amazing and so cheap. Most meals cost less than 2pounds...not sure im going to come back to the UK very slim!

Tomorrow we are heading to Penang, an Island off the west coast which is known for its food (looks like theres plenty more eating to be done) and after a couple of days there we head to Langakwi to meet another friend of our Maddy who is flying in for two weeks.

Hope everyone at home is well (and not too cold!)

Looking forward to seeing you all around Christmas! Em xx