I'm now in Rainbow Beach, Queensland, having covered a lot of miles in the past week since I left Sydney. Rainbow Beach is one of the gateways to Fraser Island, where I will be going for a three day, two night tour tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to that and hoping for good weather; it's certainly improved as I've gone up the East Coast but the sunbathing conditions are still a bit temperamental. I almost got washed into the sea today with some careless sunb...

Since leaving Melbourne, I've packed an awful lot in, which I shall attempt to hastily summarise as I only have ten minutes of internet time left, plus I really need to pack before my 6.30am bus departure tomorrow! This is just another in the string of early starts I've had, including my departure out of Melbourne a week ago. The first day of my three day journey to Sydney took me to Wilson's Promontory National Park where I saw kangaroos and koalas in the wild, ...

The past week has been spent in the delightful company of Hannah Ord, an old friend from school who did the sensible thing and emigrated to Australia a few years ago. Staying in her home in Melbourne and her holiday home a couple of hours away in the beach town of Lorne has been akin to staying in a 5 star hotel, only more relaxing and with yummier food, and although I'm excited to explore the rest of the east coast, I'm once again suffering from the reluctance t...

Just a quick update today, as I wrote a lovely, long blog entry in Port Douglas, which I promptly lost when I ran out of internet time :( After a fabulously relaxing ten days in Port Douglas, Far North Queensland, with Mum and Dad, I have now arrived in Melbourne. We went our separate ways at Cairns airport (where I amazingly happened to bump into Liana, a friend from school), with Mum and Dad jumping on a plane to Sydney before going to Hong Kong and then home...

I write this from the lovely comfort of John and Eileen's home in Christchurch. Eileen is my grandpa's sister and through them I am being able to meet and reconnect with various members of the extended family which is absolutely brilliant. They are extremely kind and generous hosts and I am really enjoying a bit of recuperation after the high-speed lifestyle of the Kiwi Bus! I've been more than a little scatty with updates whilst I've been in NZ, so if you're at...