Hello all,

As of today, believe it or not, it's been 7weeks since i arrived in Oz and 17 weeks since i left home! Long time no news yet again so apologies for that; it is as always an extremely busy life that the backpacker leads - diving the reef, Koala spotting, planning trips to Uluru and dancing on tables...all in all it's been a pretty tough couple of weeks!

I have been in Cairns now for a week and stay until the weekend when i leave the east coast and all the awesome people i have met here for a terrifying Wolf Creek-esque 2day 2night continuous drive through the outback to Alice Springs. What could be more exciting than spending 40 odd hours on a bus full of tired and unwashed backpackers and miners.....what a treat! I have then a trip booked to take me around Uluru and Kinds Canyon, sleeping in swags out in the open, then down to Cooper Pedy between the centre and Adelaide where they mine Opals and sleep underground and eventually back down to civilisation ie. Adelaide. There a Barossa Valley wine tour awaits before driving along the Great Ocean Road and stopping at the Grampions. I finish in Melbourne where i will hang around for 5nights or so before getting back to where i started, Sydney, and hopefully by this time next month i should be in Christchurch, making my way to Queenstown for work and desperately needed money! Any donations would be gratefully received in the meantime....my address next week will be 'Impoverished Lone Pommie, Swag Bag, Nr. Uluru, Middle of the Outback, Oz'.

Have had a very amusing couple of weeks since leaving Airlie, a few random things come to mind. Heading up to Maggie on the greyhound we had a service stop at which Mathilde & I felt we really should get some food, because of course without any for the next few hours up to Maggie we would surely have famished, so we went for the cheapest wraps going which turned out to be pretty much as dry as dog food...so, i asked the lad who worked there for a bit of mayo and (about 5hours later!) he produces a yoguart pot sized container full of the stuff......well, we might be scanky backpackers who raid the 'free food' shelf in the fridge and cupboards at every hostel before we've even dropped our bags, but this didn't really tempt us! We were again famished by the time we reached Maggie and having had to walk for approximately miles to find anywhere to eat (and refusing to use the mouldy, possom ridden kitchen!) we were both feeling the strain of the heat and hunger. Holding a conversation was pretty much more effort than we could muster and i was even beginning to struggle with patience and decent manners (it had been probably about 3 hours since i had last eaten anything!!!) HOWEVER after a yummy scrummy chicken laksa at this awesome little food and craft market (followed by a cheeky, calorific chunk of cake) we were back on top form and couldn't have been happier! It is so great to be travelling with a girl who's life also predominantly revolves around food! I met another great girl during my PADI course up here who i get on really great with and have never been so amazed by anyone when it comes to food habits - i thought i could eat but was amazed when, given the fact that she looks as though she lives on a few lettuce leaves a day, she returned from the lunch buffet on the boat with a mountainous portion of fish, meat, salad only to return for more when she had finished and still have room for about a pound of cheese and biscuits later that afternoon!!! Incredible! I knew we could be good friends upon witnessing this amazing feat!

Anyhow, back to Maggie. I saw my first wild Koala's which was AWESOME, and even more impressive i actually saw one run (he must have been on something, i wasnt even aware that it was physically possible for them to move more than one limb at a time let alone faster than 1mph) across the ground and up the tree. I also saw my first possom at the hostel, and then every time i ventured into the mould pit that was our kitchen i saw the same resident possom; pretty scroungy little blighters but a hell of a lot cuter than our ratty equivalent. Our kitchen Possom nearly killed me however whilst i was there as, in my drousy state (Maggie island somehow managed to zap all my energy the whole time i was there), i walked into the kitchen ie. his territory, late in the evening and scared the crap out of him mid-bin rummage so he came dashing out at the speed of light, knocking the bin over and nearly giving me a heart attack at the same time! Here i am though, having survived another near-death experience. Of all the things and do out here you probably wonder why i end up telling you about giant portions of mayonnaise and bin-rummaging possoms...to be honest im not sure either, so apologies if these blogs aren't quite what your expecting, but at least it gives you a little insight into how my mind works. I know it has been a mystery to some in the past, so here it is - open and honest, simple and easily entertained!

So here i am now in Cairns and absolutely loving it. I took my 4day PADI course on Wednesday, finished on Saturday and am now totally hooked! I desperately want to carry on and take my Advanced course but haven't the time or money to do that here, so am thinking of possible south or central america once i get there. Every dive i have done since i set out (Thailand, Malaysia and now here on the Reef) has been better than the last and i just feel so happy down there under the water, particularly when diving with someone as ditsy as Jodie (impressive eater i mentioned earlier!) who points out a 'huuuge school of fish' which in actual fact are quite obviously a group of snorkellers on the surface!! Laughing is also pretty hard down there as the movement in your face breaks the seal of your mask letting in water, so as fun as she was to dive with she was also the cause of my seriously salt-water traumatised nose and eyes. Hey ho, it's all the name of fun!

Had best apologise also if there are more than usual amounts of spelling mistakes or just random sentences that dont make sense in this entry; i am still a little dazed and confused after our post-padi-grad-bender on Saturday night during which i almost knocked myself out on the ceiling of a club clambering up to dance on the table. I was fine at the time and yesterday even as the cloud of drunkenness/hangover numbed the pain but today i am feeling it a little! Again, it really is a hard life, so i think i may take my sorry arse down to the lagoon and switch off my brain for a while.

Right ho well pics are going up on the blog as im writing this so i shall love you and leave you all again until next time...at which point i will be probably be down in the south.

Lots of love to you all.

Semi-brain-damamaged Vic!