Tuesday 15th November 2011

So today is the day! With little sleep being up most of the night packing my rucksack, I am finally ready to leave. I have no idea how proper backpackers just take a backpack!! Ive taken my packed backpack inside my suitcase with a few extra things added and it is huge and sooo heavy! My plan is hopefully to leave my suitcase and half my stuff in Melbourne with family friends as I go travelling around! Not sure how that will work yet as Im a girl and I need all my things with me in one place!

My mum and dad drove me to Manchester airport; dad insisted on giving me a geography lesson the whole 3 hour drive up the motorway! Something about the sun and the direction of it and how to find my way! Surely no one relies on the sun direction anymore, come on dad, it's all about the GPS satellite navigation these days!

This whole journey still feels very surreal and I'm extremely nervous about going! The fear of the unexpected as they say!

Thanks to Auntie Debbie and Uncle Russell for attempting to get to the airport to say goodbye, such a shame about all the traffic but thanks for trying! It was a lovely thought. After an 'emotional' goodbye with the parents I headed through security and found a friend (someone I was supposed to be travelling with when I first booked Australia but because I'm a girl I was constantly changed my mind and decided not to begin in Cairns with him, sorry Steve if you're reading this!)

The first flight from Manchester to Dubai was pretty good, 7 hours went extremely quickly and I didn't even sleep; I had three seats to myself which was awesome.

I also read all of my plane letters so thank you to everyone who wrote me one! They were very heart felt and some were funny, you know who you are depending on what you wrote!

Wednesday 16th November 2011

When we arrived in Dubai, Steve, myself and a random stray wondered up to the VIP lounge, courtesy of Steve! (I snuck in and they never asked) free orange juice - nothing like tropicana though!

My connecting flight to Melbourne via Singapore was a nightmare! Well it was awful compared to the first flight. So I started with my window seat as chosen; then a family of three come by (mum, dad and kid) and they want to sit together. So they asked me if I would mind moving to their seat so they can all sit together and originally I said no because I love the window seat! Anyway the kid was annoying other people so I decided to give in and let them have my window seat, at least I still had two seats to myself, although not as comfy and not as much leg room! This plane was pretty busy so I felt a bit harsh to let people suffer because I wanted the window seat where I was extremely comfy!! To make things worse, when my dinner was brought round I found a bug in my food, it put me off my food straight away so I didn't eat anything after that!

We got Singapore and don't ask me what it's like; it was dark and all I saw were the airport toilets but they were pretty impressive if that counts! As I was flying to Melbourne I began to think 'what am I going to do in Melbourne for 5 weeks?! I don't want to get a job yet or move into a flat, I want to travel'! So I was pretty much regretting my decision of changing flights in the first place to go to Melbourne. Anyway those of you who know me very well will know that once I get an idea in my head I can't let it go!! I will come back to this later as I must update you on my third flight.

So my third flight from Singapore to Melbourne was perfect! Again, I had 3 seats to myself and was able to lie down and sleep for most of it! Having said that I am still exhausted!!

Thursday 17th November

Arrived in Melbourne and got a bus to meet my mum's friend. Back to the thought about cairns, well it was eating me up so much that I am now on a plane to Cairns!!! (It is still Thursday, the same day I arrived in Australia!) I got to Debbie's (mum's friend) and literally booked myself onto the first flight I could get, packed my heavy backpack (my poor back is going to ache by the end of this trip!), managed to have time to take a shower which was desperately needed and got a taxi to the airport!

So I arrive in Cairns at 6.30pm and I'm going to a hotel to sleep off my extremely long and dramatic journey!! Then tomorrow I plan to move to a hostel and meet up again with Steve and travel the east coast! Should make my blogs a lot more interesting than the usual 'I had work today'! Mum and Dad you probably think I'm mad, as do I but that is what travelling is all about, never make a plan as it will never work out how you want it to and do what you want even if it is a spur of the moment decision and an extra £300!

So a very busy couple of days, would have updated my blog sooner but the free Wi-Fi in the airports have been tricky to connect to! And sorry to the people in Melbourne who I was planning to see but I will be in Melbourne from around mid-January so look forward to seeing you then!

Friday 18th November

Last night I stayed in a hotel with a nice bed and it was lovely and quiet and did I sleep - NO! I guess this is what jetlag feels like. As I go into a hostel from now on its going to be a good few months of sleepless nights and being woken up at all hours by people coming in and out of the room, so I would have loved to have been able to sleep the whole night through just once but it's not going to happen.

Today, we moved to our hostel which was slightly disappointing compared to the luxury we were welcomed to the night before. I still feel like I am on a different time zone to the ozzys but trying to power through it. I have set up an ozzy bank account, booked a boat tour for tomorrow where we will be snorkelling and scuba diving in the great barrier reef, walked around cairns for a bit and now back in the hostel where my internet finally works!!! (see pictures from today's walkabout)

That's all for now, you have a lot to catch up on over the past 4 days I've been gone so enjoy and speak soon, lots of love xxx