We drove straight through Brisbane, having spent way too much time at the place already it was the last place we wanted to see again!! And the feeling of crossing into New South Wales was quite refreshing, not sure whether I speak for Steve but I was tired of Queensland and that same road which we'd driven 3 times now.

We were going to stop at Byron Bay for a few days. Typically known as a hippy town which it lived up to with dreadlocked people wandering around barefooted, some with surf boards in tow and marginally stoned or at least sounding it.

There was a hostel that we'd heard about called The Arts Factory which is the place to stay in Byron so wanting to see what the hype was about we booked ourselves and tent in. The tent area wasn't quite what we were expecting really, a sandy patch of grass smaller than the size of half a football pitch with kitchen, toilets and god know how many tents literally squashed next to each other, a setup that wouldn't go amiss in Glastonbury.

We couldn't get the car anywhere near to where the tent site was so had to take a few trips lugging all our stuff around. The set up of the Arts Factory is great and very different and it was great to see the Water dragons basking in the sunlight on the path and scurrying off as you approach.

That first night Steve and I cooked up our usual massive chilli that would keep us for a few days and sat amongst the hippies hoping to have a chat as we'd not been around other backpackers since Airlie Beach. Sure enough we met a few people but the one thing I will say about this place is unless you're a lover of the weed there is very little point staying here, Steve and I are lovers of the Goon, stoned conversations and gooned conversations don't really mix too well on the level of understanding and when the guitar strumming banshee pipes up at almost midnight in attempts to impress everyone with what they think is profound enlightenment of their being on this earth we weren't sure whether to laugh or cry?!?! We hit the sack hoping someone or something would render the noise unconscious which it did sooner than expected, thank you Mary Jane.

For the past 3 weeks I had some really painfull spots under my left armpit some of which had grown to the size of walnuts (nice I know, and if your squeamish it's probably best that you skip the rest of this blog entry and maybe the next one too). One had burst in Cairns and I thought that would be it bad case of ingrown hair, Steve had jokingly said he'd lance it for me and it burst of its own accord, phew. Then I had another come up and that burst in Airlie Beach, I was getting a bit worried then as they weren't actually going down and the pain was getting worse. We'd said that if after another week it wasn't any better then it was time to go to the doctors.

The night before I went I was in agony, every movement would send spears of lightening down my arm and the pressure was unbearable, rolling over onto my side when asleep would have me bolting up crying in pain. Steve didn't really know what to do, well there wasn't a lot he could do really but help me get my clothes on and down to the doctors as soon as they opened.

I couldn't get in to the 1st doctors till the following day but the pain was so bad I really couldn't wait any longer. We found another and I got in straight away. She barely looked at the problem but saw that I had some mosquito bites around my ankles and said this may be a reaction, bloody severe one if you ask me!! She prescribed me pain killers and general anti biotics. I left the doctors feeling quite relieved to have something to get me on the mend and numb the pain in the process.

We went down to the beach which was really nice and could actually see the sun setting, being on the East coast this isn't something you get to see and we'd really taken this for granted previously at other places we'd been to, I really love a good sunset.

I'm not sure what happened to me later that afternoon / evening but I think my body went into some kind of shock because it can't be normal to be freezing cold and shivering uncontrollably in 25+ degree heat especially in a hot jaccuzi. It may have been the anti biotics kicking in but it was a close call as to whether to get me straight to A&E, which in hindsight would have been the right thing to do.

I stuck it out another day or so but it wasn't getting any better the pain killers were working wonders and allowing me to sleep but the spots weren't coming to a head (sorry) or getting any smaller. So it was time now to go to hospital which we had dreaded because the doctors had told us that the hospital would charge for treatment, we'd already spent over $150 for the doctors consultation. Once at the A&E they saw me pretty quick, the doctor was an English chap who hadn't been over for long he took one look and said I needed to have an operation, WHAT!?!?!

From what he could see there were 3 abscesses that needed draining and the antibiotics I was on weren't going to have any effect on it so called ahead to Tweed Heads hospital for me to go into surgery that day, Steve and I were completely shocked and never thought it would come to surgery!!

The ray of light though was that the doctors' surgery didn't know what they were talking about and it costs nothing for a UK citizen to have treatment in Australia because it's reciprocal. I have never been so happy as to hear that, I had visions of a bill costing thousands!