Hey everyone, we've finally left behind the home luxuries and we're back on the road. Our last few days at Julie and Allens were great fun. We did a bit of sightseeing with my Grandpa, and I even spent a couple of days working as a plumbers assistant for Michael which mainly involved digging holes in the blazing sunshine or banging things with a hammer.

We planned to leave on Friday but the lure of a night out in 'The Best Pub in Sydney' was too much so we ended up leaving with sore heads on Saturday morning. The car that we've rented is mega, even if it is a Nissan. Since leaving the three of us, that's Me, Gem and Grace have been making our way up the east coast. The final destination is Byron Bay but we're loving the journey. Our first stop was meant to be Newcastle but that looked poo so we carried on up to Port Macquarie which is a little beachside town. We were there 2 nights and it rained like cats and dogs for most of the time. Having said that we were still able to go boogie boarding in the sea and we even rented out a motorboat and cruised around the river. How civilised is that!

Next stop was Bellingen which is a tiny little village near to the Dorrigo rainforest. Our hostel was right to a colony of flying foxes which look like big bats. There were kabillions of them and they were amazing when they all came out to find food. Down the road from the hostel there was a big rope swing over the river so we launched ourselves into the river then floated back to the hostel in big rubber rings, definitely a good way to spend an afternoon. Its worth pointing out that Bellingen is an 'alternative' town which meant that everyone had beards and wore ponchos, even the women. With this in mind we should have known better than to go to the pub that night, it was shut. Instead we ended up in a deserted Crown Green Bowls Club drinking cheap beer and playing pool, all very strange!!

The next morning we went up to the Dorrigo Rainforest and yet again it was tipping down. Anyway we set off on a walk around the forest and within 5 minutes a horrible little leech had attached itself to my leg and was chomping away on me. I showed it who was boss. Leeches were the main feature of the rest of our time in the forest, I got got 7 times, Grace got got 3 times and Gem got attacked 0 times, mainly because she was covered up head to toe. The forest was beautiful but we didn't see any snakes or spiders so I was a bit dissapointed and Gem was mighty relieved!

Having left the forest we headed up to Coffs Harbour which is where we are now. Its another surftown and you'll be pleased to know that we've finally had our first surf lesson!!! We've spent 3 hours this morning getting battered by waves and getting pulled all over the place by rip tides but it was most definitely worth it because we all managed to stand up on the boards, well Gem nearly did but I think she prefers kneeling on the board anyway!! We've got the surfing bug big time and while I'm here doing this journal Gems in a surf shop buying some surfing clothes!! We love it here but we'll probably leave tomorrow and drive to Byron Bay which is where we're dropping off our rental car.

Anyway the suns shining again now so I'm going to go back out and play in the sea. Hope everyones ok and Happy Valentines day to all you beautiful people. See you soon, Phil and Gem (and Grace) xxxx