G'day mate! I'm checking in after 3 totally bonza weeks in Australia; I have moved from north to central Queensland, passing through the rainforest, the beautiful tropics, the Great Barrier Reef, the many beautiful beaches and the Whitsunday Islands. Pretty cool huh? I have slowly got used to putting my loo roll in the toilet, fanta and soup not being in bags, paying $5 for (just) a chocolate bar and two bananas (owch), and the very laid back, almost horizontal Aussie lifestyle. I like it! Browsing the fruit aisle in the supermarket sans shoes is commonplace, and BBQing on the beach is how all meat should be cooked, always. It is amazing how easy it is becoming to spend whole days doing not-sure-what, and then be totally zonked out in the evening. I have concluded that it's the heat. It is hot. So very hot. 35 degrees and no wind means that wiping your sweaty face on your top becomes vaguely acceptable, albeit totally gross. Living out of a bag and moving rooms every other day is becoming slightly draining, and the questions 'how long are you travelling for?' and 'where are you from?' have frequented my lips almost as often as 'Oh my goodness, it's so hot', which is very often. But making friends is always good, the people are lovely, and despite only sometimes feeling a little lonely, home and love isn't far away (I love wifi and facebook and whatsapp and viber), and that's great.

So. What have I been doing.. I left you on my last blog in Mission Beach, a beautiful place with a great hostel (Absolute Backpackers). Moon and star gazing whilst sat around the campfire on the beach was probably a highlight of my time there despite my incredibly bitten feet (20 bites on one foot alone. Horrendous).

My next stop was to be Magnetic Island. An Oz bus down to Townsville and then a 20 minute ferry across to the island, watching the sun set. We were staying in the cutest hostel, Bungalow Bay, which was totally cute (synonym needed). It was set next to an animal sanctuary and there were awesome rainbow-coloured birds, cockatoos, and possums (which also incidentally are very cute) around; the possums proceeded to eat my bread so I couldn't have my toast and peanut butter in the morning. Little scamps! (Scamps is a funny word). I let them off though because they were so cute. Anyway, in the evening I met up with Holly and Amy who I travelled with at the start of my trip, and we participated in the quiz. We came third! Yes, that's right, third place out of loads of teams! And not even a hint of cheating. We felt very proud of ourselves. We also won best quiz team name for 'Quizzie Rascals', a name that has definitely been used many times prior to this, but it won us a jug of beer so we were happy.

The next morning I met a girl called Laura and we went on the Forts walk up a big hill to the old fort (Magnetic Island was involved in WW2, providing defence for Townsville) in the hope of seeing koalas in the wild. But it was so so hot, the hottest day on the island according to our chatty bus driver, and they haven't had a drop of rain in 8 months. The trees were so dry, it's amazing that anything can live up there. We didn't see any koalas but the views of the bays were awesome. Climbing to the top was HOT. I was perhaps the hottest I've ever been in my life. But sweating is good for you, right?! And I must have sweated out half a stone, easily!

After the walk (what a crazy idea), we headed down to the beach for a swim in the sea and a BBQ by the beach. 20 burgers for $7 and they were actually really nice! Good old home-brand makes, they're saving my savings! In the evening we got dressed up and headed to BASE Backpackers for Ladies Night! All you can drink for anyone in a dress from 7 until 8. This resulted in dancing on the tables, water fights and stealing ball gowns. It was a fun night!

The next day was spent sat by the pool and snoozing in the hammocks. The most energetic we got was a game of scrabble. Holly won. The walk to the bus stop and the wallaby feeding area was very nearly faint-inducing, and getting on the air conditioned bus back to the ferry was heavenly. A lovely trip to a beautiful island.

Townsville was my next destination. Townsville has had mixed reviews from everyone I've spoken to about it, but I really liked it! The Strand which runs along the beach is very cool, with bars and restaurants and mini water parks (lots of fun), there are lots of parks, and the marina is beautiful. In the morning, I escaped my not so great let's-all-be-coupley-and-german-and-talk-to-no-one hostel and went to a restaurant called Betty Blue (a recommendation by Chad, a lovely Aussie I was travelling with in S. America who lived in Townsville) and had the BEST breakfast ever; apple crumble french toast with raspberry and maple syrup and cream- it was totally amazing. So, so yum. I then went for a walk (waddle- I was full) along the Strand, bought some Christmas cards and wrote them in the sunshine on the beach, lovely. In the evening I went to the Queens gardens and had a picnic of rice crackers, a banana and orange juice under a big tree: my attempt to be healthy.

The next day I read in the park and had an encounter with some very interesting homeless men; they offered me rum and I made a very swift exit. Ha. In the evening I met up with a couple of Chad's friends, Chloe and Caitlin, and we grabbed a fish and chips on the beach (with chicken salt which is amazing), then Chloe drove us up Castle Hill to watch the sun set which was great- such an awesome view of Townsville. She also then became tour leader and took me on a tour of the town, and also on a Christmas lights hunt. Christmas over here really is so strange still (we had Xmas songs on the bus today- weird) ! So lovely to meet the girls.

Next stop, Airlie Beach and the Whitsunday islands! The first day i was there we went on a walk to the beach for a swim and to the shops at Cannonvale. I bought a santa hat in an attempt to get festive! Headed down to the beach in the evening for another BBQ (steak, sausages, burgers, cheese slices, salad, pasta salad, potato salad- we weren't mucking about), goon, and games of 'G'day Bruce' (a firm favourite over here)! Another fun evening.

Our sailing trip, the main reason why I was at Airlie Beach, was awesome. We set sail on the ex-racing boat, Boomerang, at 2pm and headed out into the very strong winds- the crew said it was the best sailing weather they had had in 2 months; the boat was sailing at a 45 degree angle and the waves were crashing up over the sides. It was pretty cool, but this also meant that we got very wet which would have been fine if the sun was out. However, the weather was not the greatest on our trip and we were freezing. At one point it even hailed! Haha. We did a lot of the sailing on day one and, after a stop off on Whitehaven beach as the sun was going down, anchored down and cracked open the goon (box wine); good food and good company meant for a good night and myself and Mark (my sailing buddy I met at Mission Beach) were the last people up on deck. We resisted the urge to climb the mast and instead saw shooting stars! Awesome! The night time, however, was not so awesome. I'm not sure I slept at all. The weather was awful which made the boat very, very rocky and 28 bodies all in one dorm made it very hot and sticky- the waves were BANGing against the side of the boat all night- not an ideal sleeping environment! I woke up feeling a bit ill from lack of sleep and slight sea sickness, but felt much better as the day went on and we got on lovely, lovely dry land!

The next day we headed to another part of Whitehaven beach and to the lookout point to take the typical photograph of the swirling white sands. The first glimpse of Whitehaven after walking down from the lookout onto the beach was stunning- palm trees, white sand, sparkling blue water- beauty! We spent our time on Whitehaven making an amusing film trailer on iMovie (Coming Soon December 2012), paddling in the sea and sheltering from the torrential rain ( which only lasted 5 minutes- thank you weather gods!). It was totally great there, absolutely stunning. The rest of our trip consisted of eating good food, relaxing in the sun on the deck (whilst 'champaign' sailing), watching the sun set, drinking goon, snorkelling, and learning all about the reef and it's inhabitants. It was a really great trip, such an experience in a totally beautiful place- paradise.

And that brings me to to when I am currently! A 10 hour drive down to Agnes Water/1770. Hoped to be a surfer chick after a 3 hour surfing lesson this yesterday, however I spent the majority of the lesson under the water with a wedgie and sand in my bikini bottoms, not very dignified or surfer chick-like. Hoping to get better though in time for Bondi Beach where I will be the envy of all! Ha. Maybe not.

Last night we went to 1770 to watch the sunset at the point where Captain Cook discovered Queensland, and then headed down to the beach to play with fire and gaze at the millions of stars out. Off to the beach today to top up the tan and hang out with my book. It's a hard life. :)

I can't believe there is only 8 days until Christmas.

Lots of festive love and kisses and hugs from sunny Australia xxxxx miss you all xxxxx