We arrived in Sydney on the 29th May and were greeted by a big down pour of rain! We returned our beaten up old van and booked ourselves into a hostel on Elizabeth St which is about a 20 minute walk to the harbour, and all the main attractions. Over the Weekend we had a walk around the Opera House and the Sydney Bridge, taking all the classic tourist shots. The notorious Rocks market was on so we had a stroll around the market restricting ourselves to all the free tasters and nothing else! The Sydney Aquarium was also a highlight.

From Sydney we got on the Oz Experience coach which would be our mode of transport all the way up to Cairns. First stop was at the "Spot X" Surf Camp which was all about the cheesy commercial surf culture - they taught you more about how to look 'cool' as a surfer than what to expect and how to read the waves when out in the sea. We had to get up at 6.30 for a 'surf lesson', and surf in sloppy 2ft waves. Even i wasn't impressed having surfed 6-8ft waves in Bali so you can imagine what Ash was like when they handed him a 10ft long beginners foam board! Despite Ash explaining to the instructors that he'd been surifng for 7 years and knew what he was doing he was still treated like a beginner and given a 'mattress' to surf on. He took it on the chin as best as he could but in the end went further out to catch some bigger waves! I soon cottoned on and went to join him a caught a couple of waves before being told to come back in and surf the white water.

From "Spot X" we got back on the coach to Byron Bay and stayed here for 5 days. We got quite pally with a girl called Ellie which was great for both Ash and i as it meant i had someone to explore the town with whilst Ash went for a more challenging surf! We tracked down an old friend from the village (Sam Hearn) one evening when we realised that he was still in the area and supprised him just in time to wish him happy birthday so that was a nice supprise. Whilst in Byron Bay we did a tour to Nimbim, the local hippie/stoner/alternative village in the hills. It was quite a seedy place and more of a tourist town than an actually town you'd go to live in. Its the only place in Australia where the police turn a blind eye to spliffs and hash cakes so you can imagine how many backpackers headed that way!

The place to be in Byron Bay if your the typical cheesy party going backpacker is 'Cheeky Monkeys' bar/restaurant. We ended up here a couple of times mainly because of all the free beer they dish out to Oz Bus passengers as well as the 2 pound 50 meals. While we were there evening they happened to be hosting Mr and Mrs Backpacker of Byron Bay which i got persuaded to sign up to! Haivng sussed out that i could very well be the only entry i leaped at the chance to win the $300 cash prize as well as other trips and tours. Turns out within minutes of signing up 3 other girls also stepped up to the challange, the claws were out! For round 1 we had to introduce ourselves and perfrom a party trick - i had this one for sure. I got Ash up on stage, someone handed him a guitar and we performed one of our songs. The crowed went wild! The talents from my competion consisted of a horrendous joke from a blonde norweigen, a disgusting chat up lime from a busty brunette and a fairly tame bit of gymnastics from the busty brunettes friend. I felt pretty confident!

For the second a final round we had to chose an outfit and do a dance, i went for the safe, tasteful and modest hawaiin dress while the other girls went for the generic slutty nurse, slutty school girl and slutty army girl! The audience made there vote and there was a clear winner! i wsa thorught to the final round with the busty brunette which was to be held the following sunday. Fortunately (we later found out the final was a bit more near the knuckle) we were not in town for the final. Instead i recieved a prize for two people to go on a self-drive 4wd 3 days and 2 nights tour on the Wolrd Heritage, Fraser Island, which is the biggest sand Island in the world. This was worth 250 pounds! Result.

From Byron Bay we got back on the coach to Surfers Paradise where we spent 2 nights. Don't be fooled by the name as this place was far from a surfers paradise. It is the high-rise Americanised region of the East Coast. High Rise buildings accommodating shops, clubs, bars, restaurants, hotels and hostels which all battle for a view over the lond stretch of beach. It's certainly a place you either love or hate. It wasn't really for us, however Ash perked up at the prospect of being there in time for some good swell as 30 minutes down the road there are 3 world class surf spots! Fortuently for me luck wasn't doing Ash any favours and even though we could see the surfspots this time, there wasn't any swell to produce any waves. But new heights were being reached on the beach that day as for the first time in Ash's life i managed to get him to lie down and chill out on a beach for the first time - and that's quite an achievement!! From Surfers Paradise we got back on the coach to Brisbane. Due to the coaches timetable we only spent a night here as we had to leave early the next morning to carry on heading north.

From Brisbane we headed north to Rainbow Beach. This is the main point where you get the barge across to Fraser island (our free trip!). We got up early Thursday morning and met our group of 11 (including us) who we had hired the 4wd drive van with. We packed up the roof with Tents, Sleeping Bags, Eskys (big cool boxes) with beer and food and cooking stuff. The 4wd we had was a Toyota Land Cruiser. 3 people sit in the front with 8 in the back. You had to be over 21 to drive which was unfortunate for Ash but probably a god send for everyone else!! Over the three days we drove up and down the seventy mile beach and inland to some of the freshwater lakes along beaten up dirt roads. We had 4 drivers, a couple were good and others were, to say the least, terrible. The problem is if someday bogs or tips the car and the sea takes it then there is no insurance to cover the costs of the damage so everybody has to fork out to pay the price which could be excessive! So when one of the girls was driving like a retard along the beach with an incoming tide it made us more than nervous!!

Lake Mckenzie, the biggest lake on the island was absolutely stunning, a beautiful spot. Fresh, clear blue water it was lovely place to swim and relax in. We camped under the stars for the 2 nights we were on the island and woke up woth the sun every morning to witness a spectacular sunrise and get to our next destination before the tide changed. We arrived back from Fraser Island on Saturday afternoon.

Due to the timetable of the coaches over the next 5 days we could only spend one night at every destination until we arrived in Carins. From Rainbow Beach we headed to the town of 1770, the last surf spot on the East coast (thank god!) and another quiet, pretty little beach town. From here we went to the edge of the outback to a working Cattle Station called Kroombit. We arrived around Lunchtime. Here we got the chance to shoot some clay pigeons and take part in a goat rodeo which were both really enjoyable. In the evening we went on the mechanical bull, which i had a natural talent for we soon found out! And learnt how to crak a whip which proved harder than you'd think. The coach drive from Kroombit to Airlie Beach was the longest one, 11 hours! One we got to Airlie Beach, sometime in the evening we headed out for dinner and bumped into Sam Hearn again which was another nice surprise. Over the next couple of days nothing too exciting happened, we stopped overnight at Magnetic Island before driving the final leg to Cairns. Just south of Cairns we stopped off at a crocodile farm where we saw the crocs being fed by a bloke who made Steve Irwin look like an amateaur. We arrived in Cairns on thursday evening and so decided to have a quiet one after dinner. Friday, our only day in Cairns turned out to be a day of flight changing and re-stocking of vitals. Unfortuenlty we didn't have the time or money to do the great barrier reef or the chair life over the canopy jungle. But we are only students and we just don't have the budget for such luxuries so who knows, maybe next time!

On the Saturday morning Ash and i went to the airport and flew our seperate ways! Ash flew to Bali and i made my way to New Zealand. 2 months to go!!!