Crikey!!! hows it going folks! we're having a helluva time in australlia and in case you cant tell from the lingo we have just returned from australia zoo, home of the late great steve "croc hunter" Irwin.

Weve done alot as usual since our last blog so i'll do my best to fit it all in. we did a day trip of the whitsundays (we would love to have done more days but its just to expensive for us) we started the day early as usual and were on a nice large boat with all mod cons and around 20 others. We went snorkelling just off one of the islands (hook island i think) saw some really amazing sights over the corals, it was difficult to count the amount of different species. after that we went on to hill inlet lookout which let you take in a view over the amazing whihaven beach sights that photos cant really do justice and then we went back to the boat for lunch which was really good, lots of cheese, salad and fruit. After the lunch we went to relax on Whithaven beach for a couple of hours and the sands there really are the whitest ive ever seen in my life.

That evening we got on our next bus a lovely overnight journey to Hervey bay, just a short ferry ride from the world famous Fraiser island. We decided to walk into town to find a hostel which we thought would be 5-10 mins and ended up being 45 mins (with all our heavy stuff which wasnt much fun. it was worth it though as we found a fantastic hostel which was more like having your own flat complete with tv room kitchen bathroom and a dorm room that no one else was staying in so it was like having our own room again.

We didnt have much time so we immediatly hoped on to a half day topur of whale watching not really knowing quite how good it would be. It took a long time for the boat to get out to the area where the whales congregate but the time passed by us having another great lunch this one buffet style (we're actually getting good tour food again which rocks!). The whales took a while to appear at first and me and sam were pretty worried we had wasted our money and then two popped up from nowhere. They were a bit reluctant to come over to the boat though so we moved on to find more and in doing so 3 dolphins appeared and raced along front of the boat. We then found a new group of Whales who were much more playfull and if you check out the videos when there on you can see for yourself allthough again not quite as impressive as seeing it with your own eyes. Theyre amazing creatures and so big you wouldnt believe it, we all had to wave our hands to get them to come to the boat as well as they only go over if something interests them. later that evening we went back to our hostel which is better than most hotels houses and appartments weve been in and took advantage of our free gift from booking the tour and rented a couple of dvds, then got an earlyish night as we were off again in the morning to Brisbane.

We arrived in Brisbane and were immediatley impressed by the difference to the places we have visited so far, we felt as though it could quite easily have been Singapore or Shanghai if it wasnt for the "hows it going mate" greeting you in every shop. we got a hostel sorted and it has a lot of great features but the worst part of the lot its the same price as everywhere else we have stayed in oz just we are sharing with 30 people!!! the snoring and drunken people mean you really dont get much sleep at all so we will be quite happy to leave the hostel tomorrow morning. We have been to Art gallerys and museums (much to my pleasure and sams annoiance) and saw the old cathedral on the sunday which had a huge mass on, which was all about multiculturalism (pretty impressive).

Leading up to today when we took the train north for a couple of hours to go to the awesome aussie zoo. where we saw crocs, snakes, aligators, tigers, koalas, tazmainian devils, dingos and so much more!!!! the live performance in the 5000 seat crocoseum (yes it is really called that was great, croc feading was superb and the whole show was pretty amusing. We saw the sad tributes to Steve Irwin and got to touch koalas and Kangaroos and then headed back home which brings me to this point. We have a 9am bus tomorrow (a lot better than most of our 4 or 5 am wake ups) to Byron bay which is good for surf and beachs allthough there is a cyclone warning in place around this area so im not sure we will see much of either, then we're off to Sydney which we cant wait for!!!

We love you all and will kepp you updated when we can, pics will also be online when we're next at a good computer.

Adam and Sam