Hello!

Happy New Year to everyone!

We have been busy since I last wrote so here is the latest instalment of what we have been up to recently as we make our way up the whole of the East Coast.

We left Sydney after 8 days and jumped on the Oz Experience bus which took us towards Coffs Harbour. The Oz experience is a hop on hop off bus where they tell you loads of Australian history while you are on the bus... Kinda like a travelling tour guide. When we got to Coffs we went for a wander.... First impression of this place was not a good one... It was raining for a start and there were trollies in the gardens of the houses... However to make up for it there was a big shopping mall just accross from the hostel that we were staying at! Because it was cheap we had decided to book a double room in the hostel.. The best way to describe the room is to think of your garage.. put a bed in it, a fridge and a fan and you can rent it out to travelling couples for $55!! Despite first impressions though the hostel was actually a good pleace to stay and we ended up there for nine nigts because it was so cheap. They had surf boards that you could borrow and a beer and BBQ night which you will see from the photos that we really enjoyed!!

When we had enough of starfishing on the beach and trying to surf we decided it was time to hop back on the bus and head for our next stop which was Byron Bay Via Surf camp.. Again unfortunatly no snaps of me and my amazing surf skills.. everytime i surf I think I'm way to fast for the camera! We were there for one night and stayed in probably the best room we have had so far. It was a freight container that had a kitchenette, showeroom and free air con! We are thinking of buying our own container and making it in to a house then ship it back to UK.

We were up at 7 for our breakfast then back on the bus for our journey to Byron Bay. We were booked in to a hostel caled 'Aquarius' so we had the bus drop us off outside the door.. we watched the bus drive off to the distence then made our way to check in to the hostel. When we told the woman behind the desk our names she clicked a few times on her mouse, then again, then again... then a bit faster... then she started to uhm and arr a bit. After about 10 mins of this it was clear that something was wrong... As it turns out we had booked ourself in to a hostel called 'Aquarius' problem was it was on the Gold coast in Surfers Paradise!There was no where to stay in Byron Bay due to it being Christmas week.. Feeling a bit like Mary and Joseph we frantically all tried to find somewhere else to stay. We made the decision to skip Byron Bay and head straight for Surfers Paradise and get ourselves in to the hostel that we had a bed booked over Christmas. Luckily the Oz Experience bus hadn't left Byron so we managed to managed to hop straight back on there and be in Surfers Paradise within the hour!

Surfers Paradise was a great place to stay and the first time that Greg managed to get some Kite Surfing done. We had a few scary moments where the kite went down and Greg was left dangling in Sharky waters. I panicked and made my way to the edge of the water praying for wind to lift the kite.. which it did! He tells me that a shark tried to bite his board but he managed to scare him off with a poke in the eye!The beaches were golden, the sun boiling and we were surrounded by sky scrapers.. This was the place that we were spending Christmas!!

Christmas shopping was fun and being back packers (one level up from a tramp) presents were wrapped with cheap paper and stuck with plasters!! I refused not to have a Christmas tree so I made my own out of green paper! We have plenty pf photos from Christmas Day.. christmas tree included. We done the true Ozzy style Christmas Dinner and decided to go all out and have a BBQ in the park. The park was packed and as we loaded our cheap $2 for 8 burgers on to the BBQ we were shown up by the familly next to us who loaded their BBQ with steak, Kangaroo, Vegetables and Potatoes.. The smell from their food was gorgeous and we agreed that next year we would make more of an effort and we would have the best BBQ in the park! The night time we spent on the beach drinking beers... It started to feel like we were home when it started to rain and we had to finish off our beers on a bench in the park!

Next stop was Brisbane!! I booked us in to the only hostel by the beach and 20 mins out of Brisbane City - Moreton Bay Backpackers - their website looked like luxury rooms, right next to the beach and free beer when you arrive. I was sold and booked us in for 8 nights which is where we would see in the new year! We were picked up by the hostel minibus which was clean and tidy and paid our 8 nights up front when we got to reception. We were then shown to our room. I nearly cried. The carpet was stained with things that I dont even like to think about and there were odd liquids up the walls... We managed to say thank you to the girl who showed us to the room but i think it was obvious that we were a little disapointed.

We got ourselves out of the room as soon as possible for some food and a quick explore... and also before we picked up any diseases. We had a lovely Pizza on the dock and when it started to rain we made our way back to our pit. This time though when we turned on the lights the carpet was not just stained but also crawling... and in our beds were bugs that left blood stains on our sheets when you squashed them. The guy who was in the dorm with us (who also had stayed away as long as possible) said that he had been there for a week and had now got used to the bugs in the bed and the rats in the kitchen! Come the morning and after virtually no sleep we made our excuses and left... We managed to get 6 nights payment back and a free lift in to town... every little counts!

We are now in an Internet Cafe putting up the photos from the last couple of weeks. I hope you enjoy them all... they are in no particular order because this place is costing $3.60 an hour!

We pick up the camper on Monday and we both cant wait to get started on the rest of the east coast and have another 5 weeks of adventure! There are some messy New Year Photos still to put up but We havent had chance to delete the really dodgy ones!

For now thats the jist of it. Hope you are all well and had a Great Christmas and New Year!!Happy Birthday to My Dad too!

Lots of Love

Aimee and Greg

x x x