It is approximately ten in the morning and I'm sitting on the wooden balcony of my cabin.The sun is shining. I'm relaxed.The view from here is astonishing; a small wooden bridge crosses a small creek and takes you to Arrawarra beach; the beach is over a mile long and oozes in natural beauty.Actually, Arrawarra beach is famous for its natural magic and for that reason is a protected National Park.I can hear the waves crashing onto the sand and I find myself staring into the ocean attempting to work out the size of the waves (or if I was to use the surfing lingo, the size of the "F**king Swells Dude!!").For those of you who didn't know I'm in Australia and Arrawarra beach is located on the east coast just south of Brisbane.I've been here now for over a week after picking up a job with an Australian surf company called Mojosurf.Mojosurf have a base on Arrawarra beach consisting of over 100 cabins, 70 surfboards, 50 wetsuits, 2 large eating areas, 1 huge kitchen (run by a Welsh woman) and lots of young people who simply want to have fun.Surf camp brings in bus loads of people to stay for a few days; the concept is simple, they learn to surf during the day and they "get loose" (in a thick Aussie accent) at night.

However, if I'm going to give you the Aussie experience then I should start at the beginning (and for those of you moaning about the word length….."Chill out dude and roll another fat one" (again in a thick Aussie accent)).

So at the end of February we sadly had to leave Thailand and flew to Singapore.Our original plan was to travel through Malaysia for a few days, gradually making our way to Singapore.But the aftermath of The Full Moon Party on Koh Phaghan resulted in us being in no physical or mental state to travel on long bus or train rides…..flying was easy! Within two hours of leaving Thailand we were at a hostel in "Little China" in Singapore.My personal opinion is that Singapore was a just a city, and had the same characteristics as all cities do.There were big buildings, people hopelessly rushing about with empty thoughts and everything was overpriced (especially the bloody beer).Specs, Dozer, Gethin and Edwin (one of our new travelling buddies) spent a day watching the Women's Golf Open which they really enjoyed.Gourlay, Mizzi (another travelling buddy) and I got a bit crazy and headed for the zoo.The zoo was awesome we pissed ourselves watching monkeys shagging, started fights with tigers and were power snogging giraffes!

At this point I should probably officially introduce Mizzi, our Canadian travelling buddy.The boys and I met Adam Mizzi in Thailand and after partying very, very hard with us on Koh Phangan he decided to join the crew.He was travelling the same route to Oz and immediately became one of the boys.

On Saint David's day we departed Singapore and headed for Melbourne.The was a very sad and emotional part of our trip as it was time to say goodbye to the man, the legend, the undefeated, the one and only, the master of disaster, the king of swing, the demon of dance…MATTHEW GOURLAY! After saying our goodbyes we all parted, Gourlay in one direction and us in the other (there were tears).Twenty minutes later, Dozer, Geth, Specs and I were all sitting in departures, eating whopper meals from BK and reminiscing about Thailand.And then, out of the blue, in a similar way he appeared that morning in Bangkok, Gourlay rises on the escalator wearing his Welsh hat for one more burger with the boys.Gourlay's adventure didn't end there, his plane had to make an emergency landing in India and we have been told he spent a few days there pigging out on Chicken Baltis and Strongbow (I bet there was a mess in the toilet in the morning Gourlay boy).Myself and the rest of the boys want to take this opportunity to thank Gourlay for spending a month in Thailand with us and his presence is sadly missed in oz.

The first hour at Melbourne was very hectic and to be honest we were all in a state of 'shock'.Similar to our culture shock experience when we first got to Thailand, we were now going through the same process in Oz.Thailand and South East Asia had grown on us; we liked bartering for a taxi, we didn't like western prices and we certainly were not impressed with Oz beer.In Thailand, for under five pound a night we were getting a private room, double bed, powerful private shower and sky TV.In Oz, for more like twelve pound a night your sharing a tiny room with about eight crazy Europeans, your bed is the size of a match box, the shower is a free for all (can be entertaining) and there's not even a window in the dorm, so a TV is out of the question.And to top it all every hostel we rang seemed to give us the same f**king reply "Sorry we are fully booked" (Thick Aussie accent AGAIN).As you can imagine our first few hours in Melbourne were nothing but 'shocking' and with this in mind we jumped on a bus to a place called St. Kilda, a city suburb where backpackers hang out.Thankfully, we found a place to stay and booked in for a week to allow ourselves time to settle in.Three hours later we were in the bar drinking our fifth jug of beer, our financial worries had disappeared and we were settled.It's really funny what beer can do for you.Our first week in Melbourne was a learning curve for us, we realised that we now had to cook for ourselves in the hostel as opposed to eating out.Specs was made head chef with Geth his assistant and Dozer became a dishwasher while I became dish dryer accompanied by Mizzi.We were a team and before long we were banging out pasta dishes, tortilla wraps, curries and the boys even bought me a potato masher so I could wack up corned beef hash.So the food was sorted, but the beer still expensive until I found a cheeky substitute.Australian beer is heavily taxed and for that reason it's expensive, however Australian wine is made in the vineyards of Oz and therefore so very cheap.Problem solved.We were buying bottles upon bottles of Australian fruity rose and taking the party away from the bars and onto the beach.We met gangs of girls in the hostel, all headed for the beach, got pissed on rose, entertained with a bit of Meat Loaf and ended the night with skinny dipping.

We were using the tram to travel from St. Kilda to Melbourne and were really enjoying ourselves.Melbourne appeared a modern, abstract city with an upbeat vibe about it.Federation square was located in the centre and had a useful tourist centre along with a modern film museum.We spent an afternoon at the Eureka tower, at 984.3 ft it is the world's tallest residential building.We went to the top and visited the skydeck, an area where you could look out onto the city.The view was extraordinary and gave us the opportunity to take some impressive pictures, everything in the city just looked so small, and it was like Lego!

However our most memorable day in Melbourne city was the first day we visited the CBD.We spent an hour or so meandering through the city taking 'nice' photos that we could show our grandparents over tea and then we found a modern bar situated in Federation square.To our amazement the bar sold pints of Heineken beer for under two quid.This was a breakthrough because previously in Oz we had been paying between three and four quid for a schooner (which was basically half a pint) and that was for poor, weak Aussie beer.It was about three in the afternoon when we found the bar and by five we had guzzled at least six pints.Six pints of Heineken in the afternoon sun had the same effect on us as a litre of petrol would have on a fire.We were absolutely buzzing and after a short walk to the toilet I discovered there was a Wine tasting exhibition going on in a hall downstairs.We paid our entrance fee and attacked the free wine...I was on rose, Gethin on the red, Specs was bolting Chardonnay and I think Dozer just mix and matched.Mizzi wandered around the exhibition in awe of what Heineken can do for you in the afternoon sun (it was his first time drinking it).It was very amusing watching a range of middle aged wannabes walking around the various exhibitions honestly sampling the scrumptious flavours.Many of them had a look on their face that indicated that they had never been drunk before in their lives.While they drunk the wine to sample the flavour we drunk the wine simply to get pissed.After a few hours I can honestly declare that the wine we had sampled had truly worked.Myself and the rest of the boys were belting out Tom Jones to the whole hall, many of the audience were impressed and many not so impressed (they were more interested in what colour the grapes were that went into the fruity rose).It was an afternoon that we thoroughly enjoyed yet we have had problems recalling what really went on.My last memory was serenading an old woman with Jonny Cash while Dozer and Specs believe that they bought shares in a vineyard.

As many of you may know, Melbourne is the home of the TV programme 'Neighbours' and once a week they hold a Neighbours party at a local pub.The party is aimed at backpackers and a few of the stars turn up for photos and drunken games.We weren't really interested in Neighbours but we were attracted to the drunken games plus the fact we knew that the venue would be packed out with screaming females.We decided to go and explore the venue with tickets costing 20 quid.The night had started well; we were on a table with various people from our hostel, indulging in decent wine and the venue was packed.A few hours had passed and Carl Kennedy and crew strutted around the bar having photographs and cracking jokes.Then the drunken games began, first there was a singing competition, then a kissing competition and finally a dancing competition (which I entered).The dancing competition consisted of five people; each person had to do a solo dance on the stage accompanied by music.The first chick done some silly skipping dance, then a bloke tried to do some freakish break dance and then it was me.I walked onto stage and introduced myself "James from Wales" and I got ready to strut my stuff.I waited for the music and boom it was party time, the DJ played Tom Jones "You can leave your hat on".Now if your on stage, in a bar full of youngsters (especially girls) and the DJ plays that song in a dance competition what should you do.There's only one f**king thing to do.So I stripped, TOP OFF TROU DOWN, thing is I didn't have any underwear on and briefly exposed myself.After finishing the dance I was escorted out of the venue for exposing myself.It was a dance competition and they played a strip song, what did they expect me to do, The Waltz!!!! I was rather disappointed as I thought it was my big chance, maybe a secret audition for the show!!!!

We stayed at St Kilda for roughly ten days and then hired a Subaru Forrester car and set off on an adventure along 'The Great Ocean Road'.The Great Ocean Road is about a 500 km stretch along the south coast of Australia, the road literally follows the coastline and for that reason you get some amazing views.We spent four days travelling along the coast, pulling up at various seaside towns and exposing ourselves (only joking).We found some amazing beaches and simply chilled out!! One afternoon we drove inland and walked through the rainforest taking pictures of Koala bears and huge waterfalls; another afternoon was spent at Bells Beach (famous surfing location) where we attempted to swim but were slightly put off due to the size of the waves (and sharks).We all agreed that The Great Ocean Road has by far been one of the highlights of Australia and the fact that we had our own car with just a map made it all the more adventurous.

We arrived back to St Kilda and were put up for two nights in a flat by a Welsh dude we had met at a local pub.It was Grand Slam weekend in Wales but in Melbourne it was the opening of the Grand Prix season.The time difference meant that the Wales game would be shown at 4am so we started drinking at about 7pm.As you can imagine we were very well oiled by the time we arrived at the 24 hour Irish pub that was showing the game.While we were on the bus to the pub we found a few girls wearing Welsh jerseys and to my amazement one of them approached me asking "Do I know you from the arch in neath?"Her name was Gemma from Resolven, I couldn't believe it, it felt like Grand Slam back in Neath.The game was awesome and the place was packed out with every Welsh person in Melbourne.However, while we were watching the game we couldn't help but feel a little homesick.We knew that all the boys would be in Cardiff back home partying like lunatics and at the end of the match I truly wished I was there with them.

The next day we were awoken by James (the welsh dude putting us up) and offered a pint of beer for breakfast.We had won Grand Slam and were very proud so we all had a beer and headed for Albert Park for the Grand Prix.We all wore our welsh jerseys and took our flags.It was an impressive day, Specs and Dozer had VIP passes while Gethin, James and I watched from the side of the track.Lewis Hamilton won the race and the band Kiss played at the after party.

The next day we caught an overnight bus that took us from Melbourne to Sydney.Overnight bus rides are a disaster because you cannot sleep and find yourself staring into space for about twelve hours.When you arrive at your location your absolutely knackered, aching and feel sick.When we arrived in Sydney I felt terrible and to make things worse the hostel bus decided it wasn't going to turn up.We all put our bags in one big pile outside the bus station and just had to wait.Suffering from sleep deprivation I made the brave decision to curl up on the bags and rest my eyelids.As expected I fell straight to sleep.This gave the boys the perfect opportunity to start pranking.The next thing I remember was that I was being kicked and somebody in an Aussie accent was shouting 'wake up, move on'.Not knowing where I was and still half asleep I pushed the boot that was kicking me and replied with 'wait a minute, get off'.Then I looked up, it was a bloody policeman and there was a hat of coins next to me.I jumped up to see all the boys hiding behind a pillar pissing themselves laughing!The b******s!When I had fallen to sleep they put a cap with coins next to me and made me look like a homeless lost boy.They then hid behind a pillar while the people of Sydney marched passed looking at me stupid.There is a photograph on the blog of me laying there on the street in the land of nod and that is the story to go with it.Luckily, the policeman had a sense of humour!

Sydney offered something new and we were keen to find the famous landmarks.We spent a day checking out Harbour Bridge, Sydney Opera House and Darling Harbour.Personally I fell in love with Darling Harbour, it had some trendy bars and I fantasised about owning one of the expensive boats that were just parked up.The Opera House was an unusual and unique type of building, but we felt that in order to appreciate it fully then we must see a show.We were extremely happy to find out that Jools 'Jazz it up' Holland was going to be playing there that Friday.The show was an absolute gem.Jools was going wild on the piano, the geezer on sax was dancing his t*** off and the drummer was class act.Most of the concerts that I had previously been to involved a House or Electro DJ, took place on an island called Ibiza and went on in some cases for 24 hours!However, this concert consisted of just Jools, his band, a few Divas and went on for just two hours.And in all honesty it was the best concert that I've ever been to and that includes Guetta at Pacha!The Opera House was well and truly bouncing!

Another trip of ours at Sydney was to The Sydney Olympic Park which included a tour of the Telstra Stadium (I spat on the spot where Jonny Wilkinson scored that all so famous drop goal).The place reflected how serious the Australians take their sport and walking around the numerous facilities I kept having an urgent need to get myself fit.

From Sydney, Dozer and I hit Mojosurf where we decided to stay and Gethin, Specs and Mizzi have set up camp at Byron Bay, a location where they can punish their livers!

Well guys, the "f***ing Swells" (Aussie accent) are picking up and I think that maybe its time to stop relaxing and hit the surf.The sun is still shining but I wont lie to you…I miss you all, I miss Wales and cant wait to see you all in August!!!!