so yes i am in sydney now but i still have to update you from fraser island.

Fraser Island continued...

we had the choice of catching an early ferry, or staying and catching a later ferry and getting a free tea - we stayed for the free tea. so once we got back to our hostel (in the rain i might add) we sorted our stuff out and then made our way to bed.

friday 18th

we got up ridiculously early and made our way to the bus stop as we were going to be getting on a bus that would take us to brisbane. we got a call from one of the other lads on the trainning ranch who is going to be in sydney when we are so we have decided to meet up with him there whcih will be sooooo exciting. we got to brisbane and were greeted by another of the lads that was on our trainning ranch called jack - now jack (not sure if i mentioned this before) had decided to brand himself with a J that he made himself out of wire and stuck in in the fire and burned it into his chest - FOOL i hear u cry, well yes i would agree. but hey people do stupid things when theyre drunk. anyway he was working at the hostel we were staying at and we had a good chat to him. we then dumped our stuff and went back into town to get bits and pieces that we needed as well as laura some new thongs (the flipflop kind - thats what they're called over here!) as she had snapped them as soon as she got off the bus! so we came back and played on the internet before joinging jack for a drink in the bar. one drink turned into about 7 or 8 and we all decided to go out. well laura went out anyway. we were in a bar in town and jack went all funny - he'd got his drink spiked so i ended up taking him back to the hostle. was not impressed. i ended up staying up all night waiting for laura to return - she did at half 2 and then we went to bed.

saturday19th april

got up early again and went to check out and go to town to kill some time as we hadn't been able to see china town or some other places when we'd been here before. so we moseyed though town and had lunch and did a hell of a lot of window shopping! went back to get our bus which we thought was at 2.35, turned out it was leaving at 2 pm and we had arrived back at the transit centre at 1.50! so we managed to get the bus on time thank god! we then drove throught to surfers paradise. we werent sure what to think of the place before we arrived as we had heard mixed things - most people liked it where otheres had hated it. well it was certainly no paradise when we arrived as it was chucking it down. we got picked up by the hostle we were staying at and went to our room where we met our room mates for the night - kelly and karrie. we decided to join them on the surfers paradise backpacking night out where 7 hostles get together for a HUGE party in 4 clubs and have a great night. hmmmm is all i can say to that. it was a good night dont get me wrong and it was interesting seeing a different nightlife but we were a bit disappointed with how UNdrunk we were. I mean (sorry about this mum) we did drink a lot but nothing and i really do mean NOTHING was happening! no one was drunk and those that were a little bit different to sober had blatently been on something they shouldnt have! so we ended up leaving around 2.30 and then had to wait in a taxi que fort over an hour so by the time we got home we were exhausted!

Sunday 20th

we got up and said goodbye to karrie and kelly and then made our way into town. it was raining when we left so we ended up hiding out in a coffee shop til it was safe to come out. and when we did it was glourious sunshine! we made our way to the beach and there was a surfing competition going on so we decided to sit and watch that. there were a couple of bimbos handing out freebies but they didnt seem to approach any girls with their free hats, just the blokes! was quite funny really. we went for a wander around the beach and went to get some lunch as well as do some food shopping for tea and breakfast. we then made our way back to the hostel so we could change our winter clothing for something a bit more fitting for the stunning sunshine. so after we got back we quickly dumped our stuff and made our way to the beach. ooooooo and i bought a hat! it is the BEST thing in the world. i love it oh so much! enough about the hat...

so we went to the beach and sunbathed for all of 20 minutes before it decided to get a bit on the cold side so we decided to pack up and make our way along the beach. we walked for a fair bit then turnerd round and went back to the hostle for a nap but we couldnt sleep so we just chilled out while we waited for it to be tea time. had tea and met our 2 new room mates, vicky and amber who were very nice and then we all went to bed

Monday 21st april

we checked out of the hostle and made our way to the beach. we had this master plan to walk for a couple of hours and sunbathe the rest - well it backfired when we decided to just lie down and then neither of us could be bothered to get up and walk so we just chilled out there for a while. we had to hang around for our bus so we decided to go back to the hostle, pick up our stuff and make our way to the bus station. now this part is strange... one of the girls i used to be in pony club with called hazle townsend happend to be in surfers at the same time as we were so decided to catch up with her. was so weird seeing her on the other side of the world when i dont see her when she lives 3 hours down the road from me! very strange but was pretty cool to see her thou. we got our bus to byron bay from there and luckily enough it wasnt rainning. when we got there we decided to find our hostel and then go for a look around town. our hostel was called middle reed and it was gorgeous - was just like a big uni house but on the slightly more posh side. i mena it was amzing, so close to the beach and so close to town we couldnthave asked for a better location. anyway we went for a walk around somehow in the process of looking at UGG boots we managed to sign up for a sky dive! very bizzare. so after we had a wander around town we went back to the hostle to have tea and to chill out. we met the people in out new 'uni house' and then watched tv with them before going to bed.

Tuesday 22nd april

got up and had breakfast before making our way into town. we had just started to mess around with some photos when i got a cal saying did we want to skydive now instead of 3 hours later! so off we ran to get changed and ready to jump! we got on the bus and off we went to meet our doom and jump out of a plane. when we arrived the girl explained that cos it had been such crappy weatehr everything was going a lot more slowly than usuall as the air strip was all clogged up. so we hung around for an hour in the sun before we got given a very 'interesting' pair of green trousers as well as trainners and a jumper. we had a quick bit of trainning and then we met our camera man (me and laura both signed up to have a dvd of it all for proof that we did actually do something daft like jump out of a plane) and then we met our tandem parteners. they both seemed nice and then off we went to go into the plane. now this plane you have to understand was not a normal plane, were talking a very tiny plance that isnt big enough for u to stand up in! so everyone got in and i suddenly realised that i was the last person that was getting in..... which meant i was jumping first. OH MY GOD i nearly died! i was up for watching everyone elses first then my turn but no, it was not to be. so off we went in the little plane with the roller door wide open. they only decided to sut it when they took off but they had already told me that i would need to hold on to laura as we turned round over the sea so that i wouldnt fall out (and you all know how gulliable I am so i fell for it hook line and sinker) so anyway, off we went in the plane and saw so much out of that little plane. the veiws over byron bay were stunning - u could see all the way up to surfers paradise it was that clear. so we reached 14000 feet and they opened the doors, my tandem guy started shuffling fwd so that we could see out and OH GOOD GOD IT WAS A LONG WAY DOWN! it was weird seeing the ground from that far away but was amazing at the same time. and before i knew it out he jumped, obviously taking me with him!it was freezing! soooo clod. neither me or laura believed them when they said wed need a jumper up their we just thought they wanted us to look even more silly than we already did in those daft trousers. we fell so qucikly and the ground just got closer - was so much fun! my ears hurt a lot thou which sucked and i couldnt hear a damn thing for ages! eventually the parachute went up and we sailed to the ground almost taking out my camera man as we landed. was so much fun i would definitly recommend it to anyone! mother dear that included you.... oh what a good idea that would be for ur 50th bday present! (hehehe) so after we jumped and made our way back to the hostle we grabbed some lunch and headed off for a walk along the beach. (oh and BTW the dvds that we had made all hilarious - ask us to show you them when we get home - they will not dissapoint to put a smile on ur face (at our expense i'd like to add)) we went back to the hostle feeling fairly drainned after the excitement of the day and got a couple of dvd's out and decided to watch them. we watched 'Walk the Line' and 'The Notebook'. you have to watch the notebook - i was a blubbering mess at the end it was so romantic and sad - note to self - buy the book to read! after the films and dinner it was past 11 so we decided to crash and burn!

23rd april

we got up and packed our bag and got ready to check out. we went to the beach but it was freezing and then we decided to get lunch and head back to the hostle to veg out til it got a bit nicer weather. it didnt get nicer so i ended up reading over half of my new book (called P.S I love you - must read for those that havent read it) while laura snoozed a bit. got up at 5.30 and went for tea dn to get out before we turned into couch potatoes. got tea and then had it by the sea but froze so went back to get our bags and wait for the over night bus to take us to sydney. got on the bus. this was the first bus where we had to sit next to each other, in all the otherones weve been able to spread out and have 2 chairs each but this time we had to sit next to each other. (we do like each other really!) so we crashed out on the bus most of the way to sydney

24th april

we arrived in sydney this morning to ......... wait for it.................. RAIN!!! yes it was pouring down when we rocked up this morning. was not impressed but we did get an early glimpse of the opera house as well as the bridge, which we drove over (laura missed this as she was asleep!) we then got off the bus and hiked through the centre of sydney (looking like turtles again! - this is a look were getting used to now!) to find our hostle. we checked in and made our way to do a massive load of washing and get showered etc after being stuck on a smelly (very smelly!) bus for 14 hours straight. we then decided to go for a walk around and get lunch, we walked through the botanical gardens down to the harbour. I was asked to take a picture of this foreign group with their very expensive camera(not a good idea if anyone knows what im like with new gadgets - see refernece to quad bike in very early blog)and when he took a picture of me and laura with my camera, i stood up to thank him and ended up crashing into his nose - it was a BIG nose! ended up falling around laughing and nearly into the harbour! was hilarious apart from the bit where i had a big red splodge on my head! we then continued our walk around the whole harbour and ended up getting caught out in the rain - we were soaked to the bone - not happy! we decided as we were already soaked to go and get some food shopping done and then amde our way back to the hostle looking like drowned rats. so we chilled out in our room before having tea and then here we are!

Hope all in well and you are not missing me too much xxx