G'day peeps,

Well this will be the last email I send from Oz before we depart on Sunday to the bright lights of Bangkok!!!

We've had an awesome time and met some cracking people alongt the way....We have worked and played hard in Sydney, chilled out in the hippie delights of Byron and Nimbin, toured up the coast taking in Surfers Paradise aka Magaluf, Brisbane, Noosa and Bundaberg then onto Hervey Bay in preparation for our Fraser Island camping trip....... We were divided into groups of 11, shoved in the back of a 4WD with our tents and food and sent onto the island. With no seatbelts to speak of and extremely bumpy roads those in the back ended up playing musical chairs and bumps mixed. Entwined with near strangers we landed in positions we would prefer not to get into even with our closest friends. However, we soon got to know each other and had a lot of fun over the 3 days, going to the freshwater lakes, eating sand filled food and drinking round the campfire. We couldn't have asked for a nicer group.

Next was the Whitsundays sailing adventure. Sailing around the Whitsunday islands for 3 days on a boat - its a hard life we lead. It certainly is when you think we had to don very attractive stinger suits due to it being jellyfish season. I should probably mention they were neck to toe in length. Oh...and made of lycra. It was also here where we met some great people....you know who you are....we got to know eaach other by partaking in all sorts of drinking games and cross dress partys.....fordham in a dress is priceless......the photo evidence is even better.

After all the drunken debauchery we moved on again to Magnetic Island then onto Cairns it was here where we got to snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef which was amazing, we also took a breathtaking helicopter ride over the reef!

After drinking enough goon (cheap wine) to sink a ship we moved away from the 18-30's lifestyle we had grown accustomed to up the east Coast and escaped to Alice Springs, here we packed up our camping gear and sleeping bags again and went out into the Desert for a  three day adventure, in this time we got to experience Ayers Rock, The Olga's and King Canyon....I have to say that this must have been the highlight of our trip to Oz so far.....it was also here where we got to taste some of Oz's finest delicacies....Chilli Con Camel, Kangaroo Curry and lambs Brain...mmmmm!

Last but not least we ended our travels in Perth where we were met with open arms by Andys aunt and uncle....we were spoilt rotten and were fed and watered for three blissful weeks!

We are now back where we started in Sydney closing the chapter and getting ready to start the last one of our travels!!!!! We shall be sad to leave but its time to pack our rucksacks and move onto pastures new.......thailand here we come!!!

I hope all of you are doing good and we look forward to seeing you all soon.....some sooner rather than later in thailand!!!

We will touch base again with new mobile numbers etc once we are settled.....loadsa love.........Beth and Andy xxxxxxxxxxxxx

P.S - We are having real probs uploading our pics onto the site.......i know I say it everytime but keep an eye as we are cracking whips to get it sorted!!!

Dear Beth & Laurence Llewelyn Bowen

I have finally looked at all ur new pics since NZ and all i can say is Laurence get a hair cut u girl! (check out this to see what i mean http://www.bbc.co.uk/homes/tv_and_radio/cr_index.shtml)

As usual been mad busy at work so havent had time to reply to ur emails beth but i will try and do a nice update on monday!

Sad but not surprising news-im not gonna make it to thailand to see u, as i want to save my holiday for wedding stuff (and unfortunately i cannot quit my job and swan off like my sis hmpf) however u do get to spend nearly 2 months with caz-lucky u eh!

Speak to u soon lots of love kes xXx 

p.s lizzie and tash say hi and get ur hair cut andy too hee hee

Anyone out there?

Thought we'd drop you a quick line to let you know how we are getting on..............................

First stop was Byron Bay.....absoloute bliss from Sydney so laid back and chilled....we ended up staying just under a week and making the most of the laidback way of life, whilst in Byron we took a trip to Nimbin a very interesting place full of smoking cafes and hippies we also did a bushwalk with Cuckatoo Paul who showed us the ways of the bush so that we are fully prepared for what lies ahead up north! 

After Byron we moved onto Surfers Paradise.....do not be misled by the name it was hideous full of neon lights, high rise buildings and chavs....as you can imagine it was a culture shock from the incense sticks and hippies we had been used too......we only stayed a couple of days then we moved onto Brisbane which was not much to write home about either....very grey and not much to do although it was chinese new year when we arrived so we spent an evening amongst all the celebrations which was cool!

Moving on from Brisbane we went to the Sunshine Coast which was gorge.....we got to go crabbing for our tea...andy was in his element back at the waters edge fishing! We also squeezed in a visit to the Steve Irwin Zoo which was great although the guy dressed up as the big man himself was a little surreal!

We are now in Noosa waiting for our coach to take us to Hervey Bay where we join a group of ten others for a 4 wheel drive tour round Fraser Island....can't wait altought the weather has taken a turn for the worse and as I type it is bucketing down outside.......not good!

We hope you are all well and as usual we promise to add more pics soon!

Beth and Andy x

hey guys looked looked at yore pictures looks like your still having a good time?

dont worry about me sat in the rain with a broken elbow! ill be fine.

speak soon have fun

nick

Hello Beth and Andy,

Hope the pair of you are enjoying yourselves! Take care when you go to Thailand, keep out of the back streets.

Grandad x

Hello,

I love you Beth, you look nice and beautiful, Andy is very handsome. Hope you have a nice evening. Don't get drunk.

Aunty Jane xx

Hey all,

Me and Andy are finally packing up our bags and hitting the open road again this friday...we are not sure what lies ahead but I'm sure it will be packed full of funny tales........our first leg of the journey is a 14 hour night bus ride to a Hippie Haven in Byron Bay for four days......its full of wood chimes, joss sticks and teepee's....should be an experience and what with andys long hair we're bound to fit in!!!

Next stop who knows but the rough plan is just to head up the east coast up to Cairns...road trip to Alice Springs then over to Perth then we fly outta here and onto Thailand for the 8th April.

Keep an eye on the site I know we have been really lame with the pics recently but we promise less pics of pubs and more of the proper side to Oz!!! We've got some more pics to add which are a bit more scenic than others!

We will still have our phones although I've been told the service is pretty sketchy but we will be checking our mail so be sure to keep us up to date with all the goss!!!

Hope all is well wherever you all are and to all of you we’ve met in sydney its been great getting to know you and we look forward to our paths crossing again soon!!!

Keep in touch!!!!

Beth and Andy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!!!

We hope you all had a good one, our Christmas and New Year was very eventful what with Lisa and Mikes arrival and plenty of festive frolics! Christmas Day up until New Year was spent in Melbourne and a road trip back which was awesome. The road trip took 3 days through the mountains, through Canberra and up the coast...very eventful and hats off to Lisa and Mike for bearing the 14 hour drive with me and andy!!! We arrived back just in time for New Year which was spent on Bondi Beach having it large to Basement Jaxx!

So you can fully appreciate the above description Andy and I have got ourselves into gear and sorted out our pics. We've added pics on there from U2, our road trip to Orange, The Ashes and our Xmas and New year! Check out Santa Fordham....most amusing!!!

We hope you enjoy .....we certainly did!

As for the next leg of our tour....we up sticks and leave on the 9th February and hit that road again for our adventure up the East Coast.....can't wait to ditch the 9-5 and do some exploring!

Watch this space...................xxx 

P.S A BIG THANKS TO ALL YOU LOVELY PEOPLE WHO SENT CARDS AND PRESENTS IT WAS MUCH APPRECIATED!