Hi everyone! Yes, we're still alive!! My apologies for the distinct lack of a rush to get my blogs in order and up to date, howevere we haven't been near a (cheap) internet place for bloody ages!!! Anyway, sit back and relax and enjoy the reading as if you were enjoying a good book with a nice glass of Pinot Noir and some fine stilton!.....

Since the last instalment Emily (Loz's cousin) has returned to the land of Oz and gone from one end to the other! Em joined us back in what now feels like home in Manly for a couple of weeks then jetted off to Perth to meet her beloved Steve and Sare and Dan.

During those few weeks we reunited with Em over some...yep you guessed it vino of course! I wasn't working at this stage as it was so pissing difficult to find a bloody job, so me and Em spent our days feeding the birds and baking cakes! We had one particular bird that came to our balcony for a daily feed, we named him Terrence - this little fella was a cock-a-too (not too sure of the spelling) and he'd sit on your shoulder and happily chow down on the free bread that we were offering him all day!

We'd spend our weekends around Manly and our evenings around the table playing ring of fire (one of the best drinking games of all time!) We also indulged in some spinning around a broom games - dizziness seems to be a hilarity amongst the group after a few!

So after a few weeks of laughter and good times we parted ways again and had an emotional goodbye at the airport as Em flew over Oz to Perth.

The same day Em left, Dave Woodley and Dave Reynolds arrived for a 2 week holiday, little did they know what an action packed adventure they were about to embark on! Obviously when I arrived in Oz I had a good few weeks to recover from the jetlag that I spent mostly making tea and sleeping.....no such luck for Dave and Dave! On their first day we showed them the city, Darling harbour and the beer! We went to the aquarium, up Sydney tower and they stayed with us for the first few nights. For the first time in 20 years Sydney's temperature dropped to 3 degrees on their first morning, the sun was out but we were so nippy they had to go shopping for a couple of hoodies. We hired a car and set off up the East coast and crammed as much as possible in a week as we could and it was AWESOME! It got warmer and warmer as we headed north up the coast in fact so warm in some places that the shrubbery managed to catch fire! (see pic's of the Dave and Dave tour).

We went to Byron Bay for a night and went to a few bars there. We all got free 'Jam Jar' cocktails in one bar which were a hit but I didn't know how much of a hit they were as I dropped mine whilst walking through the dance floor strutting my stuff and trying to look cool. As if that wasn't embarrassing enough some girl thought she'd add to the embarrassment by pointing and shouting "Ha Ha, Idiot!" and other obscenities at me and laughing. This indeed added insult to injury and I thought it would be best for all if we just drinked our drinks in silence and got the hell out of there as fast as our legs could carry us to save face - the other's had a better idea - stay there as long as possible laugh at Ryan! poor little man!

The next day we headed north to Hervey Bay where we had a briefing meeting about Fraser Island as we were off there for 2 nights. We were in a group of nine and drove onto the largest sand island in the world in our PINK 4x4! We drove through the rainforest and up the beach to all the gorgeous lakes and attractions on the island. The weather was good - warm enough to swim in the lakes and even pick up a bit of a tan. I saw a couple of dingos but didn't 'brace' (as we were instructed to do by the camp guides) this time - I think I'm at one with them now!

All in all Fraser Island was a big hit and was much enjoyed by everyone. After a clean up back on the main land we decided to go to a shark show museum which was a really basic old fashioned museum all about sharks. It was set up by this bloke who killed loads of great whites to protect the whales and it was really interesting. I felt a tad nervous when we went in the room with a REAL great white! He had been dead and frozen for about ten years and was kept in a massive freezer - needless to say that the little scamp started to hum a bit and this smell was eminating from the freezer windows too, however he looked pretty at peace with the world. After the museum we headed south to Noosa for the afternoon and spent the night in a funky little hostel. We went out for dinner at a steak bar as Dave (Reynolds) was missing the artery clogging food he so lavishly nosh's out on at home! Then went to an Irish pub that was hosting a Karaoke which provided entertainment for the rest of the evening.....so much entertainiment and drink that Dave (Woodley) decided to shout "get of the stage you bloody hillbilly" to one devout singer thinking she was on an audition for the next Pop Idol.....it wasn't that well received by the crowds beneath her, but to us it seemed to be the funniest think in the world! In the morning we headed further South to Steve Irwins Zoo. It was his daughters (Bindi) 9th birthday so they're was loads of kids (most of which were screaming little s***s) and lots going on. His wife Teri did the Crocodile feeding show and Bindi came out and we sung Happy Birthday to her - me and Loz looked at this little girl, then at each other and started welling up, the girl had just lost her dad (Steve Irwin) and it all just seemed a bit overwhelming! The auditorium of 5000 people sang happy birthday to her and Teri did a speech. We feed the kangaroos and saw a great tiger show too, another fun day had by all. That evening we dropped the Dave's off at Brisbane airport as they we're flying up to Cairns for a few days. We stopped over in Byron and wound down over a nice bottle of red. The next day I drove for 9 hours back to Sydney and Loz managed to sleep the whole way only waking for a feed!

We moved straight into our new pad which was really nice. It was a split level apartment with views over the harbour and the beach. We stayed there for 8 weeks working. I managed to get a job that lasted 3 days working in Sydney tower taking photos of tourists and taking them up the tower.....If I ever have to ask another person "how their holiday is going" and "what do they think of Australia" I will be slitting both wrists pretty darn quickly! After the 8 week working stint we're off to Central Australia to chill with some Abo's! We have also booked our return flights so for those of you that don't already know myself and Loz will be back on Christmas day... the best present you could all recieve I know!

Hope everyone is well and not missing me to much!!

Lots of love

Your host and tourist lover, Mr Buck!