Hello at last!

Sorry we've been so lame at updating this site.  We're in New Zealand now in Rotorua and it's freezing so heres an overview of our Oz adventures ...

Started off in Melbourne just over 2 months ago, where we were lucky enough to stay with a mate (Rohan) we'd previously met travelling in Laos.  His flat was a quick train ride from the city so it was a great base to explore from.  Melbourne is one cool city.  The inner city itself looked amazing - especially at night when it was all lit up.  Spent a few nights in St Kilda (cool trendy area) where we went to see Dr Karl Kennedy's band play (no not sad at all!) and hung out with Turner and his mates.   We also hired a car for the day and headed down south to cruise along Great Ocean Road, where we accidently saw the lighthouse from Round The Twist!  Wasn't the best day weather wise but the scenery looked stunning and it was fun attempting to drive an automatic!

Next stop was Sydney where we stayed in Kings Cross (dodgey but cheap area) in the worst hostel in the world.  The room was the size of a shoe box and the cooker exploded in Cats face!  But spent most of our time out and about anyway.  Met some family friends of Kush's who own an indian restaurant so were able to eat like kings for a night!  And the leftovers for breakfast the next day.  Cat climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge as a birthday present from the lovely parents which was cool.  Also got to check out our first aussie beaches - Bondi and Manly to top up the tan.

Continued up north to Byron Bay which was beaut.  A really chilled out town with lovely beaches (although scary killer waves! which Kush rode) and stayed in a great hostel called the Arts Factory.  Met some cool people here and had a great few days chilling out.  From here we went on a day trip to Nimbin which was a highly educational trip, hmmm!  Have a look at the photos but won't say anymore!  Would love to have spent longer here but it was time to move on.

Brisbane was the next stop and is where we decided to hire a camper for 10 days to head in to the outback in search of Ayers Rock.  It was a spontaneous decision so we only had a few hours to sort out how the hell we were going to get there!  Quickly bought a spare petrol can and printed a route planner off the net and just chose the shortest route, which turned out to be a mistake as it involved travelling down tiny dirt tracks that big 4x4 cars struggle to get down - good one!  So our initial plan to get there in 3 days travelling 3000km suddenly changed to taking 5 days travelling 4500km!!  Had a great time though - there is literally nothing out there except dead trees and wild animals.  Saw loads of roos (unfortuately most of them were dead at the side of the road :( ), snakes, emu's and a jackel which had a narrow escape!  Not so lucky were a couple of roos - we felt so bad but they just seem to see bright shiney headlights and jump towards them.  To be fair the second one actually jumped in to the side of the van so we can't be fully blamed for that one!  Only ran out of petrol once in the middle of nowhere in the pitch black - that was fun.  Ayers rock was amazing, but equally so were the Olgas and Kings Canyon.  During a trek around KC, both of our cameras broke within 2 hours of each other - argh!  So have no photos of Oz North of Brisbane other than on disposables.

After a few days in Noosa (another great coastal town with beautiful beaches surrounded by a national park, where we saw our first koala), we stopped off in Hervey Bay from where we made the ferry trip across to Fraser Island for a weekend of camping and driving a big 4x4!  There were 11 in our group and we were the only 2 allowed to drive haha.  Was great fun driving along the beach in the big beast and crashing through creeks and only getting stuck in the soft sand once!  Weren't allowed in the sea as it was shark infested and the kind that find humans a tastey treat, but there were several stunning lakes to swim in and relax by.  Then in the eve the goon (box wine) came out and everyone chilled out under the stars singing songs by the campfire ... aww.

A few days after we went on a sailing trip around the whitsunday islands.  As funds were very low, we opted for the cheap boat which meant no sailing as such for us but a fun trip all the same.  Spent the nights (getting trashed) on a beautiful island and the days cruising and snorkelling.  Met some great people here who we spent the rest of our time with in Oz.  Lots of drunken fun.

Then finally made it to Cairns after a nights stop off at Mission beach.  Cairns was great.  From here we went on an amazing diving trip where we were taken to the outer Ribbon Reefs of the GBR and had 3 dives with our underwater camera - don't think the results were too bad?  although we did get told off for mucking about too much and not staying with our little group!  Kush was trying to capture a big beautiful fish ( a wrasse maybe?) when it did a big long stringy poo in his face!  Kush was very unimpresed and Cat used up half of her oxygen having a laughing fit!  The water was so clear and the coral was beautiful.  Liz and Bhag you can probably name what it all is.  We did go to a little marine life lesson beforehand but didn't want to label them all wrong!

Also went on a day trip up to the Cape of Tribulation where the rainforest meets the GBR - again beautiful but a day was no where near long enough - next time!  Also had some great nights out and some chilled out days by the lagoon.

Man this has turned in to a beast.  If you've read all of this in one go we'll be impressed!  Will stop boring you now but we had a great time here and are now missing the sun.  Defo coming back!