Hey all

Ok so alot has happened since last time i wrote. My time in Bangkok didnt last for as long as i orginally anticpated!! I think the last time i wrote i was stranded in bangkok. Well things started to look up when we were given free food and accommodation in a swankey hotel!! unfortunatley within 2 days of checking into our free hotel...we got shipped out of bangkok by qantas. We had an emergency flight from phuket to singapore and then we were being forwarded to our next destinations from there.

We were phoned at 10.30pm and were being collected from our hotel at 6 am the following morning...you can imagine the chaos!! For a start we were out drinking on kho san road when we got the call. We drank our buckets (it'd be rude to leave them) and rushed back to the hotel to manicly pack and cram stuff into our backpacks.

We then had to endure a 14 hour coach trip from bangkok to phuket airport...and yes it was as bad as it sounds!!! Then we had a 3 hour wait at phuket for our 2 hour flight to singapore. Once i arrived in singapore i had to get a 1 day visa because i had 18 hours to wait before my onward flight to sydney. Luckily...i got put up in a dead posh hotel so managed to get some sleep...obviously setting my alarm so i could get up for the free food they made available for me!! haha. Nothing like free food!!

We left singapore on a 7 hour flight to sydney and arrived at 7am...i was sooo unbelievably jetlagged...it was rubbish!! i had to find a hostel because the one id originally booked was execting me 7 nights before i actually turned up...but because i was stranded in thailand...obviously i didnt make it.

The hostel i found was nothing short of grim!! id got used to luxury in thailand...and now i was sharing a bunk bed with an italian guy who spoke very little english. I slept most of the afternoon and then headed into sydney centre to meet flick (friend from uni who has been out here for 10 months) with a guy i met in the hostel bar from new zealand who knew sydney better than i did.

My reunion with flickety was awesome and obviously we ended up getting wasted on money i couldnt afford to spend on alcohol!! we got chatting to a group of irish guys and ended up doing vodka shots...good fun...rolled in at 5am...had to check out of my hostel at 9am!! boo!!

Day 2 in sydney....i checked into a different hostel...which was better. But i ended up in an 8 bed mixed dorm....with 7 dutch boys!!! thats not very evenly mixed!! This was very scary...especially when they spoke to one another in dutch...blatently about me!! they soon started to involve me in conversations and all was ok.

I dumped my things and decided to brave sydneys public transport...and caught the train to bondi junction to have tea with flick. Had to walk through the ghetto to get to the train station...but i made it in one piece.

Day 3 i spent sightseeing...went to the opera house, the harbour bridge, and walked around the botanical gardens. Then i went to sort myself an austrailian address, tax number, bank account and medicard...all things you need to live/work over here. I also signed for a responsable service of alcohol course. This is a qualification you must have over here to work in bars!! alcohol is really heavily regulated...if you are even remotely drunk...you dont get served and you get kicked out of bars!!...anyway...i figured if i want to get barwork i might as well have it when i need to get a job.

Day 4 i jumped on a ferry to see manly...a beach north of sydney that all australians rave about...and i saw why...its so much more laid back than the city...i loved it there. Will probably stay there when ive got my bearings a bit more.

Day 5...today i moved hostels and set up in bondi beach at a hostel called noahs backpackers. Much more lively as a hostel...but i still amanged to end up bunking with 2 guys from chille and a guy from new caledonia (wherever that is!!)....all i want is one english speaking girl in my dorm...am i asking too much?!!!

Day 6...today i did my reasonable service of alcohol course. Its such a wierd qualification to get...but you need it to get work out here. There are really strict laws regarding alcohol consumption in this state...in a nutshell...you are not allowed to get drunk!! its against the law!! if you get typsy...you are asked to leave bars!! how strange!! and to make things worse...if i was to serve someone who is drunk...and get caught by the liquor police (yes they have liquor police here!!)...id be fined a fixed penatly fine of $11,000 (about 5000 quid) and if i serve someone underage i go to jail for 12 months!! scary eh?

Day 7...learn to surf day!! this was a brilliant day apart from the fact that it was terrential rain and galeforce winds!! practically unheard of in sydney...so typical that it decided to be like that on the day i want to learn to surf!! Either way though..it was great great fun...just couldnt get any picture because it was so wet!! But i mastered it after about 3 hours of trying and after drinking half of the pacific ocean!! you basically spend 95% of the time paddling against waves trying to lift yourslef up on the board....so its a killer physically!! but i did it!! my dertemination paid off and i got onto the board myself and rode a rip (surfer lingo!! haha) all the way to the shore!! yes!! proper bonified surfer chick...haha...well kind of...but much less glamorous!! haha.

Day 8 and 9...a weekend in the blue mountains. We went to see wild kangaroos, went bush walking (trying to avoid the funnel web spider...deadily to humans and very popular at the blue mountains...i was terrified!! haha), went trekking around waterfalls and went to see the 3 sisters (a big landmark at the blue mountains). Then we stayed at the yha in katoomba, which was by far the nicest hostel ive stayed in since getting here. We spent out second day abseiling. Such good fun!!

When i got back from the blue mountains, i went out with a group of guys i met in thailand. The girl ive been travelleing with since i landed in bangkok, liz, left today for NZ, so we all went out as a farewell get together.

Today is the first time ive been alone since i left the uk and its very very strange!! i have 5 days until i catch up with friends i met in thailand who im staying with over christmas...so its just a case of putting myself out there and finding new people to hang around with until then.

Love to all my friends and family..miss you all x x x