Hey everyone, as promised the slightly longer update on what has been happening in my ever changing life in oz. I think that the last time i spoke to everyone we were heading to Bris so i will pick up the story from there...now if you are comfortable, i will begin..... we all arrived in bris with the hopes of picking up some work to top up the funds. Simon and Tim went to get some fruit picking work and so left a few days after we arrived to go 10 hours west to pick melons (fun). Me and frank however decided that since we weren't looking for visa extension work we would stay in the city. After a week or so of looking around we landed one of the easiest jobs in the world cleaning up a warehouse that made shirts for the police (not the band), ambulance and services. There was minimal damage but dust and dirt everywhere so our responsibilities included painting, moping, sweeping and dusting / cleaning knitting machines. We did this for about 3 weeks and altho it was boring we met some really cool people. It was long days as by the end we were up at 6 and back at 6, but the money was ok and was going to get us through the next stage of our travels so it was worth it. Anyways after around a month of being in Bris the guys returned from fruit picking and we finished up the work for a weekend of drink before we left. The hostel (above an elephant and wheelbarrow) was really friendly, and we met lots of people there so had a few good nights including one where we went to a bar called chalk bar near the Gabba for $3 corona which they were serving all day. The bar was huge and had table tennis tables, comedians and bands all day. after around 6 hours drinking here we returned to the hostel with lots of goon and carried on the party in the kitchen. 4 boxes later between us we went to bed. I got up at 3.30pm the next afternoon still feeling terrible. It was about 8 until i finally felt better!!! ouch! Brisbane was pretty cool all in all despite the fairly bad reputation it has amongst backpackers for not having much to do we liked it there. There is not much going on during the week, but if you are working and partying on the weekend (like normal people do) then it is a very clean friendly city. After we left Bris we had a 4 hour coach journey to Noosa where we were staying in a nice little hostel 20 mins out of the centre. Noosa is a nice little beach side town with a national park close and several shops etc along the front. We were primarily in Noosa for a 3 day 2 night canooing tour of the national park and to visit oz zoo, but we had heard that it was a nice town too so we took a day to relax and walk around. We booked up the free courtesy coach to oz zoo (leaving at 8am) in the morning and for some reason decided that the night before we were going to have a few drinks. A few drinks quickly turned into lots of drinks, and so we found ourselves back at around 3 eating honey and raison bread with cheese 4 hours before we had to get up! The Coach journey was a bit of a struggle, but they showed a documentary of Steve Irwins life which kept us amused for the majority of the journey. Once there we got some food then headed to the Crocoseum to see the Snakes,bird show and of course the crocodiles. The latter was obviously the most impressive, but the shows all in all were very good. we spent around 7 hours walking around the zoo. There was lots to see and do, and the animals are living in the equivalent of the ritz of zoos. The enclosures are all massive, and they are all clearly very well cared for eating probably better than i am which was nice to see. The Tiger show was also a very impressive display for those going it is definitely worth watching. There was lots of references, pictures, quotes, films, dolls and things named after the late great Steve Irwin which was a little weird. He is still very much a part of the zoo and you cant help feeling sad that he is not still there. There is a memorial to him where there are thousands of messages to him and the family from visitors and staff. We also saw his little son and Steves brother whilst walking around but left them well alone. We then had a day in between to relax again before embarking on our canooing adventure. We got picked up from the hostel at around 8am with a small pack of clothes, food and drink and left to pick up the tents etc before getting a short speed boat trip to the information centre built on the lake in the heart of the great sandy national park noosa. From here we were given a quick briefing a map that looked like it'd been drawn by a 5 year old, then told basically that we needed to make the campsite that night by dark then we can pretty much do what we want as long as we are back in 3 days time at this spot, at this time!. We were shown how to steer and paddle and then sent on our way!! On the first day we did around 20k worth or rowing before setting up camp having food, a few drinks then off to bed at around 10:30 (it was pitch black by 6!) We had a group of around 20 mostly fellas with ranging nationalities as always. The stars were amazing with no lights getting in the way and the sky clear but the nights were very cold with an average of 6 layers warn a night!! on the second day we were up at 7am to row 6k to a camp site further up the river. We then walked 6k up hill to a sand patch on the top of a massive hill. followed by another 4k down to the beach. After a short swim, a game of cricket we had a long walk back up the sand dune, a walk down the hill, then a 6k row back. We had completed around 32k in total to arrive back at camp around 4.The view from the top of the hill were amazing as you will see on the pics that i have posted on my site. The pics just dont do it justice. The beach altho a bit of a mission to get back from was definitely worth the walk altho it was a little weird seeing lots of 4x4 speeding along the beach (as its apparently a quicker route to get somewhere than using the roads!!)it was very cool. That night we had more food and drink, but was pretty tired after the day so went to bed around 11pm. On the final day we completed around another 8k back to the information centre where we had started to be picked up again. The weather on the 3 days was beautiful, and the river was so peaceful and quiet that it was an absolute pleasure to be rowing up there in a little 2 man canooes. We were travelling in convoy and chatting and having a laugh all the way along, taking in the scenery and generally enjoying ourselves. I would definitely recommend this to people, just be prepared it is quite a lot of work!! We left Noosa after 5 days there including the 3 days 2 nights spent on the canooing trip for the 4 hour trip to Hervey Bay (where you do the Fraser Isl trip from) The first day in Hervey we decided that after all the hard work and eating of pasta on the canooing trip we would have a Pizza hut buffet!! for $9.95 (less than 4 pound) we spent 2 hours eating lots of pizza, salad, fruit and ice cream with various different toppings!! it was class. That night we had our meeting about fraser where we had to watch a film about the do's and donts and pay money for every little thing that they could think of to charge us for. The hostel (kookaburra) was probably one of the worst that i have stayed in as they were blatantly out to rip of backpackers. We were forced to buy there more expensive drink to take on the trip, forced to spent $25 on their food and charged for insurances, petrol etc that was way above what was needed or spent by them. Anyway, once we had got all this out of the way we got an early night as we had to be up at 6 to leave at 7. The next morning we loaded all the stuff into the 4x4's, had another talk through how to drive them etc then loaded everyone up and drove to the ferry terminal where we would be taken over to the island (which is the biggest sand island in the world). We had 11 in our 4x4 and i drove from the rental place to the ferry terminal which was a little scary to start with. It was heavy, slow and quite a bit bigger than the Citroen saxo i am used to driving back home and with 10 other people in the car there was a little bit of pressure on the driving!! Me Tim and Simon were the only 3 from our group alowd to drive as you had to be over 21 and had a licence for 2 years. We were never told this before, and it left a few members of the group pretty disappointed. We shared the driving between us for the 3 days swapping at regular intervals. It was around a 30 minute ferry ride to the island before we were again cut lose with a few directions and a itinerary to follow for things we had to get completed in the day. We first walked around 3k each way to a nice lake, then drove a little while to get to set up camp for the first night. Once we had set up we had a walk to another lake (lake wabby) where we unfortunately just missed the sun dipping below the hill. The lake was still beautiful though, and we had to have a swim so we stripped off and braved the pretty cold lake. We then discovered that the hill going down to the lake was deep sand, and could be fun to try long jump off it. We all proceeded to run to the top and jump off again. We have a few cool photos of this, it was great fun!! That night we had a few drinks, playing all sorts of new drinking games (a few more to add to our ever extending repertoire!) This helped take the cold off the night and was a great laugh. After a few hours drinking we went and annoyed a few of the other camp sites to see what they were up to and sang a few random things along the way!) Another early morning followed so we packed up camp at around 8am and proceeded to a nice clear warm creek for breckie of hot dogs and a boiled egg cooked on a stove (this was lovely after an early morning after a late night!) After we were all satisfied with our morning breckie we drove to the near the top of the island to a place called Indian head where we had to free a tour bus from the sand before walking up the hill to look in to the crystal clear sea for wildlife. In an hour we were lucky enough to see lots of Tiger sharks, Stingrays, Turtles and a 20ft baby humpback whale that swam right underneath the cliff we were on. I have lots of cool photos of this. It was a great experience and more than made up for the fact that it was cold and raining!! After a short walk up and back to a place called Champagne pools where there were natural deep pools of water created by the sea (which we swam in regardless of the fact it was freezing outside!) we headed back along the beach to set up camp for the second night. Unfortunately the rain had set in, and stayed all night which meant that we spent the evening cramming 15 people into the 4x4 for drinking games and more singing. We had a great night, but it was a real shame the weather wasn't better as we couldn't all get in one van, and it wasn't as sociable as the previous night. We later found out that this night was the coldest in queensland in 30 years!! typical! Once morning had finally come, the rain had stopped so we packed up our stuff and headed back along the beach to Lake Mckenzie (via the little shop on the island where we stocked up on chocolate!!) We finished off every last scrap of the food that was provided at the picnic site alongside the lake, and then proceeded to have a little swim in the amazingly clear lake. The views and setting of the lake was absolutely amazing, and with a small island in the middle it made for some pretty spectacular photos. Again i dont think that the pics do it justice, but it should give you a good idea. It would also have looked a lot better in the summer i think, but it was still pretty incredible. We spent a few hours here before driving back to the jetty to catch the ferry back to the mainland. All in all we have had a pretty busy month as you can see. Its not getting any quieter for a bit i am afraid as i am now in Airlie beach 9 hours north of hervey bay where we will be chilling out (and partying a bit!) before going on our 3 day 2 night cruise around the whitsundays on a lovely sailing boat. I will let you know how this goes, and post more pics. I hope that everyone is well, i am really sorry about the length of this email, but its as much for me so that i remember what i have done when i get back as it is for you guys. I hope that you are still enjoying hearing about what i have done. I hope to hear from you all soon as i have been a bit out of contact recently so apologies for this. take care, and much love to everyone. Matt xxxxxx