hi all, have now left sydney as im sure most of you know by now!! in Byron Bay,

Blue Mountains

on the way here we stopped at the blue mountains.. this place was sooooo cold.. it was probably warmer back home in belfast it was that cold. we got there late at nite.. and the camp site we planned to stay was so expensive for one nite we decided to just find a parking space to stay for the nite.. it was a good idea in theory but not in reality. we must have drove around that town of 2 streets about a million times and with our big monster its not that hard to notice us... we were waiting for someone to report us to the local cops for suspecious activity..we did look dodgy as hell driving around at that time of nite.. but did finally find an empty car park to sleep for the nite... but when we woke the next morning we were surrounded.. must have been the only car park for miles there were that many cars in the place.

The blue mountains though themselves are lovely!!! we did one of the nature walks to one of the look out points.. and trust usgirls to go in our flip flops.. we were black by the time we got there!!. but the view was stunning. you could see the three sisters and it was a big valley where a cable car goes across in mid air between the two points..

Paula and i done the tourist thing and went on the railway track down into the valley.. It is apparently the old train track that the miners used many centuries ago.. how they done it day in day out i dont know. it was a vertical drop.. i have never seen anything so steep in my life.. paulas face was so funny especially when we went down full speed into the pitchest of black tunnel!!

but it was worth it .. at the buttom they have a nature walk thing to the cable car to get back up again. it bought you through the old coal mines and the old minners huts.. they were pitch black they only way we could see what was in the huts was by taking a pic with the flash on and look back at it...

THe cable car back up the mountain was cool. The views of the mountains from there were amazing!! and yes the mountains really are blue!!!

Byron Bay

Arrived in Byron Bay on friday morning.. its sooo good to be at a beach to relax for a few days... (not constantly on the road). THis place is a total hippy town.. keith has found his home!! its like a step back in time and a total beach tourist place but its cool.

Cheeky Monkeys

Went to cheeky monkeys that nite for the night out on the town!! They had a slave auction!! we didnt put ourselves up for it though.. with these backpackers they would not be able to afford our services lol!! but the place was cool playing all the old tunes - they even played time warp!! of course we were up dancing our hearts out to that doing all the actions!! but the thing with this place is they dont understand wat dance floors are for.. everyone dances on the long metal tables they have.

The worse bit thoughwas there was a drink thief.. 3 of our drinks got stolen on 3 different occassions.. they must have been experts at it, as there were 4 of us around a circle and they still managed to steal them under our noses!! dirty backpackers!!

Meet a guy lee from kent there that night. i thought he was gay at first as he knew what my job was (probably the first person in history) and he started on how H+M was better as it was more colourful (u can see why i thought he was gay) but anyhow it turns out as i found out later he was not gay at all.. Left paula with his friend... so we are even now on the leaving the other with the boys friends stakes!!! (i did it for her in sydney). Lee though had the best job.. he was writing a column for a newspaper back home about his travels - so getting paid to travel.. cant remember wat paper though.. one too many soft drinks at that stage!!

Paula and tracy died though the next day (i blame the vodka) they both stayed in bed all day apart from the times they had to visit the inside of the toilet!! we never manage to time our hangovers together - maybe by the time we get home we will be insink.

That about all for now.. been on the beach for the past few days trying to get rid of all this whiteness that covers me!!! managed to burn my eyelids of all places though..

heading to surfers paradise now.. for more beaches, theme parks and water parks..

lots of love

claire