Hey everyone i'm in new zealand now. After i last updated this thing i went out and met the people we were on the boat with for dinner and a few drinks. This ended up being quite a heavy night and i got in about 4.30am.

The next day we picked up the rental car which was a little hyundai getz that we had to try and fit me, gary, abd jammo, who are hardly small, into it and also fit our 3 big bags. We managed it though. We also had to remember how to drive a manual as well coz since we got here every other car we have rented has been an automatic. Anyway, needless to say i was quite hungover in the morning but luckily the guys hadn't come out with me the night before so they were fine to drive and i just slept in the back. We drove for quite a while but eventually stopped in a town called Rockhampton which my lonely planet guide informed us was the steak capital of Australia. As you can imagine we were in heaven. The steak house that we found actually even had a rodeo out back. It was how i imagine texas to be like. Rodeo out back, cows heads on the wall, and the country music channel playing 24 hours. They didn't serve food till 6pm so we waited around for an hour or so playing pool. When we eventually got our steaks they were well worth the wait! We then hatched the plan that if we drove in shifts through the night we could get to Byron Bay early and have more time there so we took it in turns to drive 2 hour shifts all through the night. I drove the 1am-3am shift and when i finally stopped at a service station i was dead. I actually fell asleep face down on a bench in the services for two hours! Then Gary drove the last hour and a half to Byron Bay which we arrived to at 7.30am having been driving for about 19 hours! It was not our best idea and i don't recommend it to anyone but we did make it in one piece eventually.

After arriving in Byron Bay we went to a hostel called Aquarius backpackers and booked a room for two nights. We then all crashed out and went to sleep for a bit but i got up at 4ish so i could book surfing for the next day. That evening we were going to have a quiet one but the other boys in our room were playing drinking games with Goon (cheap boxed wine that tastes like urine) so we joined in. This resulted in us all getting pretty drunk, pretty quickly (one of the guys we just met threw up all over the toilet which we didn't realise until we got in later and it was disgusting). We then went to a club called cheeky monkeys which was pretty horrible but good fun. Everyone danced on tables instead of a dancefloor which was weird. We got in about 4.30am.

The next day i got up at about 12pm to go surfing. It was really good fun and i managed to stand up 4th time. However everyone else in the group stood up 1st or 2nd time and i was definately the worst in my group. It was really tiring as well coz the sea was really rough. I stood up a few more times but mostly i sucked. When i got back to the hostel the boys were still in bed so i got them up and we went in the pool which had a net so we played volleyball. This ended up being quite competitive and i ended up absolutely shattered so just had dinner then had an early night.

The next day we drove to a town called Newcastle (no not on tyne!) which is only a couple of hours drive from Sydney. We stayed in a motel and got dominos pizza and watched Ferris Buellers Day Off which was on tv then got an early night.

The next day we drove the last couple of hours to Sydney and took the rental car back. We then checked into Wake Up hostel. We went for luch at our favourite Gungho which we had been craving since we left Sydney, then went to the cinema in the afternoon to see Hot Fuzz which was good. It was St Patricks day so i went for a couple of beers in the evening but couldn't afford to have a big night so went to bed reasonably early knowing i had to get up early. I did meet a guy who i knew from uni in the bar though which was weird. His names Graham and we used to call him James's brother coz they both looked similar with they're beards! Small world isn't it?!

Got up at 4am to watch England v Wales rugby. Wish i hadn't bothered. We suck! Went back to bed then got up bout lunch time so we could go meet a couple of guys gary and jammo used to work with. We then went back to our hostel and watched a couple of films. In the afternoon we went for a walk to Darling Harbour then round to circular quay coz it was the Harbour Bridge's 75th anniversary so we went to see if anything was going on. It lit up with lots of different colours but that was about it. Whilst there i bumped into someone else i knew from uni, a girl called Jenna, which was also weird. I can't get over how small the world is! I caught up with her for a bit then went home to bed.

The next day i got up, checked out, went to the airport and flew to new zealand. The flight was pretty stress free. I watched Night At The Museum on the plane and my bag came out straight away with a priority tag on it which is always nice. I'm assuming its coz they could see on the system that my Dad is a star alliance gold card holder but i'd like to think its coz they saw me and decided i should be a priority! I met up with the boys at the airport, they had got a different flight half an hour earlier, and we got a taxi into Auckland city centre and checked into Queen St Backpackers.

Since being in New Zealand i haven't really done much due to financial constraints. Our hostel shows films every night so i normally watch them which is a good way of being entertained without spending any money. Other than that we set up a mailing address and i got a new zealand sim card and then we went job hunting. Gary is working in a clothes shop and a bar. Jammo is labouring on a construction site which i did for a day but quit coz i was shattered! I have an office job doing data entry for a home loan company which i start on monday. It sounds like it could be ok coz its not just straight forward data entry which might have got boring i do other stuff as well. Plus i get over $18 dollars an hour which is really good. I'm looking forward to starting work coz i'm a bit fed up with sitting in the hostel twiddling my thumbs trying not to spend money. I get paid weekly which is a bonus coz it means that after next week i can actually start doing things in this city coz it seems pretty nice. Saying that, as i speak to you now there is the tail end of a cyclone battering Auckland and its chucking it down so i'm quite glad i'm tucked up in the hostel not out at work like the others. He he.

Anyway i'll let you know how the job is going next time i speak to you and hopefully i will have seen a bit more of this country than my hostel room.