Hello from civillisation!!! I love Cairns!! So happy to be here instead of the desert.... was just wonderful to get to Gilligans Hostel on Monday and Beth was there waiting with a chilled bottle of wine - lush! We headed straight out to a bar called the Woolshed with a guy that was in our room, David. Had some cheap eats and beer and decided to enter a competition called 'Mr & Mrs Backpacker'. They said it was about knowing your friend so obviously Be...

Oh. My. Goodness..... if I ever have to come back to Alice Springs again it will be too soon.Had a hilarious few days in the desert - flew from Melbourne to Alice and as soon as I got off the plane I could feel the difference in the heat - it was BOILING!! It was very strange flying into the middle of Australia - there really is NOTHING there and you begin to feel totally isolated, and a little bit worried that there is absolutely nothing around except red sand a...

I've been in Melbourne for just over a week now and had a great time - I really like it here and wish I had more time to spend exploring!!The Great Ocean Road was good, and the penguins on Phillip Island were so cute!! Also got to feed more kangaroos. went on a winery trip today and visited four winerys and tried lots of lovely wines - yum! Met John who is from Leeds and he is going to be on my flight to Alice Springs tomorrow!But I have to say that by far an...

Well, what a great day Tuesday was at the Melbourne Cup!!! Everyone gets dressed up and we were having breakfast in all our finery (myself, Dee and Jane) by the train station at 9am! The taxi driver who dropped us off (the train is the easiest way to get to the racecourse) had had the japanese owners of Pop Rock and Delta Blues in the cab the night before and they had told him that Delta Blues was the better horse... good job as I was taking notice as that's ...

Thank you for all the birthday messages!!!