We are in Australia!

We arrived into Perth at about 2 am last monday. After a thorough grilling by the imigration people because we didn't know the address of the family we were staying with, we were allowed in! Completely forgot to declare any wooden stuff etc, so probably going to be hunted down now! Had a bit of a panic as one of my bags took aaaaaaaaages to come round at baggage collection! Had a really cool catch up session with Lisa and Mari. We met Lisa and Mari on our tour in Vietnam, it felt like we had all been apart for so long but its really only been about a month!

We have had a really relaxing time whilst staying in Perth. Mari had made a video of all our antiks in Vietnam so we set up a projector and spent the day watching the video and showing each other our photos. It was great just to chill and spend a day in our pj's!

Wednesday morning we woke up early and went for a surf. The waves were a bit dumpy, and we were using much smaller boards so we found it more difficult than in Bali. It was great fun all the same. The rest of the day was spent being big kids!We went out in the lane and played cricket with lemon's off of the trees! We also went and played tennis down at the local court. Lisa took along a bit rug and pillows and we had a picnic in the shade.

Wednesday night we went down to the river for a picnic. Mari invited some friends, so it was cool to meet them. We planned to go see a film at the outdoor cinema, but it had subtitles and I had forgotten my glasses so it wasn't worth it! It was a shame as we had told our friends who we had met on the Bangkok to Singapore tour to go, we got to see them before the film started anyway which was really lovely.

On thursday we caught the 'Rottnest Express' over to Rottnest Island. The Island is just off the coast of Perth. The crossing was a bit rough, but it was worth it! We rented bicycles and stayed ina place called 'The Lodge'. The island is only small, and we cycled around between the different coves to go snorkelling. We found many of the coves to be deserted, and enjoyed a nice little nap on the beach! The island is known for these little animals called 'Quokkas', they look like a cross between a mini kangaroo and a big rat!Quite cute. The island had the most amazing bakery, we had some lush steak pies and hedgehog slices, haha.

We arrived back in Perth on friday and went to a place called 'Little Creatures' down in Freo. It was a massive brewery but with a bar, pretty simple but really cool! It was absolutely packed and was only about 5pm. We got to try the different beers, very nice..... i've turned into a proper beer drinker!

On friday night I said farewell to Jon, Lauren and Andy. It was onlt when we were in Little Creatures that I phoned up Quantas airlines and realised my flight was on sunday night and not saturday, so they have a few days without me! We will all rendezvous in Cairns on monday morning though, ready to head down the east coast....so exciting!

Time seems to be flying by now, it won't be long until im home in chilly old England....it will be so strange. Im going to try upload some piccies now, if anyone is reading this who i've met along the way....I 'd love it it you could send me some of your pics too!

Lots of love xxxxxxxxxxx