Day 1 We arrived in at Christchurch airport and could hardly control our desire to get into our spaceship and get going so we headed immediately to the airport info desk to ask how we could get to the depot to pick it up. The old gent at the desk didn't seem to understand quite how to call a number like '0800 SPACESHIPS', bless him, so we ended up with a lot of wrong numbers. We finally got the right information on how to get there though and jumped on a shuttl...

What a place! We arrived on an early flight from Melbourne (we seem to have a trend of getting up early for planes trains and buses!) with sleepy eyes we arrived at our hostel intending to get a few hours kip before meeting Bob & Ann (more of my relatives -pip). Unfortunately we couldn't check in until 1pm so we stashed our bags in the platform lockers and arranged to meet the rellies (Aussie term) earlier. We should probably explain our hostel first... On ...

With aching muscles, we jumped onto the Greyhound that would take us the 10 hours down to Sydney, where we had a hostel booked for just a few hours before our flight to Melbourne. The coach turned up an hour and a half late to decrease this time even more. It then ended up taking an extra hour to get there, so we arrived at our hostel at 3am, needing to be at the airport at 5am. The hostel receptionist couldn't believe we were going to be there for just a fe...

5 days til Christmas!!!! It doesn't feel at all like that here though... We've spent the last two days learning to surf and living the surf lifestyle. We're staying in a surf school called Spot X on Arrawarra beach near Coffs Harbour. The camp is in a great location, at the mouth of two small creeks and practically on the beach. And the best bit is, all our food is included... and there's lots of it! Even better, we don't have to wash up! Our first day of surfin...

Somewhere along the way from Noosa to Byron Bay via Brisbane, we crossed the border into New South Wales and it took a little while for us to realise they are an extra hour ahead of Queensland... thanks for the heads up coach driver! We spent the first day chilling out in the town and found some nice cheap (for Australia) shops. The hostel (Nomads Byron Bay) is one of the best we've stayed in. The rooms are clean, comfy and not crammed and their is a large kitch...