G'day All

I left Surfer's paradisetoday and am currently in Brisbane where it is raining lots!! Sophie went straight to Brisbane on Friday leaving just myself, Naz, Elliot and Alex. Those who know me will know I love being one of the guys and I have had an absolute blast this week!!

We were very excited when we firstarrived in Surfer's, it looked like a very cool place & it felt like we were in America it was so touristy!However, one thing to note, it may be Surfers' paradise but it certainly isn't sunbather's paradise. The wind is a nightmare at the beach, within half an hour your towel is literally submerged under sand and its in your mouth, eyes, nose, ears, everywhere! We could handle about 4 hours a day but after that we just get really frustrated!!

The hostel we stayed in was cool, smallish place so you got chatting to most people, the best thing was having a TV in your room! They also recorded the footie games so we enjoyed the Man U vs Spurs match the other morning! After our big night out on Saturday which I'll tell you about in a mo, we have managed to stay off the booze!! But nightlife as a backpacker when you're not drinking isn't that fun!! We have watched countless movies this week, and as our hostel was party central (all you can drink punch for $5 most nights) its been tough at times, hearing everyone getting trashed whilst we watch another film in the dorm!! That said we did have a lot of fun when we went bowling on Monday night. We drank diet coke all night and enjoyed free pool for a couple of hours, it restored my faith that you can indeed have a great time without booze!

Saturday was Australia day and despite the majority of Australians getting drunk throughout the day we managed to contain ourselves until the evening!!We got ready whist drinking goon and then covered ourselves in Australian flag tattoos! We also made the most of the all you can drink punch before leaving the hostel at 9pm! By the time we left I was absolutely smashed, and to be honest the rest of the night is a complete blur!!

We were meant to go to four bars, the final one being 'the bedroom' which yes is full of beds you can laze around in whilst drinking but unfortunately we all lost each other!! Naz went walkabouts after the first bar! The second bar was good, we bumped into Terri and Christina and I enjoyed a boogie with them but after the third bar we had pretty much all gone our separate ways! I did however find Naz staggering the streets eating pizza whilst I was waiting to get into the final bar so that was a result.So since Saturday night I haven't touched alcohol, this being my 4th day!! Woo hoo!! I'm aiming for 10 but we'll see!!

We spent yesterday at Dreamworld, a big theme park. The first ride of the day was the Thunder River Rapids ride which gets you reasonably wet anyway, however just as we got in the giant rubber ring it decided to pi** it down and by the time we got off we were absolutely soaked through (see photo!!).The log ride had to be done after that and after some debate as to whether we would all indeed fit into one log we squeezed in and snuggled up!! We decided to pose for our photo coming down the big drop!! You may have noticed Alex likes to pose for photos with his finger in his mouth so we all decided to adopt this pose and the photo is pretty funny! Its one you buy so I haven't been able to include it on truprint but its certainly one for the album!!

After shaking for 20 minutes with nervousness whilst queuing up for the tower of terror ride, we were just about to get on and it peed it down again so the ride was closed! When we returned later in the day I had lost my nerve and just as the boys tried dragging me on I bumped into Becki (one of the welsh girls I met in Melbourne) who was also waiting for her mates so I had a chat with her!!

The 7 of us stuck together for the rest of the afternoon which was nice, although I wimped out of most of the rides. I stood giggling watching the guys faces and they insisted on shouting out Devereux on every single ride which we all found quite amusing!!I did however go on cyclone which was a rollercoaster with a massive drop and which went upside down twice!! I'd never been on a ride which goes upside down so this was a massive achievement for me!! I had my eyes shut for most of it but nevermind!! I also dragged the guys on a few of the Nicolodeon kiddie rides which were fun!!

Today we went up the tallest residential tower in the world, (230m above ground level) before leaving for Brisbane.

I've had a great time with the guys this week. We're all very open people and have had the most random conversations, I feel like I've known them all my life and we're definitely going to meet up when we're all back in England. Naz is staying on in Brisbane to work so as of Sunday the dream team will be down to three!!

Well that's all for now folks, take it easy, lots of love Shell xxx