Hello Hello Hello!! this is the first time in 4 weeks that iv managed to get a decent internet connection, hence why its ages since i last wrote. So now Im in Brisvegas and stopping here for a couple of months i think (as long as some nice person feels the urge to give me some form of employment), its ever so lovely here, i like it just a little bit more than sydney at the moment - its far more laid back and not so busy and rush around as sydney. Can't really tell you much more than that, as I've not really done that much for the past week apart from chill out on the beach at southbank, job hunt and imbibe a significant amount of alcohol (what a surprise).

So after sydney I headed down to Melbourne for the weekend to meet jen and emma before out long-awaited roadtrip. Again i cant really tell you too much about melbourne either due to a horrendous hangover - but St Kilda is very nice (just outside the CBD) and the federation square building was lots of fun :D

Jen and Emma picked me up on the 11 April (a lovely typically english rainy day!)in the spaceship and we headed for the opposite end of the Great Ocean Road to a town called Warnnambool (possibly the most uneventful town ever). Our spaceship was a beautiful bright orange - just so that everyone knows we're tourists - and very cosy - i'm not quite sure what the spaceship people were on when they decided that it could sleep 3 people; if you like being squashed every night then its great!

So Warnnambool....boring from there we headed toward Port Fairy and spent the night in some free rest area on the side of the road. The next day was spent stopping every km to take in all the lookout points (twelve apostles, london bridge, the grotto, etc etc) the weather was pretty rubbish but the views made up for it. Next stop was in a campsite in the Great Otway Range - so in the middle of nowhere off an un-sealed road - outback style. This marked the first time I saw Kangaroos in the wild, there was a whole family of them and they came grazing, like, right up about 20m away from the van, so cool. Jen spent the night scared some axeman was going to get us and we saw our first spider, not as scary as i thought :)

From here I struggle to remember the finer points of the GOR but we stopped at jsut about every town went and had a peek at some famous surfing beaches (jan juc is the only one i can remember) and after 4 days on the road ended up in Geelong at Ash's (friend of jen & em). Staying in an actual house and being able to have an actual shower were awesome. a slab of beer, 16 hours and two showers later we were back on the road again for the mammoth drive up to the Blue Mountains, just west of sydney.

Once in the Blue Mountains we were lucky enough to have another house to stay in for the weekend, courtesy of granny's friend Barbara Mawhood. This house was even better than Ash's as we all got to have our own beds for the few days :D awesome times. We spent the weekend well looked after and saw some spectacular views, the mountains are defo on my list to come back to. Arriving on Friday evening, we spent saturday at the jenolan caves and kanangra falls national park, sunday in Katoomba exploring the cliffs and checking out the three sisters (3 pinnacles of rock that have great spiritual significance to the Aboriginees, legend tells that they are three women who were turned to stone by their father and he died before he could turn them back again). Monday we left Barbara and Oberon and made a stop in Glenbrook, to take a look at the jellybean pool :D

The nest two weeks were basically a beach holiday; we headed up the north coast of NSW, hitting just about every beach we came to, lovely and relaxing, but when you've been to one beach you've been to nearly all and I got slightly bored lying on the beach allday with little decent surf. Highlight though and definately my favourite coastal spot so far was Seal Rocks about 3 hours north of Sydney. Elizabeth recommended we go and oohhh it was just gorgeous; white sands with the flattest, clearest water on one side and then a cove with huge waves crashing down on the other - goodtimes :D

The next most exciting places to stop were Byron Bay, this surfer, hippy vibe of a town that I could have stayed in for weeks just chilling and Nimbin, the amsterdam of australia. Step out the car and you get offered weed, walk up the street and you get offered weed.... constantly. don't worry mum, we didnt purchase anything (unfortunately :P).

Next stop Surfers Paradise (nothing special) and then the day after here we are Brisbane!!! gorgeous weather for the winter (slightly on the cooler side at 25 degrees :P) and the job hunt begins...yay

muchos love xxx