Hi all,

Sorry for my lack of chat and pictures. The internet facilities are terrible here and I've had little phone signal all week. I have lots of photos to upload and hopefully i can upload them in melbourne.

So, where shall i start.......

Monday 2nd of july

Suzanne, stee and I had a little get together to say goodbye to all our friends in 241 cambridge street. We were meant to go to bed early but didn't make bed until 3ish...uh oh!!

Tuesday 3rd of july

We met our group at 7am and headed off. Some of our group (irish) hadn't been to bed yet so it looked as if it was going to be a fun journey!! within the first half hour of the trip one of them had left her phone in the hostel and one of the others girls had to stop the bus as she was sick!!

It was a really good mix of nationalities - irish, scottish, english, welsh, japanese, german, swiss, finnish, and american oh and there was one animal on board (flipper the blow up kangaroo)! Our bus driver was Kimberely - an ex rally driver and marine biologist!

We first stopped of at the pinnacles desert and got our pictures taken with some rather odd looking rocks. Then, after another hours drive we stopped at hangover bay (very appropriate) and had lunch. In the afternoon, after more driving, we went sandboarding down this steep sand hill. i stupidly decided to go first and managed to tumble down half of it (beamer).

After yet more hours on the bus (west australia is about 5 times the size of the uk), we made our way to the hostel in Kilbarri for the night. There was a few beers to be had on the bus which quickly followed by 5 toilet pitstops at the side of the road! The drinks were flowing and the food was great so we stayed up till about 1am and were up at 6am the following morning (argh!)

Wednesday 4th of July

we had an early start and made our way to kalbarri national park where we saw some sights such as nature's window and the Z bend. 4 of the guys took a dip in this pool that the driver recommended - needless to say none of the girls got in after seeing the expressions on the guys' faces!

After alot of driving (which involved alot of 'i spy' and "I went to the shop and bought...') we stopped off at our drivers local for a drink and pee stop. we then made our way to monkey mia for the night. we had some drinks on the beach before heading to bed at a respectable 11.30am.

Thursday 5th of july

We got up super early to go and hang out with monkey mia's famous dolphins. I really didn't expect them to come in so close and it was amazing. We were all very excited!! We then went to a conservation park where they keep small turtles, big fish, sea snakes and tiger sharks!! The tiger shark was brilliant as you are unlikely to see them so close in the wild.

We then stopped off at shell beach - which as it's name suggests is made up of lots of shells!! We then checked out some stromatolites the oldest living thing known to man). In theory it sounded interesting but to look at it was pretty boring.

We had 10 hours to our next stop so after about 5pm we stopped of to get some booze. We arrived at Coral Bay at about 10pm after about a million pee stops along the way!! We hada BBQ and some more drinks and then these ozzy guys invited us to a party in a nearby cottage so we all went. There was ceileigh dancing, the irish jig dancing on the tables, and alot of gay dancing - not much sleep that night!!

Friday the 6th

After an early wake up call, we headed to the beach for our manta ray tour. Coral bay is one of only two places in the world where there is a constant manta ray population. The first place we stopped to snorkel we saw black tipped reef sharks and millions of fish. The next stop, we swam with the manta rays. It was soooooo amazing, there are huge!!! After lunch most of us werent feeling that great but overall the boat trip was good.

After the trip suzanne, stee and ryan (a guys from the group) said a sad farewell to the group. It was actually really sad as we all got on really well.

Saturday the 7th

The four of us hung out on the beach and ryan and I went snorkelling for an hour or two. I'm getting mcuh better at snorkelling which is good.

At night we went for some food and had a fairly chilled night.

Sunday the 8th

Ryan and i went on a sea kayaking tour. yes, I know i said i would never do sea kayaking again but the snorkelling part sounded good so i went for it. After 20 minutes of kayaking out to sea we moored our kayaks and snorkelled for an hour and a half. It was amazing - we swam with the turtles, saw sting rays and lots of beautiful fish (wait til you see the photos!!!) we then kayaked for another 20 minutes (I hate kayaking) and then we snorkelled with grey reef sharks which were pretty big. I wasn't that freaked out (except when they got really close). we spent ages there then struggled back to shore on the kayak. It was one of the best things I have ever done - the sharks and turtles were amazing!

During all my water sports my polyester(evil) shorts were rubbing on my leg and by the time i got back to the room it was really sore. We met up with our new group in the evening - not as fun as the first.

Today

I went to the nurse today as my leg was very painful. She said it had turned into a nasty burn mark because i am allergic to polyester. She cleaned it up and then put this seal on my leg which i cant take off for 4 days. it also means no snorkelling for a while - pah!@

Tonight we are heading off to exmouth and then after that its bush camp for the next while.

It's sooooo nice to hear from you all back home. Mum email me and update me on gran C when you find out. i hope everything is ok.

speak to you all soon - loving western australia!!!

smithers XX