Now that I’m coming to the end of my time is Oz I thought it would be a good time for an update. We expected this part of the coast to be a lot more partying and beaching as opposed to amazing scenery that littered the coast further north, and we weren’t far wrong. Before arriving in Brisbane we made a stop at Australia Zoo – which was the home of ‘the Crocodile Hunter’, Steve Irwin. In terms of animals, it probably didn’t have the greatest variety, but in terms of deadly animals I’d say it was pretty well populated. Watching the keepers risk their lives trying to feed 4m+ crocks by hand in an enclosed pen was pretty exhilarating, as well as lying next to ‘roos in the sun, stroking koalas and feeding elephants. The dingoes in this zoo were a lot friendlier looking than the wild ones we came face to face with on Fraser Island, that’s for sure! The zoo was certainly well worth a visit though, especially as I was always a big fan of Steve Irwin.

Next stop was Brisbane, which apart from the nightlife didn’t appeal to me greatly. Just a big high-rise concrete jungle, with no beach to lie on (that we’d clearly got too used to) and expensive clubs and restaurants throughout. What probably didn’t help its case was the weather, which was pretty cloudy and a bit rainy, but we couldn’t complain as we hadn’t seen much of it! Nevertheless, we saved our funds for one decent night out, going to what is supposed to be the best night club in Oz – ‘Family’. When I said ‘we’ went there, it was Jack and I, along with a group of girls from Leeds who we’d met further up the coast – Wolffy and Droz managed to get rejected from the club because they came in together and Wolffy had a picture of someone fighting on his t-shirt which meant he was going to cause a fight in the club – ouch!

We then moved onto Surfers Paradise and as a lot of people say it’s very much like an Oz version of Benidorm, so as you can imagine some good clubs and a nice beach - we were happy! After a few fairly chilled out days here we headed south again to Byron Bay, which we’d heard was a pretty awesome place and it sure lived up to its name, hence why I ended up staying there for a week! What probably helped was 6 days of pure sunshine. By day we beached it and by night we partied, ending up most nights in the legendary club ‘Cheeky Monkeys’, where the dance floors were on tables – recipe for disaster but great fun.

Unfortunately Jack and Wolffy, 2 of the boys I’d been with for the past month had to head back to Sydney; Jack very low on funds and Wolffy having to catch a flight back to the UK. The team was split up  but it didn’t take long for Droz and I to meet some pretty cool people, who were all staying in our room: 2 Scottish girls, Jen and Louise, an English guy called James, 2 crazy Italians and a French guy called Steve. When I first spoke to Steve he said ‘I don’t speak any English’, but after putting my GCSE French to good use I soon discovered his English was just fine and it was simply because we were speaking too quickly. We went out with these guys most nights and had a great laugh. Steve had actually been staying in this room for the past month or so, learning English at a local language school; we later discovered that Nancy, who I initially came away with actually stayed in the same room as we had when she was in Byron Bay and had met Steve – very weird.

Before Jack and Wolffy left town we managed to squeeze in a day trip to Nimbin, the well renowned local hippy/drug infested town. It was very amusing to see locals cutting onto side roads as soon as they saw the police and the dog patrolling the street, as well as people getting pulled up by the sniffer dog – apparently this was a very rare occurrence in Nimbin. One shop owner said to the police ‘you could have told me you were going to do a raid, I would have shut the shop, they’ll all have stashed there goods in my shop now’. The police went for their lunch break and they all appeared from their hiding places and the smell of cannabis soon lingered around the town. The drive there was picturesque, stoppi ng at a 100m+ waterfall and travelling through rainforest, bush and very green fields that almost didn’t seem like Australia.

After a week in the sun we had to say our emotional goodbyes to Byron and the friends we’d made, preparing ourselves for a 14 hour overnight bus journey back to Sydney – ‘crikey!’ This country really is so vast! I wasn’t encouraged after being on the coach for about 2 hours and seeing a sign for Sydney - 720km. The drive across Sydney Harbour Bridge posed some pretty awesome views of the city to wake up to. We headed across to Bondi Beach and set up base for a few days, meeting back up with Jack who had found a bit of work to keep him going. We also bumped into the Leeds girls we’d met up the coast and so had a few good nights out with them. During the day we chilled on Bondi, which had some huge and extremely powerful waves - now I know why it’s a world famous surfing beach! I ended my stay in Bondi in true Ozzy fashion with a Barbie on the beach – we even managed to find some pork sausages which is a rarity in this country!

I’m currently staying in the Southern Highlands, about an hour and a half south west of Sydney, staying with Mum’s friend Anne and her daughter Kirsten. A chilled out few days has been welcomed after a month or so on the road and I think my bank balance is certainly grateful! It’s been a novelty to actually stay in a house after a month or so on the road and in hostels. It was rather strange at first to be in a room on my own – I’d got so used to people tossing and turning, snoring and coming and going throughout the night. Was definitely missing home cooked food and I’ve certainly stocked up on my fair share whilst being here! Although it’s been very chilled out we have managed a few trips out: one to the coast where there was a huge blow hole that fires sea water into the air every time the waves come in; several bush walks, seeing wild ‘roos and wombats by night and Dick, Anne’s partner even had me chopping up wood which was actually good fun.

The past month and a bit have been amazing and I will certainly be sad to leave Oz, whilst looking forward to Thailand (and it being a lot cheaper!) I plan to go back to Sydney tomorrow to spend one last night in Bondi with Jack and Droz, meeting back up with Nancy and Chelsey before we head off to Asia and my last night staying with mum’s friend in Manly – the swanky part of Sydney. Thailand here I come!!