Sorry guys, I'm getting a bit slack on updating you all of our whereabouts, etc! So I will start again with Sydney, mind you it's all a bit of a blur now, but I'll try my hardest!

We got into Sydney after another overnight train and checked into our hostel. We spent most of our first morning in bed to recouperate a bit and Chris wasn't well so he needed some rest. After finally rising around 2pm we wandered into town, which took us a good 45 minutes and went to sit by the Harbour bridge and the Opera house, as you do! We walked along the harbour and watched a contortionist fit herself into a tiny 16 by 16" plastic box!

On Monday we went back into town and had a proper look around the opera house and had tea and cake along the harbour front, very nice! A very relaxing day just wandereing around the city looking at bits and pieces.  On Tuesday we got up at a reasonable time and caught a ferry across to Manly Bay. This was a really nice boat ride as it provided fantastic views of the city, with the front of the opera house and the harbour bridge, with the sky line in the background.  When we got off the ferry we strolled up to the beach where we were interviewed by some ozzie T.V presenters for a survey they were doing, (I did keep my eyes open but haven't seen us on T.V yet!). We answered questions like," who do you prefer Jonny Depp or Orlando Bloom?" (Johnny Depp definately!) and other random questions, then headed back to get some lunch and sit by the quay side before getting our ferry back.  That night we were watching T.V and learned that Steve Irwin had died, which was a huge shock. The ozzies loved him and he will be greatly missed there. That evening after eating we went out for a drink at a local pub with a friend. On Wednesday we caught a bus to Bondi beach, where we walked along the beach and then did a wlk up and around the bay, where there were stunning views but it was very windy. After coming back into the city we found out how to get up onto the harbour bridge and walked along the walkway, nearly all the way but it decided to start raining so we didn't quite make it! Instead we took a few pictures and legged it back to the bus stop and back to the hostel.

After our last night there, we were up really early to get a train to Byron Bay. After finding that our food was locked in the fridge and we couldn't get it and paying huge amounts of money for a taxi, we finally borded the train, not in the best of moods! But it was pouring with rain and had been all night so we were glad to be leaving!  We switched to bus half way through the journey and arrived in Byron about 7 in the evening. We went and checked into a hostel, got some food and went to bed.

We spent three nights in total here. It was a very pretty small town, lots of surfers and warm whether, so we spent a day on the beach and also hired bikes out on our second day and went for a tour around the town. We found a lookout and some other nice beaches besides the main one. On our last day there it was raining, again, so we spent the day watching Dumb and Dumber and Indiana Jones! We left on Sunday evening and caught a bus to Brisbane, where we arrived around 10:30pm and walked up a big hill, backpacks in tow, to check into a hostel. Neither of us slept well as it was absolutely freezing! During our stay in Brisbane, we looked around the city, including fortitude valley, botanical gardens, and Southbank. At southbank they have a fake beach kind of like an outdoor swimming pool, which looked lovely, but a wee bit cold!  We didn't do much othre than walk around and look at the city, and on Wednesday we flew out of Brisbane and up to Cairns to begin our trip down the East coast!!!

Arrived in Cairns in the evening where our hostel picked us up (there bus had broken down so we had to wait for another) and took us back to our hostel. Here we were sharing a room with a Danish girl who we went and ate with and then went for a drink later with her, another English couple and a german girl. We were up at six the next morning where we got on a bus which was taking us up to Cape Tribulation (the rainforest). The tour guide gave a commentary on the way there. Austrailia is one of the only 3 non 3rd world countries to have a rain forest and it is one of the oldest in the world (300,000,000 years) (that could be wrong, does the world date back that long?!) We went for a crocodile cruise, where we saw three crocs, one huge one and two baby ones. We also went for a walk through the rain forest, where our guide pointed out various plant species etc. We stayed in a resort with a Sweedish couple, who we then proceeded to bump into 3 or 4 times down the coast! On out first day we went to find a fresh water lake which had a swimming hole at it, which Chris and Christian braved, whilst Alina and I stood and dipped our toes in but couldn's quite bring ourselves to jump in!  On our first and only evening a group of us went to the nearest bar, which was down a wet and very dark track and along the road a bit, slightly scary as there could have been snakes lying on the road or Cassowaries, which are apparently killer birds lurking in bushes!! We didn't come across any and got to the bar in need of a drink! This we had, and the walk back was somehow not as scary as the one there!! On our second day there we went for a walk along the beach, where you couldn't swim because there was a crocodile patroling the waters edge who was feeling a bit teritorial! We didn't see him but didn't really want to risk it, apparently about four people a year get attacked by crocs because they ignore the signs, most of them are Germans! (The signs are written in German too)On our walk up to the lookout we came across a group of picknickers who had abanoned their table and at a closer look we saw why. There was a huge lizard that must ahve been about 2.5 metres long including the tail sitting on the table in the middle of their things. It then proceeded to jump into the cool box, knocking over cups as it went and eventually ran off with the tour guides hat!! I saw him later and he had managed to retrieve it!  After our walk to the lookout we headed back to the resort and left on a bus back to Cairns.

There is so much more to tell but I will have to do it later as we are off to Mount Cook (NZ) in our Wicked Camper! Will up date in detail soon, but in a summary we also went to; Great Barrier Reef (scuba diving), White water raffting, Mission beach, Magnetic Island, Whitsunday sailing, Fraser Island self drive safari, Noosa, and now NZ!!!! So loads to say, but have to go now.

Loads of love to you all, Flora and Chris xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx