Sydney!!!

12th April
I arrived in Sydney around 10am and checked in at Wake up! Amazing hostel! I waited for Amy to arrive with her friend from Newcastle Emma and then we went to explore Sydney! We had an amazing day and saw lots like the harbour bridge and the opera house. We decided to go to the aquarium as it was in Sydneys top 4 things to do. However we were very disapointed after spending $26 to get in and we had seen all the fish whilst in the sea anyway! At least the penguins were pretty cute!
A highlight of my day was when we noticed groups of young girls screaming and waving flags. As me and Amy stalk a certain boyband on a daily basis we knew One Direction were in Sydney so we decided to go ask them. I asked a 12 year old girl who she was screaming for and she shouted "ONE DIRECTION! LOOK THERES HARRY!" Me and Amy screamed and started jumping up and down and only after a few minutes did we realise we were standing with a group of little girls screaming like children. It was embarassing but i had to show my appreciation for Harry Styles who was waving down! The young australian girls were very excited that we were from the UK too and were asking lots of questions about the X Factor. I was more than willing to fill them in! On our way back to the hostel we also found a One Direction official store so i got my picture done with my future hubby. Best Day Ever.
After all this excitement we went for our free bbq at the hostel before searching for cheap wine! We downed our bottles in the room and then went to meet two boys from our dorm in the bar. However we got sidetracked and ended up playing drinking games in another dorm for a while and then we all went out together! We went to the Arts Factory which at first we thought was rubbish but after a few drinks it was really good!


13th April
I woke up really sad as i knew it was my last day in Australia :-( and it was mine and Amys last day together which sucked! We decided to spend our last day at Manly so got the ferry over to the beach. We met Dan here (who we did surfers and Byron with) too and spent the day on the beach and walking around the shops. I LOVE manly beach! Me and Dan even got matching hoodies to show our appreciation!
I didnt have to be at the airport until 3am so we decided to go out! The night ended up pretty drunk with me and Amy crying on the street saying bye before i had to get in a taxi! I was and still am absolutely devastated to have left Australia, i want to live here so bad!
This is my last blog from Australia which is even more weird. This has definitely been my highlight from travelling and i have met some amazing people on the way down the East Coast. I loved Thailand but Australia beats it and everywhere else i have ever been! Please someone take me back!

Byron Bay!

7th April
Me and Amy arrived in Byron Bay around 3pm and checked in at our hostel - Cape Byron YHA. We had a walk around the town and had a look at the beach for abit before going to meet Donna and Angela who were also staying in our hostel! We went to Cheeky Monkeys for a $5 dinner and our free glass of champagne before heading back to the hostel to drink goon! Hannah was meeting us which was exciting! We managed to pick up some strange ozzie stragglers on the way too, one in particular who was obsessed with Amy and would not speak to anyone else and followed her around for a while! After filling ourselves up on Goon we went back to Cheeky Monkeys and danced on the tables! I love Byron Bay!


8th April
Amy dragged me out of bed around 10am and we headed straight to the beach as the weather was amazing! Donna, Angela and Hannah joined us too and we sunbathed and listened to One Direction (standard behaviour now for me and Amy). We went in the sea which was hilarious. We survived the waves until we decided to get out where we all stood up and got taken out by probably one of the biggest waves i have seen. I stood up shocked and looked over to Amy who had a pair of broken sunglasses in her hands and her bikini bottoms had fallen down. It was amazing! Unfortunately for us as we were laughing about the first wave, a second one came and took us down too! It was pretty scary and my face even dragged on the sea bed! After this one i literally ran out so i wouldnt get taken again. Unfortunately i had lost my sunglasses (thankfully they were cheap thailand fakes) and had a face full of sand. 
After all this excitement it was time to make a BBQ on the beach! We even tried Kangaroo which was really nice! After a nice Easter Sunday with our BBQ and cider on the beach we went to meet the boys Charlie, Nico and Dan who had arrived from Surfers. They didnt have anywhere to stay so we hid them in ours! Then we drank more goon playing drinking games and went to Cheeky Monkeys! I dont remember anything past playing drinking games but apparently i fell over in the middle of the road and passed out around 1am...interesting! Goon is so lethal!


9th April
I woke up really confused over what had happened the night before and felt awful! Luckily most of the others felt just as bad! Someone in our room told reception about the boys staying in our room so they got chucked out and then we went to the beach to sunbathe! I think the fact that Nico was sleeping in the middle on the floor was the last straw for someone haha! After the beach me Amy and Hannah went for a walk to the most Easterly point in Australia and to the lighthouse which had amazing views! Hannah decided it would be a good idea to go a different way down...we soon ended up in some forest jungle in pitch black! It was so scary and i tried so hard to block out the noises of rustling in the bushes, there must have been so many spiders and snakes ergh! Eventually after what felt like a lifetime we saw a main road and got straight on it and headed back to our hostel! We then did the standard goon/cheeky monkeys mix for the night!


10th April
We had to check out by 10am which was fine as we were going on a daytrip to Nimbin, some town that is known for weed and drugs. We first went to a waterfall, probably the worst waterfall i have seen in the past 4 months (and there have been alot!) before heading to Nimbin. Its basically a street where people ask you every 2 minutes if you want to buy drugs. They were all mental but it was funny and we may have tried some special cookies! Oops! Me and Amy slept the whole way back on the bus! 
Amy then left for her bus to Newcastle and i met the boys and sneaked into their hostel for the night! This was amazing as i got to save on a nights accomodation - win! I was supposed to be on a bus to Sydney but decided to stay an extra night as i loved it so much! We played lots of drinking games with goon and then went to Cheeky Monkeys - suprise suprise! I dont remember anything after 1am again, goon is so lethal i really need to stop drinking it!! 


11th April
 This was my final day in Byron and we didnt really do anything apart from sleep and sit around. Although i went to Hannah's hostel for lunch as she made a big spag bol - perfect hangover cure! I had a night bus leaving at 8pm so had to say bye to the boys! This was very weird as i had spent the past 5 days with them! I had to say bye to Hannah, Donna and Angela too which was even more weird as i met them right at the start of oz. Im starting to get really sad now as i know the end of oz is so close :( But at least i was on my way to Sydney, my final destination in Australia with Amy there waiting for me woohoo!

Surfers Paradise! BIG BOOTY BITCHES

 3rd and 4th April 

Me and Amy arrived in Surfers Paradise around 1pm and were welcomed by Suze at the bus stop! Suze took us back to her apartment so we could settle in and we felt like we were flashpackers in her pad! It was amazing and literally right next to the beach! After putting some washing on we went for a walk around and to explore our home for the next two days! I fell in love with Surfers from the beginning as it is such a party town and the beach is amazing. After a walk we decided to check out the pool and had fitted in an hour of sunbathing! We even checked out the jacuzzi and sauna - we were in heaven! 
After eating the rest of our dinosaur shaped pasta we got ready for a big night out! Donna and her Irish friends were going to meet us out so we drank a load of goon in the flat and then headed to Vanity! I cant even describe how good it felt being in a proper club again and the toilets were INCREDIBLE! We spent a lot of time sitting and dancing in them as they were so cool! haha! We met some boys who were in Brisbane - Charlie, Nico and Dan and tried to ignore the bouncer who was getting everyone to leave. After avoiding eye contact for about 10 minutes we were chucked out and went back to Suze's for a big sleepover! The boys made me watch some weird movie about dinosaurs...
We woke up feeling very rough, i woke up to Amy looking at me saying she needed tea and eggies! After making this we went to the pool for abit and then met the boys on the beach. Nico pretended he didnt have any legs and scared a few people, it was very funny! We were supposed to have a BBQ but all supermarkets were closed (silly easter weekend) so instead we had super noodles! We took the rest of the goon to the beach and had a chilled out evening there which was really nice! 
That was our final night in Surfers. I would have loved to stay longer but have to be in Sydney for my flight to Fiji. I loved Surfers Paradise and would actually consider moving there for abit. Plus it was amazing to see Suze again. Thanks Suze and Ben for having us!
Next Stop - Byron Bay!

Brisbane

3rd and 4th April



So we arrived at Bunk backpackers around 12pm, grabbed a quick cuppa soup then we were out to look at the shops! Unfortunately for me i had to buy another camera (third camera of the trip - not happy!) I think i may have serious issues! 
After shopping for a few hours we went back to the hostel and met Emily Donna and Don's Irish friends who had arrived! We went for our free dinner (actually nice too) and then got started on the goon for the night. Thats all i can really say about that night, we got very drunk and our lovely Irish boys Gerrard and Chris from Fraser came to meet us out! So many Irish people! 
I think i eventually got to bed around 3am and was up again at 6am ready for my SKYDIVE!! WOOOO! I can honestly say this was the best experience of my life and as soon as we landed i begged them to take me back up! (Unfortunately this would cost another £200!) We all watched my video when we got back which is hilarious!! Then me and Cedric, a lovely German boy in my skydive group had to kill some time before we could get our transfer back to the hostel. This still did not happen but eventually someone gave us a lift to the train station.  It took so long to get back as it stopped everywhere and Cedric was getting very impatient asking randoms on the train how long it would be, this was pretty amusing!
Anyway eventually we got back to Brisbane i had just enough time to say bye to Emily who was going home on the 10th so had to leave and go down the rest of the coast quicker. Donna and her Irish friends had left too but me and Amy decided to get drunk anyway and drank the remaining goon in our dorm while everyone else gave us dirty looks and read books - what losers! We went to the hostel bar and met Frenchy and made the most of the £3 dollar drinks. We decided to be adventurous and try to find somewhere different to go, this was a huge error as there was nowhere and we ended up in a Mcdonalds in the train station! Plus there was a very hot group of Kiwi's back at our hostel!
Anyway it was still very funny and we eventually headed to bed. I was VERY excited as i knew the next day we were leaving for Surfers Paradise which means i get to see Suze! YAY!

Rainbow beach and Fraser island

27th - 31st March
We arrived at Rainbow Beach at around 12pm and had a walk around before going to the meeting about our Fraser Island trip. We had to watch a long rubbish video about how to drive on sand and what to do if you see a Dingo. It was very boring! We then got put into our group. We were Group 2 - This was me Em and Amy, joined by the Irish boys Chris and Gerrard, German twins Mirion and Roman and fellow Welshy Gail. It became obvious from the start that we had the best group!
The next day we left around 8am in our 4x4 and had a long drive to camp on Fraser Island. We set up the communal area, all of our tents and made some lunch before going to our first stop, Lake McKenzie. We spent a few hours sunbathing and chilling by the lake before Wayne (our amazing lead driver/tour guide) told us we had to head back to camp. For the first night our group were in charge of cooking and made an Asian stir fry for everyone, around 27 people. It was quite stressful but turned out amazing and everyone loved it. Also, this was the only thing we had to do on the trip so we were now free of any chores for the night and tomorrow! We got started on the goon and all sat around the camp. We all headed to bed after a few hours and were abit wary of the dingoes, especially as there has been a few attacks in the last two weeks! We lasted until 3am before we needed to go to the toilet so we took it in turn to pee outside while the other two stood on tip toes with our arms in the air (apparently you need to make yourself as tall as possible so it is less likely they will attack you). We survived this only to be woken up an hour later by Dingoes howling outside our tents and we were all so scared! Luckily one of the boys shouted at them to go away (he used much worse words but i could not put them in here). They seemed to get the message though and then left us alone. 
At 6.30am we all received a lovely wake up call from Wayne and had to get ready for a long day of driving and sightseeing! Our first stop was Eli Creek, not really anything special apart from a tiny river that people were walking in. We didnt really see the point though. We then went to Champagne Pools which were better and it was boiling so we got an hour of sunbathing in! The other main place we went to was Indian Head where apparently you can see all the sharks etc in the sea. At Fraser Island you are not allowed in the sea as it is full of them. We didnt get to see any though and were abit disapointed after walking to the top of the point. I asked Wayne if we could throw him in the sea so that we could see them, unfortunately he declined. 
That was the last stop of the day before heading back to camp. It was such a good day and our group were getting on so well. I love the Irish boys as they are such goons, especially Gerrard who after getting water walked back to the 4x4, only he walked to the wrong one and looked up with such a confused face. We were all wetting ourselves watching him do it, i think he was abit embarassed! Roman also had a goon moment and fell out of the car (when it wasnt even moving), he looked up quickly hoping we had not noticed. Unfortunately for him we all had and we were all pointing and laughing! 
In the evening we all drank way too much goon playing drinking games. My last memory is playing Electricity (an amazing drinking game shown by Dean and Kayla). The next thing i knew i woke up and i was in the back of our car. I was so confused and had the worst hangover but felt better that Amy couldnt remember much either! 
We all had to pack up our tents and our 4x4's then went to the final place before stopping for lunch. After lunch we had to head back to Mainland and back to Rainbow Beach. We were all pretty excited to get back to the hostel and finally shower, and i think the boys couldnt wait to get out of the car as we made them listen to Beyonce for about 95% of the time. When we got back we found we had all been put in the same dorm - yay!
The girls made dinner for the 7 of us and then we spent the evening in our room watching Inbetweeners. Roman moaned all night that he was too cold, that the 'ventilator' (not a ventilator but a cheap rubbish fan) had given him a cold and also poked Gerrard to wake him up and tell him to stop snoring. This was all pretty amusing. 
We all woke up to the sun shining in the window and spent our last day here on the beach. Gerrard, Chris, Mirian and Roman left to move on to their next spots so we had to say bye which was sad, especially as we had been constantly with them for the past few days! I will miss our Fraser Island family! 
We then just chilled and packed all of our stuff as we were leaving the next morning. Emily is leaving to go home on the 10th so she is going straight to Brisbane with Donna but me and Amy are stopping at Mooloolaba so we can go to Australia Zoo - woohoo! Apparently it is amazing so we are both very excited! 

Mooloolaba & Australia Zoo! Crikey!

1st and 2nd April


Me and Amy arrived at Mooloolaba hostel and loved it! The town was so nice and had lots of shops and a nice beach and the hostel was cool and so much like halls at uni! We were suprised as we expected it to be a tiny inbred town as no one ever talks about it - we were loving the Sunshine Coast!
When we got to our dorm we met Chris - the craziest ozzie i have ever met! We were there 5 minutes before we had planned a big night of drinking! We went to the beach, which was really nice and did a bit of sunbathing before walking around the shops on the esplanade. The lifeguards were hilarious and had to wear swimming caps - they definitely did not fit in to the stereotype of sexy lifeguards!
After shopping we bought wine and went back to the hostel to cook dinner and start drinking. We met Drew another crazy ozzie, Chris (more normal from Essex) and James. Me and Amy managed to get through 3 bottles of wine before we had even gone out. This was while Chris taught us some oz slang - "Awkies", "Alright like Veggiemite" and "Gnarly Sheila". 
We went to the sports bar and met some boys from Mooloolaba - Sam, Trent and Ryan! Eventually we got bored of the football match so went to O'Malleys! Sam and Trent met us there and we all got hammered! And as they knew we were broke and travelling they bought us shots all night! They were lovely! Trent even treated us all to Mcdonalds on the way home at 3am haha! 
We got up and were suprisingly feeling fresh around 7am! Maybe it was because we were going to Australia Zoo - the home of the Crocodile Hunter! Me and Amy were like little kids running around all day, it was amazing though and by far the best zoo i have ever been too! As it was easter holidays the Irwin family were doing a crocodile show so we got to see Terri, Bindi and Robert in action which was pretty cool! We even got our picture taken with Steve which seems a little wrong (awkies) but never mind...
After a long day of being tourists and feeding Kangaroo's we got back to our hostel around 5pm and made our dinner of dinosaur shaped pasta! Then we all chilled downstairs for the evening. I really loved Mooloolaba and could have stayed another night but i was excited to head to Brisbane!

Airlie Beach, The Whitsundays and 1770!

After a very long night at the bus stop i was extremely happy when i saw the bus come round the corner. It was not a peaceful journey though as the bus driver seemed to be going extremely slow on purpose, interesting as we had told him we had to be at the pier by 12pm! We were very stressed but persuaded them on the phone to try and hold the boat while we got there. The woman even drove us down to the pier from the office in her car, and we had 2 minutes spare to get some goon! We were very happy to get on the boat, our home for the next two nights! 


We were even more happy as it seems the storms are a distant memory in Oz - it was boiling! We all spent our first day sunbathing on the deck and went to two seperate snorkelling points. Our boat seemed abit quiet and full of girls from Germany and Sweden who all stuck together. Fortunately there was Bryn and Johan on board who were funny! We spent the night drinking goon outside on the front of the boat and then finally after a long few days passed out in our bed!


At 6am we got woken up by the crew - its now obvious that we will not get any sleep in Australia. We went to Whitehaven beach which was beautiful and had a lovely viewpoint over the swirly beach! We all went in the sea and did baywatch videos which was funny. In the afternoon we did more snorkelling and the evening we drank the rest of our goon and played Dont Panic and drinking games. At midnight we went to the back of the boat and sat for an hour watching these two dolphins play in the sea. They were adorable and definitely made my whitsundays trip! I seemed to pass out again in bed - Naughty Goon. This seems to be a regular thing at the moment as Emily tells me she has full on conversations with me in bed and i cant remember even speaking to her. 


We spent our last morning on the boat sunbathing on the deck before returning back to Airlie Beach. The boys showed us their van they had been travelling with and took us to get our backpacks. We then said our goodbyes and me and Emily went to our hostel to check in! We met Hannah here who we met on our Reef tour in Cairns. We were all knackered so watched Baywatch and Sherlock Holmes on the sofa's. Later in the day we met Donna and Rosie who were also on our reef tour and we were reunited with Amy! We were all getting the night bus to 1770 at midnight so just sat around in our room waiting for a few hours before leaving to get our bus, i was so tired by this point. I never thought i would say that i couldnt wait to sleep on a bus for the night. It was good too and i slept for nearly 12 hours without even realising that we had stopped several times for breaks. 


Eventually we were in 1770, a good place to stop for the night to break up the travelling to Rainbow Beach. We were staying at 1770 Backpackers. After checking in we went to the supermarket and the beach which was amazing as it looked just like beaches in the Gower, only the weather was much better! Me and Emily left Amy on the beach to go get ready for our Scooteroo tour - a ride around Agnes Water and 1770 on bikes for three hours. Unfortunately it seems i was still not over the Thailand incident and freaked out but i got to ride with the main guy who ran it - Pistol Pete who told me loads about the town and pointed out cute kangaroos on the sides of the road! He was hilarious! Emily loved it too but burnt her leg on the exhaust so had to wear a lovely bandage! When we got back to the hostel to see Amy we were just in time for our free BBQ which was amazing! We were all in bed early that night as we had our next bus at 6.30am the next morning - i never want to go on a bus again after Oz. Despite the early morning we were all very excited to get to Rainbow Beach, where we do our Fraser Island tour! This is where we go in groups in 4x4's and drive ourselves around the island and camp in a tent for two nights!