Ali, Amy and Laurs 2011 Travels!!

Hi Everyone,

After a 13 1/2 hour flight i arrived in Dubai airport at 5.40am on Friday morning where Bev was waiting to meet me. We jumped straight into a taxi and headed for her apartment to get a few hours sleep before we ventured out anywhere. Her apartment is lovely - it's huge! After a few hours sleep we jumped in a taxi and went to the Madinat Jumeirah which is a shopping, entertainment and hotel complex constructed of old Arabian architecture. We wandered through the winding lanes before stopping for a cocktail on a terrace overlooking a Venetian style canal. After taking in the beautiful water views we moved on to a restaurant for a tasty bite to eat before heading to Dubai Mall. Dubai Mall is massive!!!!! You could literally spend hours on end wandering it! As well as the general retail outlets the mall boasts the world's largest indoor gold souq, a designer fashion avenue with dedicated catwalk, a massive aquarium, and Olympic sized ice rink! After checking out a few shops and popping into bloomingdales to treat ourselves to a cupcake from the Magnolia Bakery we ventured outside to get a good view of the Burj Kalifa - the tallest building in the world and once it fell dark we got ourselves into a good spot to watch a musical water fountain display. It was fantastic, arabian music started to play and the water fountains danced and moved in time with the music. After the display had finished we headed back to the apartment to watch a film and get an early night as i was still pretty shattered from the flight.

The plan for my second day in Dubai was to go on a desert safari which started at 3.30pm and lasted until 9.30pm. As we had some time to kill before the safari began we decided to head to Karama for a few hours - the place where you can get all the fake designer goods! I didn't really know what to expect but when i arrived it did not disappoint! We went inside the first shop and had a quick look round what they had on display, there are so many shops so after a short amount of time browsing we headed for the door to check out another shop. As we were leaving the owner of the shop asked if we wanted to see more.....better quality items....apparently this is normal, they let you wander around the shop, have a bit chat with you while they check you out and if they are happy they invite you to look at better items.....all very strange! We agreed to see more so we were shown out of the shop and had to walk for about 5minutes away from the shop to an apartment complex.....all seemed very dodgy indeed but Bev assured me this was normal! We got a lift up to some floor and shown into what looked like an apartment but it was really another part of the shop......it was all decked out like a designer boutique! I wish i could have taken some photos but you were not allowed. There were amazing fake designer handbags, purses, shoes, sunglasses etc all of amazing quality they looked real! Every now and again there would be a knock at the door and someone else would enter, people were also appearing from behind shelving that was really a door it was all very bizzare and they even brought out a tray with drinks on for us! A very surreal experience! After purchasing a few prezzys we had to leave to get back in time for our pick up for the desert safari! We were going to have to come back to Karama as we got carried away in that one shop and didn't have a chance to look anywhere else!

After a quick change we were picked up for our desert safari at 3.30pm by a 4X4. There were 3 other people in our car already so myself and Bev jumped in the very back of the jeep. We drove for about 40minutes before we arrived in the desert! It's really strange leaving the built up area of the main town in Dubai and then 40minutes later you are literally in the middle of the desert with nothing surrounding you for miles! Our first stop on the safari was for a refreshment break where we had our photo taken with a camel! During our refreshment break we watched a falcon display which was interesting before jumping back in the jeep ready for some dune bashing! Our jeep followed in convoy with others up and down the sparse dunes throwing us about up and down and from side to side as we slid round corners and skidded up and down steep slopes! It was really good fun! As we got thrown around the desert there were opportunities for us to stop and take in the surroundings. I had never been in a desert before so it was a new experience for me! We stopped just before sunset so we could all watch the sun go down and take photos. This was breathtaking! After the dune bashing we were dropped off at a bedwin camp where our evening meal and enterteinment would be held. Upon arriving in the camp myself and Bev were shown into a small wooden shack structure where we were somehow coerced into changing into traditional arab clothing! Being a female myself and Bev had to put on an abaya (the full length black robe and head scarf that only leaves your eyes showing) and pose in varoius positions - with a shisha, with a pot of tea etc whilst getting our photo taken! I hadn't realised what i had signed up for but we had fun with it all the same! After a quick change we headed into the main camp area to grab a well deserved glass of wine before finding a spot to sit for our evening meal. The camp was really pretty, we all sat on cushions on the floor for our meal which was gorgeous! After tea we watched a belly dancer and i got a henna tattoo on my foot! Just before it was time to leave the camp and head back to the city they turned off every single light in the camp and everyone was asked to stay as quiet as possible so we could all lye down and look at the stars! There were so many of them and the sky was perfectly clear......it was an amazing sight! It had been a really fun safari and unlike anything i had done before! We jumped back in the jeep and headed back to the bright light of the city to call it a night.

The next morning i woke up excited as we were off to the iconic Burj Al Arab (the famous sail shaped hotel) for afternoon tea! (a surprise birthday present from mum and dad.....thanks!!!!!) Jo Bevs flat mate joined us and we jumped into a taxi to take us there. The interior of the Burj al Arab was like something out of an arabian fantasy with gold used throughout. We took the lift up to the top floor where we were met by the most attentive staff. We were shown to our seats which were right by the window so we could take in the spectacular view of Dubai. It was a perfectly clear day so we could see for miles! The service was impressive and before we knew knew it we were poured a glass of champagne.....the start of our 7 course afteroon tea! This was then followed by some fresh berries with cream. Then out came a plate of salmon wellington followed by numerous minature sandwiches of all different flavours, fruit and plain scones with jam and clotted cream, biscuits and creme brule, various other desserts and cakes and the choice of a variety of teas and coffees with chocolates! The food was gorgeous! I was stuffed by the end but couldn't stop eating it was all so nice! Such a nice treat and well worth doing! We left the Burj al Arab and were driven round to the Madinat in a courtesy golf buggy where we sat in the bar we had been to on my first day in Dubai for a cocktail by the waters edge. We sat there for an hour chatting and taking in the sunshine before leaving to head to Barasti Beach Bar to watch the sunset. We ordered a pitcher of pimms and sat on the beach and watched the sun go down which was beautiful. As soon as it got dark we headed up to the main bar area where we ended up sitting for a few hours before heading back to the flat to quickly get changed ready to dance the night away at Rock Bottom! (a club) We were joined there by a few more of Bev's friends and had a really fun night!

After a lye in the following day Bev took me to the pool at the Shangri-La Hotel. It's a really gorgeous roof top pool where we spent the whole afternoon lounging around and swimming in the pool to cool off. It was a perfect relaxing day! After a few hours at the pool we made our way back to the flat as Jo was preparing for a bit of a halloween party. She had decorated the apartment and made food for us all. We sat round and had food and a few drinks and watched old school scary movies! It was a really nice night. We were all pretty shattered from the night before so it wasn't too late a night.

Day 5 in Dubai was spent at the Atlantis Hotel at the water park there. It is a huge water park with the longest lazy river in the world! We wasted no time in getting hold of some rings and off we went floating down the lazy river! After the lazy river we decided to check out one of the rides which was really good fun before heading to the beach area to sit and relax and swim in the sea. It was so nice to lye on the beach but then go in to the main bit of the water park whenever we felt like going on a ride....best of both worlds! One of the rides even took us through a giant fish tank which was an amazing sight....there were stingrays and sharks swimming over the top of you as you floated past in a rubber ring! We spent about 4 hours at the water park before heading back for a quick shower before tea. The plan for that evening was to head to The Belgium Beer Company for food Karama to do the last of the handbag shopping! The Belgium Beer Company restaurant was lovely and the food was great, we sat on the terrace outside overlooking Dubai Creek which gave us fab views. After a tasty meal we jumped in a taxi back to Karama where we ventured inside a different shop this time to make our final purchases!

Unfortunately Bev got called into work on my sixth day in Dubai as she was on standby, they gave her a layover and not a turnaround which meant that i would be on my own for my last 2 days in Dubai. She would be back late on Thursday night so would be able to take me to the airport on Friday morning which was good. It was a shame that she got called in but we knew it could happen and couldn't really complain as we had had 5 full days together. So Bev left for her flight in the early hours of Wednesday morning so that day i decided to head back to Dubai Mall and check out a few more of the shops! After wandering around for a few hours i stopped off for some food before heading back to the apartment to watch some films and get an early night. I was up reasonably early the following morning - my last day in Dubai so i thought i would make the most of the gorgeous weather before heading back to cold wintery England so i spent the full day on the beach! It was really quiet so it was lovely and relaxing sunbathing and jumping in and out of the sea - a perfect way to spend my last day here.

Dubai has been fantastic.....can't wait to come and visit again! It is a beautiful, vibrant, over the top, wealthy place and a nice way to end my travels with a bit of luxury! I fly back to England tomorrow morning!!!! Can't believe my travels are officially over now! What an amazing 4 months it has been!!!!!! I am very sad that it is all over but i am looking forward to seeing everyone at home! So i will say bye for now and see you all very soon!!!!!! Thanks to everyone for following me on my travels and for all your messages along the way! Lots of love Ali xxxxxxxxxx

Hi Everyone,

We have been really busy over the past few weeks so haven't had a chance to write for a while! I just want to say a huge thanks to everyone who sent me birthday messages! It was lovely to hear from you all.

So the last time i wrote we were in Surfers Paradise which we loved! The weather wasn't too kind to us there but we had fun anyway. Our next stop was only a short distance from Surfers Paradise.....Byron Bay. We were all excited to arrive here as we had heard so many good things about it! We had booked to stay in a place called the Árt's Factory' in a 10 bed mixed dorm....the chespest option available! We carted our backpacks about 15mins before we arrived. Upon checking in we were told that we were staying in the 'wagon' without questioning this we were shown to our dorm......It literally looked like the back of a wagon! It was a large red tent like structure with wooden beams inside and a wooden floor with holes in it where you could see through to the ground below. There were 10 bunk beds inside and it was going to be our home for the following 6 nights! It really did feel like we were camping! We had no idea we had booked this....we could tell our time in Byron Bay was going to be fun and a bit random from this moment on. Byron Bay is a gorgeous town, its trademark laid back, new age, hippy vibe makes it unlike anywhere we have been in Australia. It is the place to come if you want to purchase some one of a kind tye-dye clothing! There is a beautiful beach at the end of the town and it is not unusual to see people dancing down the streets in their own little world, groups of people busking and chatting away to anyone who will listen. The Art's Factory where we were staying was very much along the same sort of lines. It was almost like being at a festival staying there. They had different activities on different nights. One night they had a talent show on and as a lot of the people staying there are very arty and creative there was some really amazing acts! There was also a guy called Cockatoo Paul who literally just used to walk around with a Cockatoo on his shoulder. The Cockatoo would chat away and shout out random things such as LET ME OUT over and over again. This was definetly a different kind of hostel experience!

Once settled in we just spent the first day and night getting some shopping in, making some tea and catching up on some sleep with an early night. We got up relatively early the next day so decided to wander into the town to check out the shops. There are some really nice, different shops and art spaces in the town so it was nice checking them out. After trying not to spend too much money shopping we hit the beach where we stayed for the rest of the day. When we made our way back to the hostel we met our new wagon mates! A guy called Andy from Sydney had moved in and was there on holiday to surf for a week and a guy called Karl from Sweeden who had been travelling since February had also moved in. We all sat and chatted and had a few drinks before watching the talent show. We had a fun night getting to know everyone and had lots of laughs. The next day again was spent relaxing down the beach. The weather as we have moved south has got colder and we have had a bit of rain as it is still just the Spring time over here but we are still getting some hot sunshine now and again. We were pretty shattered from the night before so again had an early night to save ourselves for my birthday night out the following day!

The morning of my birthday i woke up and got myself showered straight away. Sneakily while i was in the shower Laura and Amy had decorated my bunk bed and the beams of the wagon in balloons! It was a really nice thought and they spoiled me with a beautiful purse and an Asian cookbook which i can;t wait to test out the recipes! The plan for the day was to spend the day on the beach then go out for a nice evening meal and then drinks after. The sun was shining when we first got up so we ventured to the beach but unfortunately the heavens opened and it started chucking it down after we had been there about an hour so we took shelter in a cafe until it passed. We decided to head back to the hostel earlier than planned to got showered and changed due to the weather. Once showered i went off to skype home and when i came out of the computer room i was greeted by Andy and Karl who were staying in our wagon. They had bought me some fizzy called Passion Pop! It's a not so classy version of Cava that all the Ozzy teenagers drank underage in the parks apparently! It was a really nice gesture and actually tasted really nice! Laura and Amy then appeared with a birthday cheesecake with candles on and they all sang a tuneful version of happy birthday to me! It was really sweet! After polishing off the cheesecake we finished getting ready and me, Laura and Amy headed off to an Asian restaurant we had spotted in the town. It was BYO alcohol so armed with a box of wine we made our way there. The food was absolutely amazing!!! We hadn't eaten out for ages so it was a nice treat for all of us! After tea we popped into another hostel in Byron Bay where a guy we had met in Koh Phi Phi worked to say Hi which was nice to see him. After that we headed into town where we met up with Karl and Andy and 2 Australian girls who had also moved into the wagon and all had a really fun night dancing away in the bars! It was a fab birthday, one that will not be forgotten! As it had been a late night our last day in Byron Bay was a bit of a lazy day. We only really ventured into town to treat ourselves to fish and chips.....not half as good as back home! That final night Andy and Karl were driving about 40mins to the next town to go to a circus. They had been chatting to some of the dare devils in the circus who had been staying in the Art's Factory and they had given them free tickets to see the show. They asked if we wanted to come along for the ride and maybe go to the show depending on cost of tickets. We had nothing to do so went along for the drive. It turned out that there were no cheaper tickets left and only the expensive ones and we didn't want to pay that much so we just went for some food while they watched the show. We met up with Andy and Karl again after the show and we all went for a few drinks with the Dare Devils! Very random! We were all shattered by the time we arrived back at the hostel so all crashed out straight away. We were not looking forward to what laid ahead the following morning.....a 12 hour bus ride to Sydney! We had a fab time in Byron Bay and met some amazing people so it was a bit sad to leave but we were looking forward to seeing Sydney.

After a long 12hours on the greyhound we arrived in Sydney just before midnight. As we were all shattered and had no idea where our hostel was we decided to jump in a taxi to take us there. We checked in and pretty much jumped straight into bed and crashed out. The following morning we were up early to explore the city. The day started with a walk through Sydney's Botanic Gardens, which were beautiful. This walk took us right down to the Sydney Opera House. It was definetly a WOW moment when we saw it! We didn't go inside the Opera House, we just walked round the outside of it and enjoyed the views which included a spectacular view of the Harbour Bridge. After taking in the sites we sat outside a bar right on the water front overlooking the Harbour Bridge and Opera House and treated ourselves to a nice glass of rose wine. It was so nice to sit and watch the world go by. The rest of that afternoon we had a wander round the shops before heading back to Kings Cross where we were staying for tea and hadan early night.

The next day we headed straight down to Darling Harbour which was beautiful, the harbour is dotted with lovely bars and restaurants and lead us to the Chinese Garden of Friendship - a tranquil garden in the heart of the city, its a little oasis surrounded by skyscrapers. The garden was built according to the balanced principles of yin and yang. It was so nice to strole around the peaceful garden escaping the busy city. After a quick bite to eat we headed back to the Circular Quay for a few happy hour drinks before it was time to head back to the hostel to get changed for tea. We had planned to meet our friend Lisa who we used to go to Uni with. She moved to Australia 3 years ago and we haven't seen her since so we couldn't wait to catch up! She met us at the hostel with her boyfriend and took us to a gorgeous Thai restaurant where we filled up on our favourtite dishes and had a really good catch up. It was so nice to see her. After tea Lisa left us as she had work to next morning so we headed back to the hostel. Once back we bumped into 2 Canadian girls who were staying in our dorm and they invited us to go for some drinks with them so we headed out to a bar for a couple of hours which was fun.

Our last full day in Sydney was spent at Bondi Beach! We relaxed on the beach all afteroon watching the surfers! I found Bondi itself a little bit tacky but i did like it. It would be good to see what it's like in the Summer when it's packed. The weather is still really mixed at the moment so the beach wasn't that busy. We all really like Sydney, wish we had a few extra days there to explore it a bit more. It is definetly a place i would visit again. We got the bus back into the city from Bondi and stopped off at Hyde Park - a gorgeous green space in the heart of the city where a food festival was taking place. On that particular night the food festival was celebrating asian cuisine so there were rows and rows of asian food stalls selling a variety of takeaway food that people were buying and sitting in the park to eat. We ordered our food and sat amongst the hundreds of other people on the grass. The atmosphere was lovely and it was a nice way to end our time in Sydney. We didn't stay out late that evening as we had a mammoth 14 hour bus ride ahead of us the following morning to Melbourne.

After an epic 14 hour bus ride the following day we eventually arrived in Melbourne at 11pm where we were greeted by Cathy and Don (Laura's Auntie and Uncle). They live in the suburbs about 40mins from the centre of Melbourne and had kindly invited us to stay with them during our time in Melbourne. We soon arrived in their beautiful house and had a few welcome drinks before we crashed out in the comfiest bed ever! It was so nice having a duvet and not a grubby cotton sheet to cover you! That night we all had the best sleep ever! The next morning Don took us out for a drive to a place called The Dandenongs where we drove up a steep winding road to Mount Dandenong which gives you a breathtaking view of the skyline of Melbourne below. After taking in the view and wandering around the gardens surrounding the lookout we drove back through quaint little villages where we browsed through the small boutiques before stopping for afternoon tea in a pretty little tearooms for scones and tea! We felt like we were back in England not Australia! It was a really nice way to spend out first full day in Melbourne. That evening we popped out for a drink at a nearby bar with Chloe (Laura's Cousin) and her boyfriend Dan which was fun.

The next day the weather was pretty terrible.The weather is so mixed in Melbourne, one day it will be hot and sunny then the next will be really cold, grey and wet! As it was grey and rainy we decided that some retail therapy was in order so we went to a large indoor shopping mall for a browse! We found some really nice shops and we all treated ourselves to a new dress! After shooping we headed back to Cathy's and Dons for tea and drinks which was lovely.

Saturday we were up at the crack of dawn as we had an exciting morning ahead of us.......we had booked to go on a 'Neighbours' Tour!!!! We got a train into the city and made our way to the Neighbours shop ready to hop onto the special Neighbours mini bus - fully decorated with Dr Karl Kennedy on the side. Once on the bus we watched old episodes of Neighbours until we arrived at our first destination which was Erinsborough High School. It was all very exciting! The next stop was Ramsay Street itself! We all jumped off the bus like excited kids with huge grins on our faces ready to explore the street! Real people actually live in the houses so we just wandered around the outside remembering who lived where. It was very surreal, the street seemed a lot smaller than it does on T.V. We got some amazing photographs....especially when the Ramsay Street Sign came out! (The street is not actually called Ramsay Street, the sign is only put up when they are filming). After the street we jumped back in the bus and off we went to the studios to see the set. This was also very exciting as we got to see Harold's Store, Lassiters, Erinsborough News, Charlies Bar etc. Unfortunately we did not get to meet a star but the tour was fab i would thoroughly recommend it to any Neighbours fans!!!! When we got back to the city after the tour it was chucking it down again so after some lunch we jumped on a free tram that circles the city and had a look round a few of the shops before calling it a day and heading back to Cathy and Dons. That night we stopped in the house and had tea and drinks which was lovely.

We woke up on the Sunday and it was a lovely day. Today we had planned to go to Phillip Island to see the famous Penguin Parade - it is here that as soon as the light fades and it becomes dark the worlds smallest penguins waddle up the beach from the sea to their burrows in the dunes every night with bellies full of fish to feed their young. The penguin parade did not disappoint, we sat on stone steps raised up from the beach and watched groups of tiny penguins run in and out of the sea until they plucked up enough courage to waddle up the beach and into the dunes to their burrows. It was such as funny sight! They looked so so cute! After watching them on the beach for a good while we wandered up the boardwalk and watched the procession of tiny penguins waddle to find their burrows. You could get so close to them it was a fantastic sight, we all thoroughly enjoyed the trip!

Amy left us on the Monday to fly back to England for a week for her sisters wedding which was strange, it was the first time in 4 months that the 3 of us have not been together. Myself and Laura drove to the city with Don to drop her off then we stayed at a hostel on the Monday evening as we had booked a day trip to see the Great Ocean Road on the Tuesday and we were getting picked up from the city early in the morning. So after saying goodbye to Amy (really sad!) myself and Layra went to the Crown Casino - a massive complex to treat ourselves to a meal out and a couple glasses of wine before we checked into our hostel for the night. The following morning we were picked up early by a mini bus to take us on our guided tour of the Great Ocean Road. The tour was amazing, i am so glad we did it, it was well worth the money. We saw some dramatic views of the coastline, stopped off at some classic surf beaches before a tasty lunch in a restaurant in the small seaside town of Apollo Bay. After lunch we stopped off and saw wild Koalas before taking a walk in a cold temperate rainforest which was interesting. The last leg of the journey took us the famous rock stacks known as the Twelve Apostles and London Bridge rock formation both of which were truely breathtaking. It was a long day and a long drive but well worth it for the views alone. It was anice trip to end my time in Australia.

The following day was nice and sunny so we just pottered around the house and sat outside. That night myself and Laura cooked a meal for everyone as a thank you for having us, we all had a really lovely night.

Thursday 27th was my last day in Australia and the end of my travels with the girls! Cathy and Don really kindly treated us to lunch out in a cafe in their local town and after as my flight was not until the evening we drove to a town called Mornington where we sat on the beach for a hour before strolling around the pretty town. Before long we had to head back so i could get organised ready to get my flight to Dubai! Laura and Don took me to the airport where we had a very teary goodbye!

I landed in Dubai this morning and will be here until 4th November. From what i have seen today Dubai is amazing, think i am really going to like it here.....will keep you informed of what i get up to this week for my final post!

I have had the most amazing 4 months ever with Laura and Amy and it is very strange leaving them! We have seen so many amazing sites, met so many interesting people from all over the world and experienced lots of different cultures. So many fun memories that we will never forget!

Thanks to everyone for all your comments and messages, it's always nice to hear from people back home......see you all soon!!!! xxxxx

Hi Everyone,

Last time i wrote we had just been on our amazing whale watching trip in Hervey Bay. We left Hervey Bay the following day heading for Rainbow Beach. We had planned to spend 2 nights in Rainbow Beach but this quickly changed to 1 night when we arrived. We had planned to go and feed wild dolphins on the beach and this was really the only reason why we stopped here but once we arrived we were told by staff at our hostel that they were not recommending people do this as people were coming away unhappy with the experience at the moment due to it being school holidays and basically hundreds of people were lining up on the beach to feed 2 dolphins - not really the experience wew were after so we decided against it and thought we would just have 1 day on the beach then continue heading south to our next destination Noosa. So after a nice day on the beach and an early night we hopped on the greyhound to Noosa. We ended up staying in Noosa for 4 nights. Its a beautiful place on the Sunshine Coast, a stylish beach resort town. There is a gorgeous beach and a river flows through the centre of town. Dotted alongside the river are some fantastic mansions with their own private jetties for their boats! The centre of town is dotted with designer boutiques and fancy bars and restaurants.....not that we sampled any of them.....we stuck to buying our own ingredients from the supermarket and cooking our own meals in the hostel. We did however strike a bit of luck at the hostel. When we checked in the girl on reception had realised she had double booked the room we were due to stay in so we ended up in a little apartment usually reserved for staff so we had our own room and t.v. room instead of sharing a 6 bed dorm! After shopping and having a wander around the town on that first day in noosa me and Laura booked to go and visit Australia Zoo for the following day. As it was going to be an early start after tea we just watched a bit of T.V and then went to bed.

The next day me and Laura were up eraly to catch our bus to the famous Australia Zoo (the zoo Steve Irwin owned and ran). We were picked up by a specialist zoo bus.....the driver was wearing full safari gear and we watched the crocodile hunter diaries all the way to the zoo! We were like 2 little kids really excited to get there! We arrived at the zoo early and jumped straight on to a little safari tram to take us to the brand new section ofthe zoo called Africa where we saw Rhinos, giraffes, cheetahs and zebras. The enclosures were fab.....the animals had so much space and everywhere was so clean and tidy! Once we had our fill of African creatures we hopped back on the tram and headed to the centre of the zoo to the crocoseum where the famous croc show was to be held. This used to be carried out by Steve irwin himself. We had heard rumours that Terri Irwin and the 2 kids we in the zoo on the day we went and that they were going tobe doing the show so we made sure we were there early to get into a prime viewing position! It was like a proper stadium! The show was fab! It started by elephants entering the arena then there was a bird show where varoius different species where flying all around us - literally just above our heads! Then it was time forthe main attraction......the Irwin family entered the arena and were soon joined by crocs! We even watched a croc do the famous death roll! It was a fantastic thing to see! It is unlike any zoo we had been to before....well worth a trip! After the croc show we wandered around looking at the native animals such as Koalas....which we got to pet! And we also got to feed kangaroos which was fun! It was a jam packed day and we just managed to squeeze in a trip to the tiger temple to watch an impressive display with the tigers and their trainers......such amazing creatures! The day flew by and before we knew it it was time to catch the bus back to the hostel. It was a really fun day and had been well worth the money! We spent the rest of our time in noosa hanging out on the beach which was lovely.

We left Noosa heading for Brisbane where we planned on spending 3 nights. We ended up only staying for 2 nights however as we had a really really bad hostel! We have been so lucky up to now staying in great, clean hostels but this one was a bit of a nightmare! It was pretty dirty and looked like something out of a horror film! We spent as little time as possible in the room so headed into town early and styed there all day. We took in some sights such as the botanic gardens, and the Brisbane art gallery as well as having a look around the shops. To be honest we weren't that impressed with Brisbane, there is not a great deal to do so 2 days was plenty to see what we wanted to see. We went to the cinema one night which was a nice change so we all enjoyed that. I have got to say we weren't sad to leave Brisbane afer 2 days destined for Surfers Paradise.

It was a short bus ride from Brisbane to Surfers Paradise and we were chuffed to bits when we arrived and we were staying in a fab hostel! Lovely and clean and really fun, friendly staff! We spent the first day doing the usual food shop and getting our bearings. They have a large movie room where they have a large selection of DVDs so we spent the first night watching films. The following day we had a nice beach day, however the weather has not been great since we arrived here. The sun was out for a few hours but then it went really cloudy so we had to end our sunbathing early. On Wednesday night we decided to have a night out with the hostel. They run a bar crawl where you get free entry into 4 clubs and get a free drink in each one so it was too good a deal to turn down! We all had a fun night and met some nice people. As i am writing this a storm is going on outside! Can't believe it! No beach for us today! Hope the sun comes out again soon.....we feel like we are back in England at the moment! Think we are heading out for a night out tonight so that should be fun, then tomorrow we are off to Byron Bay for 6 nights which we are all excited about as have heard good things about it!

Hope everyone is OK at home......time is going far too quickly here now! Thanks for everyones comments and messages, speak to you all soon xxxxx

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all your comments, as always it is really nice to hear from everyone.

Hope Amelia had a fab 2nd birthday, we were all thinking of her!

Glad you had a nice holiday Elaine....Can't believe you have been down to Uni already.....everything has happened so fast! Great though! Can't wait to hear all about it.

Glad you got away on holiday Amy, bet Turkey was fab! Can't wait until our catch up....Bec text me about the 12th November which sounds brill to me!

Last time i wrote we had arrived in Airlie Beach, a really beautiful coastal holiday destination for many Australians. We already had a dorm room in a hostel booked so it didn't take us long to find our room and get checked in. We had decided we wanted to go on a sailing trip around the Whitsunday Islands so our first task was to book on to a trip. After checking out a few different options over an ice cream we made the decision to book a spot on a 2 day/2 night boat called Habibi. The trips are pretty expensive here but its a once in a life time opportunity to sail the Whitsundays so it was a must. After everything was booked up we headed back to our hostel for some food and well earned drinks. We hadn't actually had a night out in Australia since we arrived so we thought we deserved a few drinks. Whilst we were sitting in the hostel bar we were joined by a group of Australians from Melbourne who were in Airlie Beach celebrating the end of the Ozzy Rules football league season. They asked us to join them for some drinks in the town....it was a fun night out and our first taste of the Ozzy hospitality!

We had another full day in Airlie beach before we were due to go on our sailing adventure so we spent the day relaxing and sunbathing down by the man made swimming lagoon which is just off the beach. You are not recommended to swim in the sea here as there are 'stingers' present! After a nice day by the lagoon and grabbing some food we all opted for an early night in order to get organised for our trip!

The next day we had to be down to the Marina for 1.30pm to meet our boat crew. We had been told by the booking agent that all the meals on board the boat were provided but we should bring our own alcohol on board so off we went to the bottle shop to check out what 'Goon' they had on offer. We had heard a lot about travellers drinking the infamous cheap 'Goon' which was apparently boxed wine that shouldn't actually be called wine as it doesn't contain a single grape! We checked out our options and decided on a slightly (only slightly) more classy version of goon - a rose boxed wine and some ciders. Once armed with our stock we headed down to our meeting point where we were soon greeted by our crew. There were 3 members of crew. The skipper Bluey, Harry the main deck hand and Laura who was to cook all our meals. There was a group of 17 of us on board. 4 English, 4 Germans, 4 Irish, 3 French, a guy from Melbourne and a girl from America - all young people so it seemed like it was a good mix of people. Once on board we were shown to our allocated rooms. We hit lucky and were given the best room by far! It was huge compared to the tiny cramped bunks others were staying in. We had a giant bed between the 3 of us which could have literally fitted at least 6 people on it! It soon became clear that there was not actually any form of shower on board and you had to brush your teeth from a hose on the top deck of the boat and spit into the sea! We were resigned to the fact that we were all going to look pretty rough by the end of the trip! The plan for the first afternoon was to set sail for about 4 hours well into the Whitsundays before anchoring up for tea early evening. It didn't take long for everyone to start chatting and joking and getting to know eachother. The scenery was spectacular and the sea was really calm so there was no chance me and laura would get sea sick again! That first night we sat on deck and watched the sun set before tucking into a tasty BBQ and cracking open the 'goon'. Laura made the first spot of some dolphins swimming not too far away from the boat which was fab to see! That night we all sat round playing card games and once all the boat lights were turned off we all went to the deck at the back of the boat to look at the stars. The sky was perfectly clear.....i have never ever seen so many stars!

The following morning we were waken at 6.30am for breakfast - we had a lot to do today! By 7am we were on 'Dougie' the dingy heading to shore on Whitehaven beach. Although it was pretty early to be on the beach i was so glad we got up as the beach was deserted, we were literally the first ones on it - it is a really popular spot with tourist boats so to see it without anyone else on was special. The sea was perfectly clear and i have never seen whiter/finer sand anywhere! There was a short walk through the bush which we decided to do which took us up to a look out point at the top of a hill overlooking the beach - it was beautiful! We had a few hours on the beach so the rest of the time was spent lounging around reading and taking in the scenery. At 10am we were picked up and taken back to the boat where we were to go snorkelling. We were given our mask and snorkel and also had to wear a very fetching stinger suit which were full length lycra suits to protect us from getting stung! Not the most flattering of outfits! The boat stopped just off Hookl Island where we all jumped into the water to check out the fish. At this spot you were allowed to feed the fish so Harry - the main deck hand was throwing food into the water and hundreds of fish were swimming just inches away from our masks to feast on it. We have never been that close to fish before! The colours were so vivid and there were some absolutely gigantic fish swimming along with us and leaping out of the water into the air. It was probably one of the best snorkelling sites we have been to! Once we were all back on board we were treated to tea and donuts before we set sail once again to our next location 'Bali High' This site literally consisted of a very small island. On the way there we saw a giant turtle swimming by the boat. We were taken to shore and for around 2 hours we had our very own private deserted island to ourselves. It was paradise! None of us wanted to leave and get back on the boat! It had been a fab day! We got changed out of our wet clothes and all gathered on the deck once again to watch the sun set - an image we will never forget. Just after sun set we all sat down once again for tea and drinks before we crashed out early shattered from an early start and long day.

We were allowed a lye in until 7am the following morning before the breakfast bell went off! It wasn't long after breakfast that we were on our return journey back to Airlir Beach. The trip had been well worth the money! - One of our highlights of the whole trip and we had also been with a great group of people which added to the experience. A group of us had decided to hang out at the lagoon when we arrived back on shore so we made our way there for an hour or so before we all headed off to get showered and changed ready to all meet up for drinks that evening. We all enjoyed a fun n ight out together before going our separate ways the following morning.

The next morning we were booked on a greyhound at 11.10am to take us 7hrs to Rockhampton to stay for just one night. There is not a great deal going on in Rockhampton we had just planned to stay there to break the journey up to Hervey Bay our next destination. The journey wasn't too bad and we saw loads of kangaroos hopping along in the bush at the side of the road so that kept us entertained! We got to our hostel about 7pm that evening so literally just ventured out for some tea then had an early night as we had to leave our hostel at 6.15am the next morning to catch our greyhound to Hervey Bay. This journey took us about 6hrs in total.

Our first day in Hervey bay basically just consisted of us stocking up on food at the supermarket and booking onto a whale watching trip! We planned to stay in Hervey Bay for 3 nights so that first night we all just crashed out pretty early after tea. The following day we decided to have a beach day. The beach was nice but not one of the better ones we have been to but we had a nice day lounging around before heading back to the hostel to cook some tea and get an early night before our whale watching adventure!

27/9/11 Wow what an amazing day we have had today whale watching!!!!! We had been a bit reluctant at first booking on a whale watching trip as they are quite pricey and we didn't really know what to expect, however it was the best decision we have made! We were picked up at the hostel at 8am and taken to the marina to board a boat to go whale watching! We were on the boat from 9am until 2pm so had plenty of time to spot lots of whales. We sailed for about an hour and half before we saw our first sighting of a Southern Humpback Whale in the distance. It was great to see but we were worried that was it and we wouldn't get a closer view.......however moments later we were swarmed by numerous pods of humpback whales all around us! Some of them were huge! There was a calf swimming alongside its mother which kept breaching high into the air which was the most amazing sight! They were so close to us! At one point a few whales kept diving right under the boat and then surfacing literally right next to us......AMAZING!!!!!!! They were flipping and rolling over showing us their white underbellies. We watched them for ages! We must have seen about 4 different pods some with as many 5 whales in it. One of the best things we have done!

Must go as internet time is running out we are off to Rainbow Beach tomorrow to hopefully feed dolphins so will keep you posted on what we are doing!

Hope everyone is OK.......Catch up soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi Everyone,

I can't believe how quick time is flying by now! Can't believe we are in Australia!

We checked out of our hostel in Singapore on the 12th September. Our Asia adventure was officially over. We had time to kill before catching our flight at 10pm that evening so made the most of catching up on internet stuff before heading for some food then to the airport. We arrived at the airport super early so had quite a lot of time to kill before our 8 hour flight to Cairns. The flight wasn't too horrendous as we managed to drift in and out of sleep for most of it. We landed in Darwin and had a 2 hour wait in a holding area before our onward flight to Cairns. We arrived in Cairns at 9.20am local time feeling a bit spaced out and not really sure of where we actually were. Luckily we had already booked a hostel so after a quick bus ride we checked in to our dorm! This was our first experience of sharing a dorm with total strangers. We were used to our privacy in triple rooms in Asia, but we knew as soon as we got to Oz we would have to stay in dorms due to how expensive everything is. We were given our bed sheets and pillow case and off we went to make up our beds! We were staying in a 10 bed mixed dorm, but to our surprise it was reasonably spacious, clean and had 2 modern bathrooms.....much nicer than expected! Once our beds were made we decided to crash out for a few hours sleep before attempting to venture out anywhere. After a few hours sleep we decided we needed to be productive so we headed into town and sorted out our greyhound pass for our bus travel throughout the east coast and we aslo booked on a full days cruise and snorkelling trip to varying locations on the great barrier reef for later on in the week. As we were pretty shattered we headed back to the hostel ready for tea at 7pm which was provided free of charge every night by the hostel! The food was pretty basic, but perfectly edible and saved us a lot of money! It was actually nice not eating out which we have been doing every day for the past 10 weeks! An early night was on the cards for that first night, however it was slightly disturbed by a guy snoring so loud.....guess we have to get used to this sort of thing in dorms!

14/9/11 We decided to walk to Cairns Botanic Gardens where we wandered through the rainforest to Saltwater Creek and past the Centenary Lakes which were located in a beautiful, peaceful park setting. We also stopped off at an art exhibition at 'Tanks Art Centre' - Old abandoned gas tanks had been transformed into art spaces where paintings/sculptures/photos created by local college/school pupils were displayed. Later that afternoon we took a walk along the Cairns foreshore promenade before heading back to the hostel once again for our free feed!

15/9/11 The plan for today was to head down to the waterfront. Cairns doesn't actually have a beach so instead when the sun is out everyone gathers around a salt water swimming lagoon and sunbathes. We had grabbed some food on the way down so we picked a spot on the grass and had our picnic. and spent the rest of the day sunbathing, reading, listening to music and people watching. The weather in Cairns so far has been lovely and warm during the daywith a bit of a breeze - it has been hot but not half as hot as Asia. It is actually quite nice not dripping with sweat everywhere we go! On an evening we have even had to put cardigans on which is a first! After a chilled out day by the lagoon we again filled up on our free evening meal before heading to bed for an early night prior to our adventure to the great barrier reef the next morning!

16/9/11 We were up early to get ourselves down to the Marina where we were to catch our boat to take us snorkelling on the great barrier reef! The boat was lovely, spacious and modern and was full of people from all over the world who were either doing diving or snorkelling. It was a real professional outfit......a bit different to the snorkelling trips we had been on in Asia! There were safety briefings, forms to fill in and site briefings before we jumped into the water at each site. The catering was amazing too! We set sail and were told we would be sailing for about an hour and half before we arrived at Flynn Reef for our first snorkelling adventure. We had been warned that it had been quite choppy out at sea to anyone prone to sea sickness had been advised to take sea sickness tablets. We thought we would be OK so didn't bother.....this turned out to be not such a wise idea! (Well for me and Laura anyway) We both soon started to feel pretty sick so were advised to go to the bottom of the boat and sit outside. When we got there there was already a number of people sitting looking pretty green armed with sick bags! I just managed to hold my breakfast down but Laura wasn't so lucky! We were both grateful when the boat stopped at our first site! We soon recovered however and had an amazing time snorklling! We saw some beautiful coral....more spectacular than we had seen anywhere else and also saw loads of different mulit coloured fish. Some of the fish were gigantic! In total we stopped off at 3 different sites on the reef and thoroughly enjoyed the day! A must do in Cairns! On the journey back to the shore me and Laura made the executive decision to take sea sick tablets and were fine! We were pretty shattered that night so again opted for an early night as we were due to leave the following lunch time on a 6 hour bus ride to Townsville our next port of call.

17/9/11 Our first Greyhound experience......We were on the bus for 6 hours heading to a plce called Townsville. We decided to stop here just for 2 nights, more to break up the jouney to Airlie Beach which was our next main destination where we plan to sail around the Whitsunday Islands for a couple of days! There wasn't a great deal going on in Townsville but we enjoyed a nice day lounging around on its beach before jumping back on the greyhound another 4 hours to Airlie Beach.

As i write this we have spent one night in Airlie Beach which has been fun.....will update you on this in the next installment! We have booked on a sailing trip which is for 2 days and 2 nights all around the Whitsunday Islands so we leave tomorrow afteroon on that adventure! Can't wait!

It's fab as always to hear from everyone, hope all is well in the UK. Look forward to catching up with everyone soon! xxxxxxx