Noosa, Hervey Bay & Fraser Island, QLD, Australia

A small, tropical town further along the East Coast approximately 2 hours from Brisbane is the quaint beach town of Noosa. Another spot with white sandy beaches and lovely warm aqua blue waters - great for sun bathers, beginner surfers, and bush walkers as there is also a National Park within walking distance.

One of the largest attractions that is done from Noosa is Australia Zoo, home to the now late Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter. Probably one of the best zoos I have ever been to with all native animals you could ever think of. Koala bears, grey & red kangaroos, tortoises, guanas, dingoes, crocodiles, alligators, beautiful tropical birds, kookaburras, wallabies etc... We spent the day at the zoo walking around, admiring the animals and also taking in the tributes made to Steve Irwin from fans from around the world.

Noosa also has it's own National Park where wild koalas are known to inhabit, so we walked around the park constantly looking upwards into the trees hoping to catch a glimpse of our little furry friends... to no such luck! We couldn't find them anywhere.

From Noosa, we took the bus down to Hervey Bay, the gateway city to Fraser Island. Fraser Island has been a place that I have most been looking forward to, so I was bubbling with excitment. The day we arrived we met our group of 11 people that we were to spend the next 3 days with, had a briefing and went shopping for food and drink supplies. The evening was spent bonding with the group, as the next day we were to embark on a 4x4 self drive adventure!

Up early to pack our 4x4 with food, drink, and camping gear, a short briefing on how to drive the vehicle and how to get yourself out of thick sand, and off we went 11 happy campers ready for the time of their life and 3 days of sand just reaching places you never knew it could! Fraser Island is a massive sandbar, 120km by 15km of sand, making it the largest sand island in the world. With its fresh water lakes, white sand, warm freshwater creeks and wide eastern beach, Fraser Island has a lot to offer and we couldn't wait to get started!

'Team B' was a laid back group, so planning each days activities, making sure we ave covered the things we wanted to do whilst negotiating the high tides was a fairly easy task. The sea is deadly with man eating Tiger Sharks, and fatal jelly fish so getting caught up in a high tide when driving along the beach or swimming was a huge no-go. Plus the fact that any evidence of salt water on the vehicle would mean our $60 bond per person would be lost...

Lake McKenzie, a spectacular freshwater lake with white sand spread all around it and the sun glistening down on it... beautiful! Lake Wabby and Lake Birrabbean were equally as stunning. From Indian Head you could look down and see man eating tiger sharks, sting rays, tuna fish and turtles - the waters look stunning but once you see what is in them, then you're no longer tempted!

2 nights on the island meant 'roughing it' on the beach and inland camp sites. Our 1st night was on the beach, with the ocean lapping the shore by our tents, camp was set up before sun set, dinner was cooked by torchlight, and then we just kicked back and star gazed... until 2 dingoes came sniffing around our camp. Dingoes can be nasty little fellas if provoked or fed, with many being culled for attacking children. These ones however, had a sniff around and wandered off - phew! With dingoes in mind, all toliet runs had to be done in 2s (yes, even the boys!), one carrying out their toliet duties which consisted of trees and a shovel whilst the other stood guide looking out for the vicious dogs.

An adventurous 3 days with lots of bumpy 4x4 driving, but no disasterous events such as toppling the 4x4 like we saw happen to another group - doh! Next stop, Airlie Beach and the Whitsunday Islands... it just gets better and better...

Surfers Paradise & Brisbane, QLD, Australia

A short distance from Byron laid the much discussed Surfers Paradise. Most locals and also other backpackers tend to tell you that there is no paradise in 'Surfers Paradise', with it's high rise buildings and tacky tourist attractions. I was intrigued to see just how tacky 'Surfers' really was so we took the bus and thought about staying overnight.

When we arrived we immediately could see that this part of Queensland was not particularly the most stunning, the high rise hotels were indeed spoiling what could have been a gorgeous beach with great surf - hence the name. So, a quick change of plans meant that we would spend the day in town and then catch an early evening bus out to Brisbane. We wandered the streets, took in the beach, watch the surf lessons, played a fun game of crazy golf and then after that we were pleased that we had seen Surfers Paradise, but also glad that we were leaving and heading to Brisbane when we would meet up with Matt and Tom, our Brisbane pals that we had met in Peru on the Inca Trail.

A quick phone call to Matt and we had secured our home for the next 5 nights. We wanted to make sure that we stayed in Brisbane over a weekend to catch a local cricket match - Ned Flander XI were the team - a cricket team we got to know lots about during our time with the cricket infatuated Matt. We even managed to find a passion for them too, so we were quite excited to be able to see a game.

Brisbane is a compact city, it has the normal 'city district' with the large skyscrapers, a huge bridge which Brisbaners say challenges the Sydney Harbour Bridge (it is quite impressive), South Bank which is decked out with a pool area, lots of cafes and bars and then the shopping streets in the city centre. I really took a liking to Brisbane, a laid back city with less hustle and bustle than the likes of Sydney, London, New York etc...

Saturday was THE day that Andy, Lynsey and I were able to see the mighty Ned Flanders XI (Matt & Tom's cricket team) in action. a tense morning, as Matt was getting himself in the zone to lead his team to a victory. We arrived at the cricket ground, got our lunch ready and drank beer whilst watching the cricket, a chilled, but fun day and we were proud that the Flanders managed the win - a common sight at the moment - Australians winning cricket in front of a English audience!

On Sunday, Matt was the perfect tour guide and took us off to the Glasshouse Mountains and Bribie Island, two sights approximately an hour away from Brisbane. We climbed one of the mountains, a steep 700 metres to reach a great view point, with a look out to the main mountain range, we then drove to Bribie Island in time for sunset. Simply stunning!

We were sad to say goodbye to Matt, Freya and Tommy, they all played perfect hosts, and we definitely had a wicked time. Hopefully I'll see them again soon in London!

Sydney & Byron Bay, NSW, Australia

A overnight bus from Melbourne took me to Sydney in 13 hours. As this was to be my 3rd time to Sydney in the last 3 years, I was keen to get out of the city centre and see parts of the area that I hadn't seen before.

A day tour to the Blue Mountains , approximately and hour and a half from the city was organised and off I went with Oz Experience. An early start to the tour meant that we would be able to see wild Grey Eastern kangaroos on our first stop of the day. We entered the base of the Blue Mountains National Park and went in search for Skippy. Kangaroos are unable to sweat and so the heat of Australia's summers meant that they head to bed just after the sun starts to heat up. Up over the hills, a group of about 15 kangaroos lazily lounged around and seem unfazed by a load of backpackers invading their space and attempting to get good camera shots. As long we didn't get too close to them, they we happy to let us be there. We saw to young males play fighting, and a mummy kangaroo with a Joey in its pouch, very cute!

We then headed up the mountain to see if they really were blue as the name suggests. Yep, there were - a haze is given off from the numerous eucalyptus trees in the forest, and as blue is the only colour in the spectrum that cannot break through light, the haze gives off a blue colour, hence the name of the mountains. A 2 hour hike took us in and around the rain forest and creeks, before stopping for lunch and having a diggeridoo lesson. We finished the day with a smaller hike to see the 3 Sisters, an aborigine site and headed back to our bus via the steepest railway in the world, which took us back up the mountain almost vertical.

The next day in Sydney was spent in Manly, a 30 minute scenic ferry ride away from Circular Quay - Sydney's main harbour. I spent the afternoon walking around and lazing on the packed out main beach before heading back to Circular Quay to meet up with Kelly and Caroline, 2 Irish friends that I travelled with in Brazil and Argentina. We chilled out in Sydney's Botanic Gardens catching up on our travels, before I headed for the bus stop to catch the overnight bus to Byron Bay.

Byron Bay, a small town renowned for its hippy and laid back atmosphere. This town has strong beliefs in alternative treatments, natural environments, and surfing! I imagine the town has changed a lot of the last 10 or so years, as it is quite kitted out for backpackers, which is why the hippy atmosphere I was expected wasn't so apparent. A lovely town though, with a great beach and the chance to see dolphins, and surfers doing what they do best!

Here, I met up with Andy and Lynsey, more friends that I met in South America who were to become my travelling buddies for the next 3 weeks. We made the 7km walk to Cape Byron which is the most easternly point of Australia, and a lighthouse sporting magnificent views over Byron Bay, with ocean on all sides. From the Easternly Point, we could see little pods of dolphins happily swimming around the area before heading back into town and checking out main beach.

The evenings were filled with drinking games with fellow travellers and if that wasn't bad enough, a visit to the infamous Cheeky Monkies bar in town - a venue not to be missed...?!?! Next stop, the 3 amigos are heading off to Surfers Paradise to see for ourselves whether the town is as ugly and tacky as everyone says it is!

Photos will be uploaded soon.

Melbourne, Australia

10 days in Melbourne have been an absolute ball! Christmas was spent with Nadia's family which was nice to spend the festive season with a family. For those of you thinking that Christmas day would be spent on the beach in front of a barbecue would be wrong. This year was the coldest Christmas on record for Melbourne, which for me pretty much felt like home! The day was spent like any other Christmas eating until your belly is about to burst, drinking and chatting. On Christmas Eve we even got a special treat when Santa came to deliver our Kris Kingle pressies!

Boxing Day in some ways was similar to home for the few times that I headed to Upton Park for a West Ham United boxing day treat. This year, we headed to The MCG to watch the 4th test of The Ashes. Kitted out in red and white & an inflatable hammer for any Australian that dared give me any abuse about the Poms being rubbish, I went along to the test match with an army of Australians in their patriotic green and gold outfits. The day was so much fun, and mainly consisted of drinking and chatting to all the friendly people sitting around us. The MCG holds 90,000 people, and Boxing Day being the most popular day was full to the brim with cricket and non cricket fans who were there just for a laugh and day of having fun.

By now, we are all aware of Australia's mighty thrashing and so the inflatable hammer came in quite handy! It was quite momentous to see cricket history with Shane Warne getting his 700th wicket, but apart from that my cricket watching only consisted of checking the score board every now and then, and then off to the bar for another drink! A great day had by all, despite the result!

The rest of my time in Melbourne was spent catching up with friends. Rebecca, Carly and Paul all took the time out to catch up and look after me. It felt like being back in London with them again.

For New Years some of us took off to Torquay, an hour away from Melbourne at the start of the Great Ocean Road. We spent the weekend chilling out, cooking up barbecues, cruisng a long the Great Ocean Riad to take in some sights and generally having a good time. We saw in the new year in a beer garden in town and managed to roll home around 3am. The best news of the night was a phone call from Rich and Kel in Thailand to say that I was gaining a sister in law! Yep, Rich popped the question on Phi Phi Island and from what I could tell Kelly was grinning from ear to ear! Congratulations bro' and Kell, I am so excited the whole of Melbourne knows...! I will definitely be celebrating for a long time whilst I am in OZ!

Off to Sydney tonight on and overnight bus where I will hopefully meet up with Caroline and Kelly, 2 Irish friends that we met in Brazil. I will come back to Melbourne in March after travelling the East Coast and the Northern Territory.