Don't think 6 weeks is going to be long enough!!

The first day we arrived it was pouring down with rain and was freezing so we spent most of the day in a shopping centre and then went to the cinema! Luckily, the weather picked up a couple of days later an we booked ourselves on a trip to Australia Zoo, made famous by Steve Irwin. We booked our trip with a guy who was a good friend of Steve Irwin's, so on our way to the zoo, which is about 1hr30mins from Brisbane, he was able to tell us stories about Steve Irwin's life and his family, the good he did for wildlife in Australia, and also the history of the zoo itself, which was originally set up by his parents as a reptile sanctuary. Since his death his wife Terri and his two children have taken over. His daughter Bindi is a huge star over in Australia, and is apparently starring in the next Free Willy movie! It really is a zoo like no other! Sarah and I had a great time. Because the zoo is all about protecting the wildlife (many of the animals have either had to be taken into captivity to protect them from poachers or have been injured and can no longer survive in the wild) the zoo is set out to give the animals as much of their natural habitat as possible. For example, the exotic birds have a huge rainforest to live in, the koalas have hundreds of Eucalyptus trees, and the Kangaroos have acres upon acres of land to jump around in. I hate to see animals locked in cages so it was nice to see there was no cruelty at this zoo. If ever you're near Brisbane it's definitely worth a visit. We also got to hold Millie the Koala, which was by far the best part of the day. She was so beautiful and cuddly!

We arrived back to Brisbane and met a couple we know from Koh Tao; Adam and Clare. They were doing there dive master training at the same dive resort we were at in January. I found out through facebook that they're now living in Brisbane so we met up for what was supposed to be couple of drinks.... but of course, it wasn't! The 2 hour trip to Byron Bay the following morning was pretty tough!

We spent 3 nights in Byron Bay an loved it. Our hostel, Aquarius Backpackers, was amazing, and by far the best we have stayed in so far. We had a huge room of 8 people, an en suite bathroon (which is a major luxury when you're backpacking!) and even a back garden! We got on great with all the people we were sharing a room with too. Along with me and Sarah there was two scottish girls called Lynsey and Zoe, two Canadian guys called TJ and Sean, a Canadian girl called Lynsey and a girl from London called Charlotte. We all had a great few days there and was very sad to leave.

Our next stop was Surfers Paradise, just an hour from Byron Bay. We only really had one full day there so we decided to go to Dreamworld theme park, which was awesome! As many of you know I love my big rollercoasters so it was a perfect day for me. My favourite ride was the Giant Drop, which is the tallest free-falling ride in the world. It stands at 120metres high and drops you all the way down with a 5 second free fall. I guess it was one way of preparing me for our sky dive in Cairns! Another good ride was the Tower of Terror, which accelerates its passengers to 160kph in 7 seconds before climbing to 38 storeys high.

Moving on from Surfers Paradise, we had to go back to Brisbane just for a night to catch a flight back to Sydney. As it was Easter Saturday, Sarah and I decided to go out in Brisbane, despite having to get up at 5.30am for our flight. We also met Adam for a few drinks too, who insisted we do tequila shots! We rolled in at 2.30am having had a great night but not at all looking forward to getting up 3 hours later!

We arrived in Sydney very hungover but very excited for Helen's arrival. She arrived early the following morning, and we celebrated her arrival with a bottle of champagne and a bottle of wine..... only in the afternoon of course! The afternoon drinking completely knocked Helen out though as she was so jet lagged so we went back to the hostel (Original Backpackers in Kings Cross where Sarah and I stayed before) and Helen spent most of the evening in bed.

As Helen was desperate for a sun tan we spent the week visiting different beaches in Sydney, including Bondi, Manly and Coogee. They are all short bus or train rides away from where we were staying in Kings Cross. We also visited the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge, although Sarah and I had already seen them on our first visit to Sydney.

Last Friday (April 17) we got a flight further north to Hervey Bay, which is where I am as I write this. I absolutely love this place I think i could live here! The beach is stunning. We spent just one night on Friday at our hostel, Fraser Roving Backpackers, where we had a safety meeting regarding our Fraser Island two day trip and meeting our group of nine. You've probably heard at the Examiner, but the lovely Oliver (Diane Briggs son) was in our group.... small world!

After picking up our four wheel drives, and getting our food and drink for the weekend, we all set off for Fraser Island for a two day camping trip. There was 27 of us altogether with nine people in each vehicle. Joining me, Sarah and Helen were Oliver and his friend Dan, a French-Canadian guy called Patrick and three guys called Sam, Matt and James. The driving was up to Oliver and Dan, and me, sarah and Helen as the rest were under 21, although Oli and Dan did most of the driving as us girls were quite scared when we got behind the wheel! The day we arrived there was a crash on the island where two people died (you've all probably heard about it back home) and one has been left paralysed from the neck down, so I was a little bit on edge after hearing that. It transpires that one of the guys killed in the accident is a friend of Danielle's (one of our uni girls) and when myself, Sarah and Danielle had a joint leaving do before we all left he actually came to it.

Anyway, on a brighter note, we all came out of it unscathed and had an amazing time. It was my first taste of camping too so everybody had a laugh when I asked how to pitch a tent, as I really didn't have a clue!
After finding a place to camp and putting up our tents, We spent the first ay on Fraser at Lake Wabi, which has amazing sand dunes. There is a picture of me, Sarah and Helen on the dunes and the background is just white sand and clear blue sky line, it was stunning. It was nice to go to a lake and have a wash as you are not allowed to swim in the sea. It is far too choppy, has lots of jelly fish and there was apparently a sighting of a great white shark the day we arrived.
After spending a few hours at Lake Wabi, we all headed back to our camp site for dinner and drinks. Patrick was master chef that evening and cooked us a bbq. Even though there were 3 seperate cars, all 27 of us stuck together, so the drinking games in the evening got pretty messy. I'm ashamed to say, but me, Sarah and Helen got through 10 litres of wine (goon) in 2 nights! I think we were all in bed by 11pm the first night! We all had a great night though, and it was amazing to be camping on a beautiful deserted beach.

However, as soon as we got into our tents, it statred pouring down with rain. Some idiot had taken our waterproof cover off our tent so water leaked in. Helen managed to sleep through it but me, Sarah and Oli had to sleep in the camper van, I have never had a more uncomfortable nights sleep in my life! We never have found out who pulled our waterproof cover off.

On our second day on Fraser Island we headed to Indian head, where the accident had taken place the day before. I did a little bit of driving along the beach, but it can be pretty scary if the tide is high or driving on soft sand, so I decided that was my fair share of driving done.
Indian Head is supposed to be a hot spot for shark sightings, although we didn't see any. It was pretty beautiful though, so we spent a couple of hours there before heading to to Eli Creek, which was just further along the beach. We all had a lovely afternoon there and found a camp site before it got dark to pitch our tents and make dinner. Once again, the drinking games got underway, and I think we made it up slightly later that night to about midnight.

As Monday was our last day on Fraser we all got up early before 7am to get to Lake McKenzie. We had all heard it was the best place on Fraser and as we had to get the boat back to Hervey Bay at 2.30pm, we all wanted to spend as much time there as possible. The drive there was horrible as we had to go over so many rocks and it took us over two hours to get there. However, Oli being the sensible driver he is got us there safe and sound!
We arrived and all agreed that the long drive was well worth it. Lake McKenzie is probably the most beautiful and stunning places I have ever visited, and I am sure my pictures won't do it justice at all! The lake itself is massive, with clear blue water, and the sand is pure white. I thought I had landed in paradise. We were all gutted to have to leave and get the boat back to Hervey Bay, and that our Fraser Island adventure was coming to an end, as I loved every minute of it. If ever you visit Australia I would recommend it is the one thing you have to do.

I must go now as we are leaving on a night bus shortly to go to Airlie Beach and begin our Whit Sundays adventure. We are meeting Danielle tomorrow so we are all very excited after having not seen her in over 4 months!

Will update you all after the Whit Sundays and Cairns..... that is if we are still alive after our sky dive - Fingers crossed!"