Melbourne

And now we are in Melbourne. We again stayed with some friends so get on our feet. We arrived on a Saturday and I started work on the Monday so I didn't really have time to get my bearings. I have been here a month now and I still have not fully got my bearings. I am enjoying going out though and there is plenty of shopping to do here. It is alot colder now but drier here. It is very different to everywhere else I have been!

Brisbane

We decided to drive to Noosa, which is north of the sunshine coast. It was very pretty, alot like Cairns again and we were really glad we went there! We managed to drive back through the Glass House Mountains as well. Nothing special but worth a look!

One of the places we visited was Byron Bay and it was really lovely! This is a place that everyone has to go when in Australia. It is the furthest Eastern point in Oz that you can go. Would be a great place to go surfing as well!

We had not originally decided to go to Brisbane but I am very glad we did now. We stayed with family friends who have a lovely house. They were kind enough to lend us their car as well so because we had that added freedom we got to see alot more.

A place that is not good to go surfing (for beginners anyway) is Surfers Paradise. There are lots of sand banks and rips just like in Bondi but I thought it was even worse that Bondi.

We decided to rent some boards and go down there. It was awful! We are both strong swimmers and ok when it comes to surfing now, but that is the second time we have felt out of our depth. We went out in the wrong conditions for sure! So if you are going to go, I would go with an instructor or make sure you pick the right weather and what ever you do, don't listen to the guy trying to get you to rent his board. We were out in the water for 10 minutes, we had paid 50 dollers to rent the boards for 2 hours and he did not give us a cent of our money back!

The second week that we were on the Gold Coast we caught the train into Brisbane. The city seemed smaller than Sydney. We had a look around and had some dredful food in a bar type restaurant place which looked nice but turned out to be horrible!

We regretted not seeing more of the city itself but we ran out of time in the end.

We wished we had gone to Frazer Island. It looks so beautiful and we were so sad when we didn't get the chance to go.

We also took a drive up Mount Tamboreen, about 5 minutes from where we were staying. There are some great views of Surfers Paradise from the top of the mountain. And we visited a few of the vineyards while we were up there. Very nice place! Very quiet! Do not call into the 7 eleven type shop on the way back down towards Nerang.... very odd!

Port Douglas

I was very sad to leave Sydney and my very first flat but it was made better by the fact I was heading off to paradise. We arrived in Cairns so excited. The weather was so hot and the views were stunning! We managed to arrange a bus to take us to Bay Villas resort in Port Douglas. Beware the young man is not very friendly at the desk of the tour bus. Anyway, it was an hour in the bus and the scenery along the way was really pretty, lots of golden beaches and parmtrees.

Our apartment was right next to the pool. It was very spacious and clean. Overall we couldnt have asked for better accomodation. The lady on reception was kind. She told us all about the area and even gave us a map. Couldn't help thinking we were being patronised though! We have met a few people on our journey who I am sure think we are idiots when it comes to finding our own way around. But we have managed perfectly fine!

Anyway, Port Douglas was very relaxing. We lazed about the pool for most of the week, we went for nice walks down to the beach in the evening. We cooked nice food and made our way through two tubs of Nutella!

Toward the end of the week we decided to go diving on the barrier reef. We went with the tour company Poseidon. The crew were very nice. Food could have been better but overall we had a great day and got some brilliant snaps! Would highly recommend going diving on the barrier reef!