Oz....5 months on

So, I think we have established I am rather rubbish at updating this thing... better than Louis mind you - last time I checked I'm pretty sure he was still in NZ! Hope I've been managing to keep in touch with most of you through scattered emails and facebook etc, but I'll give brief run through of whats been happening in the last few months....



Currently sitting in our homely(?) share house in the lovely Brisbane, complete with our own small furry companions - our landlord is currently discussing more tactics to get rid of them. We've been in Brisbane for about 10 weeks and are leaving on Tuesday to complete our Australia Chapter. Again, my high calibre CV helped me pick up a job straight away (or maybe just good timing) working in Tinbillys backpacker bar. Pretty sweet job, work with really good people and the work is pretty basic and always a good laugh so I landed on my feet with this one! Louis wasn't quite so lucky.... its seems Australia is getting hit with the credit crunch too, not much work around for backpackers unless you're female and have worked in a bar, and there is a lot of backpackers looking for work - I'm pretty sure over half of the Irish population is over here at the moment. He's been jumping about the place with jobs, some warehouse work, teaching soccer during the school holidays and mainly hitting the streets for some door to door sales - I'm sure you'll hear how unsuccessful and demoralising that whole experience has been for him!! Anyway, time is up for Brisbane as we have to do the rest of the east coast before heading to Asia in June.



Think the last time I updated this we were in Sydney which was great fun - apart from the last couple of days when I got the worst case of bed bugs EVER from our hostel there. Seriously thought I had some disease, and I think people who saw me in the street would have had the same thoughts. Nasty little buggers, but they soon calmed down with some antihistamines. Had a great week with Mum and Auntie Rosie living the life of luxury - think they enjoyed seeing Oz!



From Sydney we did a 5 day surf trip with the mighty Waves Surf School up to Byron Bay. Unfortunately we had crap weather for the first 3 days - lots of rain and wind do not make for fun beginners surfing! Sun came out the last two days though so got some good waves in - yes I actually caught some - wasn't quite the surfer I wanted to be but hey, I managed to stand up! Also got to see some of the beautiful beaches along New South Wales coast line, and checked out some pro surfers catching some 'sick' waves too. Had some messy nights with the Waves crew and made a good group of friends through it. Its true, theres nothing like getting up at 7am after a heavy night and straight into the surf to cure a hangover!



We spent a week in Byron Bay after the trip with some of the surf gang. Officially one of my fav places in Australia, its so chilled out and our hostel had its own private walkway right onto the beach. Would've been an awesome place to work, so we had a look about for jobs or flats on our first few days before realising it was apparently impossible to find work there - end of season and no one was hiring. So we just made the most of the beach and chilled out for a week and celebrated my birthday there.



After Byron we headed up to Surfers Paradise for a couple of nights. Great beach and nightlife, but definitely felt like I was in America - or Blackpool. Lots of tack, but thats what makes it Surfers. We stayed with some friends we made in Sydney in their fab apartment complete with pool which was a nice treat! Then it was on to Brisbane and here we are!



Been a good couple of months, but time to hit the road again and get back to the backpackers lifestyle! Hitting the usual spots up the coast in the next few weeks - Fraser Island, Whitsundays, Great Barrier Reef etc. Flying over to Darwin in June to roam around the Northern Territory for a week before flying to Bali baby!! Our plans for Asia are pretty non existent - after Bali and Lombok we fly to Singapore. Fly home from Beijing on the 29th of September (mark it in your diaries!). Whatever we do inbetween is a bit of mystery but planning on crossing through Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam before hitting China. Can't wait for it, and looking forward to meeting up with the Sarahs and Al!! And Jenna - got any more plans in place?



Anyway, keep me up to date with the gossip, love hearing from everyone. More pics up on Facebook soon, have given up uploading them to this as it takes too long. Got to keep you jealous eh?!