An Update

Hi Everyone

This is just a quick (and probably final) note to let you all know what's been happening recently.

Following my last update since I got back from my amazing trip earlier this year, I went back to my old job at Campion Willcocks which was great. I was so glad to have money coming in straight away, and it really is a lovely place to work. My team manager took me on knowing that it would be temporary as I would be looking for a job in the music industry, so I started back in May while occasionally applying for jobs. There weren't many around, and when I did apply I only had a couple of replies which were rejections =(. I do, however, know that this is what most people go through and at least I had a good job at the time. Finally I was given a chance when I applied for what sounded like my perfect job: UK Content Editor (with knowledge of Indian music) for a digital music company in London. I hadn't heard back for a while, so just a few days before I was due to go on holiday with Dan to Cyprus (because 3 months holiday a year is just not enough!) I decided to phone and ask whether they'd looked at my CV. I had my doubts because they wanted someone with music industry experience, but I have a good knowledge of Indian music so I really thought I could do the job. Anyway, an hour after making that call I received an email requesting an interview and they wanted to see me straight away. I went the next day, the interview went really well and later that day they offered me the job! I had to make the decision very quickly (and sign all the paperwork etc from Cyprus as we had just arrived!) and make sure I could leave my current job a bit sooner than my contracted 4 weeks notice. Luckily they were very understanding and let me go early which was brilliant. I had my interview on 18th August and I started last Monday, 12th September.

My new job title: UK Content Editor at Omnifone. I doubt you would have heard of Omnifone because they have created products which they have then sold onto companies who can put their own name to it, but here is a little summary of what they do and what my job is:
Omnifone created 'Music Unlimited' which is a cloud music service (basically you subscribe and have access to it rather than downloading anything) which we power globally for Sony. This is called Sony Qriocity (pronounced curiosity) - at www.music.qriocity.com. I am solely responsible for all the content on that site, for the UK service, so most things you see on there I have put there myself! The content is anything from new releases and the charts, to the top 100 Bollywood songs or Classical tracks. My job is to update the site with new music, delete old stuff or weird things that are generated by the system depending on what the users listen to, for instance I have been deleting a large number of Christmas songs from the playlists this week! Why are people listening to that rubbish already?! Most of my day is spent listening to music and creating cool playlists. It's great, I love it.

The Sony client keeps me busy from Wednesdays to Fridays, and on Mondays and Tuesdays I work on our new system: The RIM BBM Music (Research In Motion Blackberry Messenger Music application). Basically this is an application for Blackberry users which we are currently creating but won't be launched until 10th October - here's a brief report from the Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/blackberry/8722946/Blackberry-launches-BBM-Music.html
It's a really fun thing to work on. Again, I am looking after the UK service so I am in weekly contact with Sony, Universal, EMI and Warner record labels to keep me up to date with their release priorities. For example, I had a conversation with my contact at Sony who went through all all their important releases over the next month such as Matt Cardle's (won the X Factor last year) up-coming single and album releases which they would want us to promote on the service. I will then make sure that I make that music available at the right time, along with images to promote it on the service. It's pretty cool because my contacts send me all their future releases so I get to listen to it before most people!

I can't believe how much I am enjoying work - I never thought it could be that fun! I usually get to work around 10am, and finish around 6pm but they are pretty flexible - because I run the UK service on my own, it's up to me to make sure I get my work done so if I have to leave early or come in late then it's ok. I have my own work Blackberry (one of the perks of working on a Blackberry service is we all get our own phone which is paid for!) and I have the option to work from home if I have to, but it's far better being in the office with the rest of the editorial team. There are about 10 editors who look after the different services around the world from Taiwan to Spain, and they are generally from those countries so it is a multicultural environment! Our editorial department is based in a really nice office in Chiswick (they had to move since the company got too large) at the start of Chiswick High Street, and the rest of Omnifone has remained within the Island Records studios in Hammersmith. I drive to work at the moment which is fine, traffic can be a real pain and it can take me anything between 40 minutes and 2 hours but I knew it would be like that so can't complain.

The days just fly by, and tomorrow I have my first meeting in person Universal Music based in Kensington so I am looking forward to that.

If you have any music requests, do let me know. I have already put a Pink Floyd track on the Sony service for Mum because I was telling her about how one of the directors worked with the likes of Genesis and Pink Floyd back in the day, so she had a couple of suggestions!

Anyway I hope you're all well and I also hope you didn't get too bored of the techy language! (sorry Nanna you probably didn't have a clue what I was talking about!)

Love Eleanor xx

All Good Things Must Come to an End

I am sad to say that tonight is my last night travelling, and so this will be my final blog. I am, however, really looking forward to getting home and seeing everyone.

Taken from Gili Trawangan - Lombok is the land in the background

The beautiful beach

We ended up spending 6 nights on Gili Trawangan because we enjoyed it so much. It was so peaceful during the day, but lots of bars etc at night to keep us entertained. They also had an outdoor cinema, and little shacks just off the beach where you can watch a DVD of your choice so there was plenty to do in the evenings. As you can see from the photos, the beach was gorgeous, so we just didn't want to leave! We were mostly lucky with the weather, despite the constant lightening throughout the night (although one night I think I had had too much cheese before bed and I'm pretty sure the flashing was in my head...bit worrying). On Monday it poured with rain all morning, but cleared up again after lunch which was good.

Me with one of the sweet little ponies and cart

 

 

 

 

 

Our accommodation on Gili Trawangan with huge open air bathroom, just a few steps away from the beach

On Wednesday we got the boat back to Padangbai, then the bus to Kuta. We haven't done much back in Kuta, just relaxing and enjoying our last few days. Although, you seem to be luckier with the weather at home by the sounds of it! We have had rain almost all day today, and yesterday morning! Luckily it is still very warm, but I'm quite bored of it now. Hopefully for our last day tomorrow, the weather will be nice. Our flight isn't until tomorrow evening at 10.40pm, and we have a nice long journey - 1 stop in Singapore, then a 7 hour wait in Doha, the finally landing at Heathrow at about 6pm on Sunday. It's going to be painful! Can't wait to get back though =)

Thank you for reading my blog, I'm so pleased to hear lots of people have been enjoying it =). Sorry that this last one is probably the least exciting - we haven't done much for the last 2 weeks!

Can't believe it's all over! Lots more stories to tell when I get home I'm sure.

See you all soon

Love Eleanor xx

From Cairns to Bali to the Gili Islands!

Sunrise canoe at the lake

Apologies for the delay in updating everyone - new country to get used to!
After the Whitsundays we spent our last week or so in Cairns. We stayed at Gilligans which is a backpacker resort rather than hostel, and the nicest place we've stayed so far. We actually really liked Cairns as a place too - lots to do, and we knew lots of people and met more so it was good fun. 2 of our days were spent on a tour of the Atherton Tablelands, also known as Cairns Highlands. It was a great group of 8 girls and all got on really well. We were taken on jungle walks, to waterfalls, lakes and platypus pools (but didn't see any - apparently we scared them away by screaming bloody murder every time we had a disgusting leech grab onto us!) on the first day, then on the second day we got up at 5am to do a sunrise canoe on the lake. It was an amazing experience, and we even saw a rare tree kangaroo! The kangaroo was fast asleep in the tree so our guide got out and climbed up the tree a bit to shake it til he reluctantly woke up and moved so we could all see him! It was very cute. After breakfast we went on a bike ride and another jungle walk in between, in which we went on a platypus hunt and had to wade through one of their pools, got attacked even more by leeches and was a generally traumatic experience. At the end of that we went to another lake to have a swim, then got to see some little turtles swimming around! It was a great trip, made even better by the fact that we all got on so well that we then ended up going out together that night.

That's me having a great time canoeing, even though it's only 6am!

Sam and I standing in part of the giant Cathedral Tree - named this because the growth looks like the pipes from an organ

Our group at 5:30am getting ready for our sunrise canoe

Yes it rained a LOT!!

The next day was our boat trip to the Great Barrier Reef to snorkel and scuba dive. The boat was quite small with 30 passengers which was good, and the dive team were great -when we first got on the boat they promised to try and give us the best day of our trip in Australia, if not our lives. I thought that was a bit ambitious after we've done Fraser island and the Whitsundays but actually, it was definitely in my top 3 of the best days in Australia. The weather was perfect, and as we made our way to Green Island we were given a talk about our introductory dive. I was quite nervous, it being my first dive, and I was concerned about my ears and also about flying the next day, but the instructors were brilliant. They put my mind at ease so I started to really look forward to it. We anchored up at green island and first of all we went snorkelling. The water was beautifully clear and 29 degrees so couldn't really ask for better conditions! We saw stunning coral, hundreds of tropical fish, and an octopus which was really cool. Then at about 11am it was time to get ready for our dive. I could not believe how heavy the oxygen tanks were - I could barely stand up! We were in a little group of 3, with 2 dive instructors between us. One of them wanted to take me on my own to make sure I was ok with my ears, and took time to help me learn to equalise as we got deeper. My ears were actually fine which was great, so I could just relax and enjoy the dive. As it's an introductory dive, he kept hold of my hand the whole time which was reassuring as it's so surreal diving for the first time and good to have someone right next to you the whole time. The first thing he pointed out behind me as we got in the water was a shark! It was a black tipped reef shark and fairly small, but a scary shark nonetheless! We saw giant clams, angel fish, clown fish and a star fish, among loads of other beautiful fish. It was absolutely incredible. I felt really lucky to have done my first dive on the Great Barrier Reef, and liked the fact we just got straight in the sea without training in a boring swimming pool first! The half hour dive went very quickly! I had an underwater camera with me but I'm pretty sure the photos will be dreadful - I imagine I will be presented with lots of blue blur and not much else, but fingers crossed I got some fish in them! If they're not too bad I will put them up on here once I've got the camera developed back home. Anyway, a brilliant last day in Australia and I was sad to be leaving...

Me and Sam having cocktails in Kuta...living the life eh

Going to Bali next wasn't too much of a chore though! Apart from the 5 hour wait in one of the most depressing places on earth - the Darwin airport transit lounge. once we arrived in Denpasar airport we bought our visas and headed for Kuta. Kuta is not much different to Australia, with all its surf shops and everything. Not quite the Bali I was expecting, but we had a lovely hotel and stayed for a few days to get our bearings and get used to another Asian country again after the home comforts of Australia. Next we went up to Ubud which was beautiful. We stayed in monkey forest and had such a nice place to stay but sadly for some reason it was full of horrible french snobs who hated me and Sam. Also the town is far more upmarket than Kuta so more expensive, but one of the worst things about the town though was the general lack of good and polite service which is quite the opposite of what I was expecting of the Balinese people. Aside from all of that though we did enjoy our stay there, and I saw one of my favourite things so far in Indonesia - a traditional gamelan music performance. Gamelan is the traditional music of Indonesia (especially Bali and Java), where there a large ensemble of musicians play instruments such as xylophones, metallophones, bamboo flutes etc. I heard the music in the distance quite late at night and walked towards it, finding myself in an open air temple where the group of smartly dressed men were playing the music. There was no audience, but they let me in to watch for a while and took some videos (I will attach one when I can download it from my camera!). I thought it was really amazing, and was so glad to be able to see it after having studied it at some point during my music courses.

Gamelan in the temple - I apologise for the terrible quality but it was the best I could get! The video should be better...

Next stop after Ubud was Padangbai, a little town by the coast where all the boats go from to Lombok and the Gili Islands. We stayed there for a couple of nights but there wasn't much going on there, although it was quite charming and much cheaper which was a bonus! Yesterday we got the boat over to Gili Trawangan, the largest of the Gili Islands. I love it here - there are NO cars, motorbikes or anything with a motor! It is quite strange, and so wonderfully quiet. The only modes of transport are walking (because the island is so small!), bicycle or pony and cart. The beach is gorgeous, and there is an abundance of funky chilled out cafes with loads of live music and restaurants with cheap fresh fish, and actually that's about it! Diving is big here, but I don't want to do another introductory dive here - the Great Barrier Reef was special enough. We're staying in a really cool bungalow just opposite the beach, with a huge room and massive open air bathroom! It was quite surreal last night, showering outside with the Muslim call to prayer floating through the dusk air...I think we will be staying here as long as we can until we have to go back to Kuta to catch our flight home next Saturday.

Believe it or not I am looking forward to coming home! =) xxxx

Wonderful Whitsundays

The Eureka II

On Wednesday we did another one of the main activities to do on the East Coast of Australia - Sailing around the Whitsundays. We were really looking forward to it, and it was a dream. We were on one of the Whitsunday's fastest racing yachts called Eureka II. There were 15 people on board, including the 2 crew, a French family (the youngest was 17), a Swiss couple and 2 girls who had brought along their friend, who I referred to as Princess Shelby because she was a total nightmare. Anyway, it wasn't the best group we could have hoped for but the best thing was the boat itself was lovely and the weather was perfect. We left early on Wednesday morning and got the sails up for a couple of hours when the wind was strong enough. The boat was anchored at midday just next to Hamilton Island where we had lunch on deck, then did our first snorkel. The big downside to the Whitsundays is that the water is beautiful but it is full of the dangerous box jellyfish and irukandji jellyfish, so we have to wear these really attractive stinger suits which are like thin wetsuits covering you from head to toe. There are also sharks around but they are less of a worry. As you can imagine, I was slightly nervous about swimming after being told to avoid the jellyfish as we may well see them floating around despite the fact they are about an inch big! I pulled my suit right over my hands and would've pulled it over my head if I could have. Anyway, it wasn't too bad - we saw lots of weird things floating around but tried to not think about it too much because I wasn't concentrating on the amazing reef and fish we were meant to be seeing! The water was so warm too, it was really cool. Saw all sorts of fish, but sadly no turtles yet. Once back in the boat, relieved that we were still alive, we settled down on the front of the boat to dry off and chill out with our books while we sailed to the bay where we anchored for the evening. That night was extremely hot down in the cabins, but quite comfortable to sleep because the water was so still.

Inside the Eureka II

Whitehaven Beach

The next morning we made our way to Whitehaven Beach - one of the top 10 beaches in the world. We arrived there before 9am as the tide was in, and it was a bit cloudy but still looked pretty good. We got in our lovely stinger suits to loll about in the warm shallow water, and managed to see a little lemon shark swimming around near to us. About half an hour later, the sun fully came out, the clouds cleared and the water began to recede so it became very shallow over the sand and was just incredibly beautiful. I wondered around and must have taken about 50 photos. It was unreal, a true paradise.

  

Daring to wade into the water without a stinger suit

♥ Paradise ♥

The brilliant white sand there is 98% pure silica so it's an excellent exfoliant and great for cleaning jewellery - I gave my ring a bit of a polish and it came out gleaming! As you can imagine, it was difficult to leave! But we had to get back to the boat for lunch, and another marine reef to see that afternoon. We were supposed to be able to see turtles there, but sadly we were really unlucky and didn't see any. We then sailed onto a quiet bay where we were to stay for the night. It was such a lovely evening, as we sat and watched the sunset. After dinner, we sat on deck under the moon and had lots of cold glasses of wine. We were just thinking the whole time, this is the life - I would definitely like a boat please. That night was even hotter (there had been no wind at all that day so we had to use the motor instead of the sails) so most of us slept up on deck. I opened up the sail bag and slept on the main sail which was rather comfy, until the wind picked up and it was so noisy I couldn't get back to sleep! Also the moon was the brightest I have ever seen - no need for a torch! I ended up going back down into the cabin to sleep because it was much quieter, but sleeping up on deck under the stars was fun while it lasted.

View of Whitehaven from the lookout

One of the other sailing boats at sunset

The beautiful water as the tide goes out

Pulling up the sails

We set off early the next morning for a fish reserve, where we snorkled again and saw so many amazing brightly coloured tropical fish. There were zebra striped fish, electric blue and purple fish, and loads more. They were so funny because they were obviously really curious and kept getting really close to us and following us around! We also saw a small stingray which was cool. After lunch was our final stop of the trip, which I cannot remember the name of but it was a big stretch of sand which runs inbetween 2 islands. It was quite an unusual sight, and again it was so incredibly hot on the Friday the water was extremely inviting! After that it was time to start heading back to Airlie Beach Marina where we began. It was about a 3 hour journey, and although there wasn't much wind, our captain wanted to sail for a bit so that we got a bit more actual sailing done. Sam and I pulled up the sails this time which was fun! (Had the help of the large strong Swiss guy, but we still did some of the work!).  We all suffered a bit because there was no shade on the boat and it was too hot in the cabin, and the only bit there was constantly occupied by Princess Shelby (she was allergic to gluten, allergic to heat, everything you can be allergic to etc) so most of us got a little bit burnt. One of the French girls woke up with a massive bottom lip due to sunburn - that was quite amusing. When we got back we did get numerous comments from friends about how tanned we are now!


Anyway, I was just so pleased we had great weather because so many people we've spoken to have had rubbish weather and did not manage to see Whitehaven in all its glory. There must be someone looking down on us...lets hope the weather continues because we will be doing our first scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef on Wednesday which is exciting. We are now in Cairns, and tomorrow we are spending 2 days and 1 night on Atherton Tablelands (AKA Cairns Highlands) where we will do hiking, biking and canoeing through the rainforest, where there are lots of lakes, swimming holes and waterfalls. We then have our Green Island scuba dive and will be flying to Bali on Thursday! Can't believe we only have 4 days in Australia left, but I am really looking forward to getting to Bali.


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Fraser Island! The world's largest sand island =)

We have just got back from our 3 day Fraser Island trip and had the BEST time!! It was quite a large group of people - about 60 altogether, so there were about 7 people to each car. We had a really nice group, with 3 Dutch girls we met in Byron, then one English girl travelling on her own and one poor guy - an Israeli called Matan who was quite quiet, or possibly slightly overwhelmed being the only male of the group! Each group had their own 4x4 truck to carry all passengers and some camping equipment, food and large cool boxes for food and alcohol. In Australia most travellers tend to drink this vile "wine" called goon, because it's seriously cheap so we had 4 boxes of that for the next 3 days. There were 6 trucks driven by the groups, then 2 tag cars which we follow. They are very strict now about speed limits and so on, so we all felt very safe. I was the first to drive, and gained everybody's approval straight away by managing to reverse out of the hostel without crashing the monster truck. It was a 20 minute drive to the ferry, and on the way we had to go into 4 wheel drive once we got onto the sand. There was an Israeli girl driving extremely badly in front of me, so our tag driver got out to speak to her, then came and said to me he had a feeling she would get stuck in the sand so to keep a good distance! The next challenge was driving onto the ferry through some water, then after the 10 minute journey, a long bumpy track through the bush. Our tag driver said we had to go fast in order to not get stuck, so that was good fun. Not so much for the poor girls sat right at the back who got thrown in the air at every bump, along with the cool boxes!! Then it was the first time driving on the beach, which was really cool. We stopped to have lunch on the beach where we would be camping for the first night, then the guy in our group drove for a bit. He stalled the truck a good 5 times before setting off (he says he hasn't driven manual for a while..) then later managed to get stuck in the sand. I had to take over the driving to get us out, which I think he might have been slightly embarrassed about! Anyway, next stop was Champagne Falls - a collection of large rock pools where you can swim. You are strictly not supposed to swim in the sea because there are sharks everywhere and the rip is so strong it can take you out to sea within 3 minutes, and the water comes up so high so quickly you wouldn't stand a chance. So swimming in the rock pools is safe. The reason it is called Champagne Falls, is because as the waves come in they fill up the pools and  foam like champagne. I managed to experience at first hand a very large wave which washed me down into the lower pool, and scraped my leg all the way down a huge rock. It was very funny for everybody watching, but I stepped out the water and my leg was dripping with blood from big gashes on my knee and shin! That gained me the reputation of being accident prone....Ah well nothing a bit of savlon and some plasters can't fix!

First night it took about 3 hours for our group to get a canvas set up and make dinner, and set up our tents. I was not looking forward to camping. Especially with all the deadly snakes and spiders on the island which they don't tell you about until you get back! We were also advised to go to the toilet (there wasn't actually a toilet - most people went in the shallow sea!)  in pairs because this is the home of dingos, the wild dogs who look like normal dogs which can be quite disconcerting. They are very curious creatures, and might just follow you to see what you're up to! After dinner everyone sat around drinking and chatting, then went to bed for a sleepless night. At least I did anyway, and kept being woken up by one of the trucks having it's horn beeped throughout the night. It was weird, I don't think anyone would actually beep the horn all night and no one found out who it was so we could only assume it was a dingo that had got into one of the trucks and kept walking on the horn. Very annoying. Thought it was about 9am when we woke up the next morning in the bright sunshine, but it was only 7. Made breakfast and headed to Eli Creek for a morning swim since we don't have showers here. In the afternoon we went to the most incredible place on Fraser Island - Lake Mackenzie. It was just so incredibly beautiful, with the clearest water and whitest sand I have ever seen. That evening we camped further down the beach, in more comfortable deep sand. We made ourselves a cosy set up to cook in, and put all our tents together. Dinner was really nice - Asian chicken stir fry. In the group next to us a guy said he was standing right next to the rubbish bag, when a dingo came and stole it. He did say, however, how impressed he was by the speed at which the dingo demolished the entire bag. Said dingo then came and checked out our group, curious to see whether we had left anything lying around. It looked me right in the face, so I stared back until it gave up and skulked off. I am known for my death stare, so there you go - while everyone else ran away screaming I used it to good effect! During the night a whole pack of them were howling, but their pathetic wooing didn't sound too threatening! Still, wouldn't want to find myself surrounded by the curious creatures in the middle of the night.

On the last day we went to Lake Wabby, where there are huge sand dunes to cross on the way. We were later told that funnel web spiders live in holes across the sand dunes, so I definitely wouldn't have gone had I known that before! It was a beautiful lake to swim in, with lots of fish that come and exfoliate your skin if you sit still enough. I drove the last bit on the way back, because nobody wanted to drive onto the ferry! The tide had come in so we had to drive slowly through the shallow sea most of the way. Fraser Island was definitely the best thing we have done so far in Australia! Although I was quite looking forward to getting back and having a shower - there was sand quite literally everywhere.

Here are some photos:

                                             Here's our group with our truck

                                           Being washed down Champagne Falls...

                                          Me and Sam with a cup of goon over dinner

                                                    Me in Lake Mackenzie

                                                Us girls in Lake Mackenzie - it really does look that good!

                                          Driving the monster truck =)


SO much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! xxxxxxxxx

Finally more photos as promised from Nimbin and Kingscliff

                                                     Me and Sledge

                                         View from Sledge and Danielle's Kingscliff apartment - beautiful!

                                         The house in Lillian Rock

                                                    The toilet - I know you're all curious!!! Check out the view!

 

 Me, Sledge, Amelie, Danielle and Sam

Byron Bay then a few days with friends

After surf school we went up to Byron Bay where we stayed in a backpacker lodge called the Arts Factory. It's a really cool place, with cafes, bars, spa, heated pool, cinema etc. and the accommodation is a bit different. There are loads of different places to stay - from dorms to tents, and we stayed in a 6 bed teepee for our first night. That's literally what it was - a solid teepee with 6 beds in it. It was a bit damp after it had been raining but still good. So good, in fact, that we decided to stay another night because it didn't work out any more expensive than anywhere else in Byron. During our stay we went on a tour to Nimbin. The little town of Nimbin, an hour inland from Byron, is an interesting place. It is known for it's total disregard for the laws against drugs so this is where people go to get supplies, and to smoke openly. The tours are for people to see the crazy town and the crazy people, and to buy marijuana if they like. It was a bit strange when we got stopped on the way in and the immigration police came on board our bus to check that we all had visas. Thought it was weird, but anyway we carried on into town. It's very hippy-ish with lots of funky little shops and some mad old hippies and slightly mental aborigines roaming around. Then the police arrived. I don't see why they don't just leave the town alone, it's fine as it is. Apparently the police rarely come here - just our luck they came today! The locals screamed and shouted at them, it was all quite amusing to watch. Anyway, we left the town after a couple of hours to go and have a BBQ lunch. Now our tour guide had warned us that once before, in all his 18years of taking these tours, he has only ever been stopped once before. He said if anybody had any illegal substances on them to put them on the floor, or throw them up in the luggage rack so the dogs don't find it in case we do get stopped by the police. Well, of course we did! They bought the sniffer dog on the bus, and found everything in the luggage racks so took it all away. The dog (who was the most beautiful Labrador - though we obviously didn't want to like him!) got particularly excited about 1 bag on the bus belonging to 3 Canadians. They denied having anything on them, but when the police discovered $300 dollars worth of a wide variety of marijuana products in the bag, they were officially cautioned. So the police ruined all our fun. The next day the story of the police crackdown in Nimbin made it into the newspapers, and as it turns out they didn't find any illegal immigrants. Well thank goodness for that...And to top it all off as the bus pulled away from the police it got a flat tyre which was just excellent. BBQ lunch was great though, it was 4pm by the time we managed to have it but it was worth the wait. First BBQ in Australia would you believe! `

We loved the Arts Factory so much that we ended up staying for 3 nights! Then on Sunday we met up with a friend of Mum and Dad's, Scott Sledge, who they met when travelling about 100 years ago. He picked us up from the local airport (took us a while to find him because he doesn't have a mobile...) and took us to his apartment on the beach in Kingscliff, right next to the border between New South Wales and Queensland. There we met his wife, Danielle. They have a lovely place, with a fantastic view across the creak which leads into the sea. We went snorkeling in the beautiful turquoise creek that afternoon and saw loads of fish and crabs. We stayed there for one night, enjoying the beautiful weather by the coast, then on the Monday Sledge and Danielle were heading to their other home up in the hills in Lillian Rock, near Nimbin so they took us with them, taking us out for a lovely Thai meal on the way. They tend to split their time between Kingscliff and Lillian Rock, so it was perfect timing for us to see both places! Sledge and Danielle own 101 acres of land up there, and they built their own house to their own specification. They are active supporters of the Green political party so as you can imagine, the house is very environmentally friendly. It is all built from the wood within the huge rainforest where they live, they only use solar power and collect rainwater from the roof for a steady water supply. They also have a self composting toilet, which is new to me. What I loved about their house was the fact that they put in huge windows everywhere to make the most of the stunning landscape, so the toilet actually looks straight out into the forest! The one downfall of the place was the MONSTER spiders everywhere. These were the biggest spiders I have ever seen in my life. Sledge assured us that they are huntsman spiders and completely "harmless", but I did have to apologise later for the screams in the night as Sam and I had to go to the toilet together at 3am as we were so scared! We stayed with Sledge for 2 nights and on our last night we went up to their son Sebastian's house, where he lives with his wife Ruby and their 1 year old daughter, Amelie. Sebastian built his own house on Sledge's land, but it's much more modern with TVs and normal bathrooms etc! I do admire the way they live, having built the house of their dreams, but I couldn't do it with all the spiders! Sledge and Danielle are highly active within local politics, often organising protests against any plans to disrupt the landscape or wildlife for example, so they are very busy at the moment. Sledge has made many proud appearances in the local newspapers for his "artwork" on the roads to protest car rallies in the area, so he is quite well known! Anyway, we had great fun staying with them and Josie - they are expecting you next!

We are now back in Byron Bay, going to a big music concert tomorrow up the coast where they are holding the international surf championships. Then on Saturday we will be heading up to Noosa, then we will do our Fraser Island tour which I'm really looking forward to. Sam and I are both quite burnt today, however many times everyone warns eachother how strong the sun is everyone still gets burnt on days like today! It's really hot and has been for the last 5 days or so, but there has just been a huge storm so I think it'll cool down a bit now. I'm sure you'll be pleased to hear it is forecast to be cloudy tomorrow =(. Sorry but my card reader is not working so I will have to add more photos shortly...

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                                         Sledge, Danielle and I in Kingscliff (more to come)

First Rule of Surfing: Always Look Cool

We went to Woolgoolga (4 hours South of Byron Bay) for 2 days/2 nights at surf school last week. I thought I might hate it, but I absolutely loved it! We stayed in cabins onsite by the beach and all food was included in the price. Our first lesson was 3 hours long, and we had to sit in a class to learn the basics. Our instructor said the first rule of surfing is to always look cool. Pretty sure I fail that straight away. We were also told there are sharks out there (as well as some dolphins early this morning) but they don't really say any more than that presumably in case people refuse to get in the sea! Once we were in the water I managed to stand for the first time after about 15 mins which was a surprise.There were some great photos, some of me standing, some of me managing to step off my board and fall in style. It didn't even matter that it was raining and windy because it was so much fun and the sea was really warm. Getting back into the surf was such hard work against the rip so after a 3 hour lesson followed by dinner, we went to bed at a record 8pm! The next day was our second and final lesson and luckily the sun was shining and it was very hot that morning. Even better today, I went out further to attempt the bigger waves. Obviously got wiped out and completely battered by the water but surfing has definitely made me more confident with large waves. Sadly no photos were taken on our second day, so you'll all have to just take my word for it that I was amazing and surfing the biggest waves. Haha. So, surfing was great and it's actually the thing I've enjoyed the most so far in Australia. Next: Byron Bay. Obviously it was raining in Byron. We're staying in a really cool hostel called the Arts Factory and it's really hippy-ish and chilled out. We only planned to stay one night because it's quite expensive, but loved it so much we're here for 3! Our first 2 nights we stayed in a 6 bed teepee which was fun, but a bit damp as it had been raining. Today we have moved to the Island Retreat, which is a big wooden place on the lake with all the big lizards and bush turkeys running around. It is a luxury because it has its own kitchen and bathroom! However, our roomate managed to fall in the disgusting lake last night because she thought it looked like the road. Her sobriety was questionable. Talking of questionable sobriety, we went on a day trip to Nimbin yesterday. Nimbin is an hour or so inland from Byron, and is known as the little hippy town where everybody buys their drugs. The tours are for you to see, and sample if you like, the local delicacies. Unfortunately the police were on the rampage and turned up while we were there. The locals were not pleased and screamed at them to leave them to it. Then on our way out, our bus was stopped and searched by sniffer dogs, so most people threw anything they had up in the luggage hold but everything was cleared out. The dog got particularly excited about one bag, and consequently 3 Canadians were cautioned for carrying substances which was very bad news. Then we got a flat tyre. We just have brilliant luck. Anyway, to end the day well we had a big BBQ then swam in a waterfall.

Tomorrow we are going to stay with Mum and Dad's friend, Sledge. We are going to stay at his Kingscliff apartment on the beach, then come back Monday night to their place just outside of Nimbin. We are then heading up to Noosa, then will be starting our trips like Fraser Island tour and sailing around the Whitsundays.

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                                          Our surf lesson - the instructor is the leathery-skinned guy 2nd on the right at the top

                                          Manage to stand for the first time...

                                          And fall in style...

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We were lucky with the weather for once =)

                                         

 

 Alan and Maureen's House where we stayed in Sydney

                                         Parakeet in the garden!
  

 

                                          Sam and I with Alan and Maureen

                                          Poo Mountains. Just look at the "view"!!!!!

                                         Driving the camper down the Great Ocean Road

                                          You can just about see the road in the hill. Amazing.

                                          One of the many beautiful beaches along the way

                                          Our van! Yes it really was that small...

We spent 4 days and 3 nights in our Backpacker camper van. It was good fun! Not my preferred way of travel but it was fine for 3 nights. The weather was just unbelievably perfect - clear blue skies and bright sunshine for 3 days straight. For our first night we stopped in Lorne, then the next day saw the 12 Apostles (although I think there are only 5 left or something!). On our second day we made it to our furthest point, Port Campbell. It's a lovely town with a nice little bay where we chilled for the afternoon. The only problem is the water is absolutely freezing! Like swimming in a river. Still, it's nice and refreshing I suppose! That night we went to Apollo Bay, and were going to stay in the town but were worried about getting fined by the police, so went to a quiet little picnic area to sleep in the van. The next day we spent the afternoon on the beach, enjoying the sun again. I'm afraid we didn't do much apart from sunbathe and drive! The views along the Great Ocean Road were stunning. It was so much fun. On the Friday we returned our van and went back into Melbourne. We met up with Sam's friend from work who has literally just moved to Melbourne with his wife to work here! I definitely would never do that, believe it or not I much prefer England! Just as it started to rain, it was time to head to the station to catch our first Greyhound bus back up to Sydney. (We have bought hop-on-hop-off bus tickets with Greyhound which will take us all the way up the East coast to Cairns). On the way down to Melbourne we had gone with another slightly cheaper bus company called Firefly which was actually really good as there were only about 10 people on the whole coach. However, with Greyhound, once the driver had packed everyone onto the bus he then announced that it wouldn't start so we may as well get off again. Excellent. It was 2 hours until they fitted a new battery and finally got going! The next morning we arrived and were really lucky with the weather again =). Went to Bondi Beach which was heaving, as you can imagine being a hot Saturday afternoon. The next morning we met up with Sam's family friend who very kindly took us for a lovely breakfast on the harbour. It was yet another beautiful day so we had a nice quiet afternoon at Alan and Maureen's relaxing by the pool and doing lots of swimming. That evening we had booked our bus to Byron Bay for 9.30pm, so we turned up at 8 to print our tickets etc only to find that they had changed the time since we booked it a few days ago, to 7pm!!! Couldn't believe we missed it!! Bit of a nightmare. Ended up just staying in a hostel in the city and the bus is booked for 7pm tonight. At least we didn't pay for it =). Hope the weather up in Byron Bay is nice....