G’day, dear listener. It’s been a while. Australia was wonderful.

I stayed a night with my cousin Dan in Sydney before meeting some friends from home, Joe and Sarah, and road tripping up the coast to Cairns. There were 6 of us in total, Joe, Sarah and Me plus a couple from Northern Ireland, Joel and Jen, and a girl from Estonia called Sigried, or Siggy for short. We stopped in Nimbin, Byron Bay, Brisbane and The Whitsundays before finally landing in Cairns.

We were rewarded in Cairns with some glorious sunshine so we stayed there for about a week. We managed to do a trip out on the Great Barrier Reef and I got to do a scuba dive out there which was incredible. Not as colourful as Thailand, but the fish out there were huge. I swam with something called a Maori Wrasse (look it up) which was pretty exciting.

When we were all bored of lounging around in the sun, we got ourselves another camper and began our journey back south again, not before we’d made one final stop north slightly in Cape Tribulation for a crocodile tour! We dropped everyone else down in Townsville where they were looking for work, and Joe, Sarah and I headed back down to Brisbane. We spent a day on the beach in Noosa on the Sunshine Coast and then they dropped me at Aunty Joy’s house, where I stayed for the next week or so.

It was great being on the Sunshine Coast. I was thoroughly looked after and got to spend lots of quality time with Joy and Amelia, but especially Roddy and Bre, which was great fun. Roddy came and picked me up every day after work and we’d go surfing or swimming, one day he cut my hair… I had plenty to do anyway!

After a week there, Roddy and Bre were moving in with their friend BJ in Brisbane. I helped Roddy and BJ move down and then hung out there for the week, despite neither Roddy or Bre being there! Luckily, Dan and his girlfriend Chrysta were up in Brisbane visiting Chrysta’s dad, so I got to hang out with them a bit.

Roddy and Bre then had a trip planned down to Country Victoria to visit Bre’s family. I had booked a flight down to Melbourne to meet them once they were done with their family stuff, so I spent the next 5 days with them down there. Melbourne is a very cool city. Lots of little bars and cafes, very cool buildings and a great tram network which you can travel around the CBD on for free. Roddy and Bre flew out on the Thursday, and that was the last time I’d see them on this trip. On the Friday, I visited Melbourne’s memorial to fallen soldiers which is a huge stone, Greek looking building with a fire that never goes out, and hen took a flight up to Sydney, in time for the general election.

Dan picked me up from the airport, and we spent the next week chilling out, wandering Sydney and his suburb Surrey Hills, and drinking beers. Far too many beers. I also got to spend lots of time with my childhood friend Martin and his girlfriend and family, which was great. Martin also booked some flights to join me for 10 days in New Zealand.

After a week in Sydney and a bit of an emotional goodbye with Dan at 5:30am at the airport, I checked in for the 5 hour flight to Christchurch, New Zealand.

Sorry for this extremely boring post. Aus was more of a personal quest to catch up with old friends and family than something worth blogging about. But it was successful, and I got a lot of satisfaction out of it. I’ve definitely got a few more close friends out of it now, rather than some distant relatives on the other side of the world. I’m very pleased with the outcome.

On to New Zealand. This will be more exciting, trust me.

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