We got to Sydney the following morning and got a bus out to Bondi Beach,where our hostel was. We checked in and left our bags(we were staying in a dorm the first 2 nights). We got loads of information from the guy a reception, and decided to takea walk along a cliffside path to Bronte Beach. It was a cool day but really sunny, so we sat outside a cafe and had a smoothy once we got to Bronte. The views were really lovely, and there were loads of people out walking and running, and there were plenty of surfers out catching waves. We also saw coloured sands similar to those we saw on Fraser Island. That evening, we cooked in the hostel to save a bit of money. It was a busy hostel- mainly full ... read more

We arrived at Byron Springs Guesthose tired and warm after our comparatively short 3 hour bus journey from Brisbane. We couldn't get any hostels in the town, so we booked this guesthouse about 20 minutes outside it. We were really impressed with it, it was really bright and luxurious, and we had our own bathroom- something we haven't had in almost 2 months. We dropped our bags, borrowed the free bikes at the guesthouse and cycled down to the town. We locked up the bikes and grabbed a pizza for a snack. Byron Bay seemed to be buzzing, and there were loads of hippies knocking around. Every second person had a surfboard under their arm; even the pizza place was showing a surfing video on a loop. We headed across the street to a travel agency ... read more

*This is our SECOND destination in Australia. Our first was Cairns, and we are still writing up that blog!* We left Cairns and boarded a 26 hour bus to Hervey Bay (pronounced "Harvey Bay" as Daves skydive instructor, John informed us). It was a long journey, but by now we were seasoned travellers so we didn't mind it too much. We arrived in Hervey Bay at around 2:30pm the following day, where a courtesy bus was waiting to bring us to our hostel. We arrived at the hostel "The Woolshed" and checked into our cabin. It was a great little hostel, in a residential area with a nice courtyard. We dropped our bags and headed for the beach to catch the sunset. Although Cairns is by the sea, there were few sandy beaches near us, just ... read more

We arrived in Dunedin- a town with predominantly Scottish heritage- in the late afternoon. It is a typical sea-side town. Our campsite was pretty, with sea-bird murals on all of the buildings. We had intended on going out for a walk, but we were starrting to come down off our paragliding high, and as the adrenaline left our systems we became very sleepy! So it was decided to cook in and watch a DVD (for a change!). The night air was tropical compared with the -8 degrees of Queenstown, so no hot water bottles or heaters were needed. The next morning, we rose to a warm, sunny day, and we planned on driving out to the Otago penninsula to visit some colonies of New Zealand fur seals, blue penguins and albatross. Since the penninsula was not ... read more

The drive to Wanaka from Fox was a spectacular one. It took us a bit longer than expected because we stopped at a couple of lookout points to take in the views. There's scenery and then there's New Zealand scenery! We arrived at the campsite which had good facilities and loads of space. It was pretty late so it was dark and we couldn't see much of the lake, so we showered and headed out for dinner to celebrate my birthday. We went to an Indian restaurant called the Spice Room (the lady at reception in the campsite had recommended it). It was really cosy in there with a fire blazing and comfy couches to sit on while you wait for them to prepare your table. The really was really tasty and afterwards we went to ... read more