30 March - 4 April 2010 Newcastle was founded in 1804 for convicts too hard even for Sydney to cope with. I arrive in torrential rain and the landing on Oz’s equivalent of Easyjet freaks me out a bit but I am met at the airport by G & G and whisked off to their lovely home and their two pooches. They tell me that it has been boiling up until now and now the rain has started – I am beginning to develop a complex about the weather in Oz! I have a reasonably early night and I am

29 March 2010 Update: I am very sad to say that both Mrs and Mr B are no longer with us. RIP. Mrs B has to work so Mr B takes me on a trip around the area. First stop is the Merc garage as the hood and the electrics on his CLK have stopped working. This means a 40 minute drive to the garage in sporadic showers (yes, the weather has followed me down here but least there are sunny intervals) with the top down (the car’s). I have to put the umbrella up at one stage, and I must

28 March 2010 I leave Cairns amidst sporadic showers and I am disappointed that I didn’t get to snorkel the GBR but there might be an opportunity to do some snorkelling in the Dominican Republic when I visit Ig and family. If not, then there are always plenty of other reefs in the world to look at! B & B pick me up at Brisbane airport and I am whisked off to Maleny which is about an hour and a half’s drive North West of Bris Vegas (as the locals call it). Maleny is a lovely l

26 & 27 March 2010 I am in better spirits today and despite the rain and the swimming pool outside the front door of the hostel. I brave it and head towards the local shopping centre in search of free Wi-Fi and a cinema. I have decided to head off to Maleny on Sunday and to wait and see if the rain subsides tomorrow to allow me to get to the GBR. The shopping centre is, thankfully, close by and I soon find a cafe and type up my blog and check emails etc. The trouble with han

27 March 2010 Here's a picture of the painting I bought. Answers on a postcard, please.

25 March 2010 It’s my last day in Alice and I cannot say that I am sad to see the back of it. I join some of the others and we wander into town to have a coffee and to find some of the locals selling art but there are nowhere to be found. We head to a local park to have a picnic and coincidentally, there are some women in the process of painting. I like one of the painting and am told that it’s for sale for 50 AUD and it will be ready in half an hour and I wait in the park wh

23 and 24 March 2010 As I mentioned, I managed to get a good night’s sleep in my swag under the stars and even managed a trip to the dunny in the middle of the night without running into any dangerous animals. We went for a hike around Kata Tjuta which is near Uluru before having a look around the Aboriginal Cultural Centre. The ACC is a tourist rip off and whilst the paintings are lovely, they sell for around the £800 mark. I am curious about how much the artists actually ma

22 March, 2010 I survived my night in the yoff hostel despite one girl snoring like a beast and I think it would be rude not to thank the person who invented earplugs. Everyone staying there was really friendly and I had dinner with two German girls and another girl called Fabian who is sharing the same room as me. In fact, everyone seems to be either from France, Germany, Austria or Holland and there are no Brits. Of course, the Europeans all speak perfect English and speak

21 March, 2010 Another early start as my flight to Alice Springs was at 8.10am and I had to get a taxi to the airport as P was doing a cycle ride for charity in the morning. The fare was a hefty £45. I am beginning to haemorrhage money and I've hardly done anything. (UPDATE: sadly P and I lost touch a few years back but I believe he’s still in Oz) As we come into land, I am struck by how green it is and there are clumps of greenery midst the rich red of the desert sand. I a

20 March, 2010 P is up bright and early for a bike ride and I have a bit of a lie in although I am not managing to sleep properly anyway. When P gets back, we visit the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary which also houses Tasmanian Devils, Roos, Wombats and other weird and wonderful animals. The koalas are lovely little things and you just wanted to pick them up and hug them to death. They are bone idle and sleep for 19 hours a day and don't do much else for the remaining 5 hours of t