2 Days

This week has been the most stressful week. I've been at uni all day for the last 3 days, had 3 pracs, a massive report to do and now today I have an oral presentation but have woken up with a sore throat :s. I can not wait for it to be saturday!

But at the weekend I did go to Byron Bay which was lovely as always. We stayed at the same campsite we were in for christmas which felt kind of strange. It felt like we were going travelling again. I really liked being back sleeping in the van. I hope I don't have to wait too long before I get the chance to go travelling again. When my student loan comes through I'm going to book a trip to Ayre's rock. I think it's going to be the last place I go before coming home. Which is now less than 3 months away. So I will be seeing you all quite soon :)

It seems strange that everyone at home is breaking up for easter though. If I was in Edinburgh I would only have exams left to do but here I havn't even got to midsemester and feel like I only just started back. I think it was definately worth it for the 3 month summer holiday though :)

Missing you all lots. It'll be very strange to be having my birthday without you all!

xxxxx

Sunday 26th December –Boxing Day

Yesterday was a very strange Christmas day. Festivities in Australia are just not the same. Waking up in a campervan for Christmas just did not feel right! I did have a nice Christmas but I’m looking forward to next Christmas a lot more now.

We woke up and opened our presents –mostly from each other but we’d bought some with Christmas money we’d been sent for ourselves as well. I’d wrapped mine up so I still had something to open from my family (you got me 2 pairs of shoes, nail varnish and a water filter bottle). I also had an adventure book (a notepad to write down all our adventures in) and pen, a little turtle from Reef HQ that I wanted, now known as Mr Turtle, a pink book light, a book of over 365 chicken recipes (I’d told Ryan that I wanted to work my way through a cookbook but it would probably have to be a chicken one as i don’t eat much else), a rubber duck and some chocolates from Ryan and his parents and Santa.

We then headed to Cape Byron where we walked up to the lighthouse for a Christmas day walk and then had a Barbeque on the beach. We’d bought a disposable one so it actually tasted like BBQ. Our Christmas dinner consisted of chicken kebabs and barbequed sausages wrapped in bacon . We then jumped into the sea to use our new bodyboard that we’s bought on Christmas eve. After this the day was nearly over so we headed back to the campsite where I spoke to my family and we watched Wallace and Grommit before bed.

Today we’re driving down south to who knows where. Need to get some kilometres done to get us to Sydney for New Year. Apart from Christmas since I last wrote we drove from Bundaberg to Tin Can Bay where we spent a rainy day and then got up early in the morning for dolphin feeding! They are wild dolphins that come up to the jetty in the harbour because originally one of the dolphins in the pod was injured and fed back to health in the harbour, once better she carried on coming back to be fed bringing her pod with her. It is now her grandson and his girlfriend that come for feeding! It was amazing to be so close to a dolphin –they were so gentle and playful.

After feeding the dolphins we drove to Noosa where we went kayaking in the river and then koala spotting. I was so excited to see my first wild koala and on the same day as feeding a dolphin made for an amazing day!

We then went to Australia zoo the next day where some of the kangaroos had baby joeys- they were so so cute! I want one as a pet! We also got to look round the wildlife hospital. Which was pretty wierd as there were windows into the operating theatre and treatment room, where you could see koalas being treated and operated on. This was very strange to see.

We then headed to Brisbane and stayed at Sunbeam for 2 nights while we did our Christmas shopping and sorted the van out a bit. It was strange being back in Brisbane, like our trip was coming to an end –it almost felt homely! I wasn’t looking forward to going back at all but now i think it might be nice to stay in the same place for a while and think I may be getting a little attatched to Brisbane. From there we drove to Byron Bay where we spent Christmas eve doing a little shopping and then bodyboarding. The waves were very powerful though and I managed to get swept off by one and somersaulting underwater it was so powerful! That was pretty scary! I went back in for one more go though! And they waves weren’t so powerful Christmas day anyway.

Miss you lots, can’t wait to see everyone again as have been missing everyone lots at Christmas!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

Lots of love

Claire xxx

Byron Bay

So last weekend I went to Byron Bay with QUEST (exchange students society). So far it's my fave place in Australia -had such a good weekend there! Unfortunately my camera was being ridiculous so I don't actually have any pics though.

The journey there was pretty weird. Our driver seemed to have no idea what he was doing. First he forgot his log book -whatever that is -so we had to wait around for like an hour before we could even leave and then he got us lost and going round in circles! On the way we stopped off at Mount Warning, for a trek in the jungle. But we didn't have time to go all the way up so it did seem a little pointless. Saw a HUGE snake though, literally a few metres long. It was a tree python hanging down in one of the trees right by the path. A couple of people tried to touch it and it got a wee bit annoyed and they screamed. We also stopped off at Nimbin which is a hippy drugs town. I didn't like it there though, it was just a bit wierd and old looking.

So we finally arrived at our hostel after getting lost a couple more times. We were in an 8 bed room with a few people we knew and their friends. It was such a nice hostel -really clean and modern and big, there's even a hot tub. I think it was called Nomads -in case anyone finds themselves in Byron Bay. We then had a BBQ on the hostel terrace and I've realised that I may actually like steak! So we went out that night, started at a bar that the hostel had given us wristbands bands for but left pretty quickly and ended up in a place called Cheeky Monkeys. I was a big fan of cheeky monkeys. The dance floor was actually tables during the evening, then at
night everyone just climbs up on them to dance! And they were playing some incredibly cheesie music -I think 5ive was the highlight!

The next day was spent chilling on the beach and eating the best burrito you could imagine - Best burritos in Swindon has nothing on it! Also spent some time in the hostel hot tub and then headed back to the beach to watch the sunset by a hippy drum circle! That night everyone was heading out for a meal at the other hostel where the rest of our group was staying. It was in an actually brewery where they only sell their own beer. Took so long for some of our table to get served though, it was pretty ridiculous! Met some very nice people that night, then heading on out from the meal to Cheeky monkeys once again. That night there was a male stripping competition, it was pretty weird, especially when a drunk girl jumped up on the stage and pulled her dress off. Good night though, had some yummy alcohol slushies. At the end of the night me and Louisa embarked on the longest search for pizza. I thought it would be a good idea to ask someone so asked a guy on a bench where I could get pizza. He didn't know. Then as we were going past him he asked Louisa if she knew where he could get pizza. Very funny! He was very nice though and then insisted on proving that he was from Chile by showing us his id before he wandered off beachwards. We eventually found pizza and it was delicious!

Next day we decided we'd better go to the lighthouse at Cape Byron. It's the most Easterly point of mainland Australia. Had to go up so, so many steps to get there though. That wasn't lovely. The view was though. We even think we saw some whale splashes!!

Up by the lighthouse.

I really, really loved it there and the 2 days we spent there was not enough at all. It's so chilled there and so much prettier than the Gold Coast or Brisbane! I will definately be going back. Hopefully this month, while it's still whale season, as I want to go on a kayak tour to see whales and BABY DOLPHINS!

This week hasn't been so fun as I worked most of this weekend and have had an exam today so had to revise for that. Saturday night was riverfire though. It was really cool. It's a big firework display on the river. It started off with fighter jets with huge flame tails flying along the river. They were amazing! The ball of fire looked like the sun was out at night! The fireworks were really good, they had them coming off the river and all the skyscrapers as well! The bridge was made into a sort of waterfall of sparks as well and there was fire on the river. It was all so pretty! It marks the begining of the Brisbane festival. Most things that are on seem pretty expensive though, but at least riverfire was free :).

This week I've got a fieldtrip to Lamington National Park and then a QUEST trip to the Gold Coast Hinterland -so I should have more to tell you about soon.

Lots of love

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