Adelaide

Although the flight down from Cairns was only a couple of hours, it passed really slowly as I was impatiently waiting to be reunited with my Exeter besties I hadn't seen for almost a year. Becca was waiting for me at the airport and we had a very over-excited reunion as we both tried to catch each other up with everything that had happened in our lives over the past year. After dropping off our bags we headed straight into town for linner (if brunch is a thing why not have a meal inbetween lunch and dinner?) at Sit Lo, which we took away to eat down by the Oval riverbank where we watched the sunset.

Later we met up with Beth and their group of friends to do The Escape Hunt, an escape the room experience where you and your team are locked into a room for 60 minutes and have to crack the clues to escape. The ten of us split into two teams of 5 and were put into rooms next door to each other so we could hear through the walls how well the others were getting on. Our team whizzed on ahead until we were stumped by a blurry projector screen to help us configure the final clue. After 20 minutes playing around with a magnify glass and pondering every last letter/number/symbol we could see, we heard the other team escape and our time ran out. A woman came in to release us and show us how to crack the code, only to look at the projector and say "oh, well that's never happened before". Turned out we had a faulty projector and we could have cracked the final code in minutes! We called it a draw.

Afterwards everyone headed to their favourite student hangout, The Austral, for celebratory drinks - after all, everyone was a winner. The girls were pretty tired although classic Becca still had endless realms of energy for a night out. We went to meet up with her Aussie mates at The Cumby where we had a great night out with some real Adelaide locals.

The following morning, the girls and I headed for Sunday brunch at The Marketshed, an amazing little place tucked away and full of organic brunch superfood stalls on a Sunday morning. Becca and I then spent the afternoon in Hahndorf, a cute local German-influenced town a short bus ride from the city centre. Our hangovers had begun to kick in by the afternoon but we soon perked up after some strawberry milkshakes in the sunshine and a walk around town. I popped out for a drink with another friend from uni in the evening to give the girls a chance to get some work done in time for their deadlines the next day. Afterwards I finally got to try kangaroo, as we tucked in to homemade burgers for dins.

Monday was a chance to spend some time with Beth and we got up bright and early to take the train to Hallett Cove for a coastal walk with Sophie and India, two other Exeter students out here for the year (bleeding green everywhere). Beth and I then went for a wander around the centre of Adelaide and had haloumi and chickpea burgers in the central market. In case you hadn't realised, Adelaide has a pretty strong brunch game. Later, Beth showed me round the uni and I explored the shops while she got some work done - it's the end of term so deadlines were looming. Becca came and found me after work and we hung out for the afternoon until dinner time when we met up with some friends of my Grannie who very sweetly took us out to an amazing Asian restaurant, Ky Chow. We headed back for early birthday cake to celebrate Beth's 21st in a few days time then I packed up for my tour along the Great Ocean Road early the next morning.

Thanks for a great few days girls!

Cairns

I arrived in Cairns, my final stop along the East Coast, bright and early at 5:30am on Wednesday morning on my final Greyhound bus of the trip. Although it was a bit of an early start it was worth taking an overnight bus to give myself more time in the day to explore and save myself a night's accommodation. In Cairns I stayed at Gilligan's hostel which had been recommended to me by loads of people and turned out to be in a fantastic location whereas the others seemed to be a little walk away - no fun when you're carrying a heavy backpack.

I made the most of my early start by having a quick Skype call home - something that's usually a little tricky to orchestrate out here thanks to lack of wifi and a 9 hour time difference. Later Emer, a girl I'd met on the Clipper and was also on the 5am bus, and I met up for breakie at a place called Re:hab, another brunch place I'd spotted on Buzzfeed which was just what we needed. Coffee is amazing out here and was definitely necessary that early in the morning!

Anyone travelling up the East Coast will finish in Cairns, meaning you're pretty much guaranteed to run into other backpackers you've met along the way so I was never without friends. The first day was a very chilled one, swimming at the Esplanade and catching up with friends.

Next it was time for a trip to the Great Barrier Reef and I'd booked a cruise with Ocean Free, a really friendly company who really looked after us - lots of good food, fish feeding (including Barry the barracuda who followed the boat everywhere), riding their glass bottom boat around the reef and snorkelling. Two minutes after we got into the water on girl looked down and saw a huge reef shark. Most people thought she was joking until she showed us the GoPro footage! The highlight was definitely swimming with turtles, just like Finding Nemo!

My final day was a Waterfall Wanderers tour into the rainforest. While the tour is usually full with 28 people, there were only 6 of us girls and our guide Mikey so we ended up having a really intimate tour as a small group. We visited all the famous spots including Josephine Falls where there is a natural rock slide and Millaa Millaa, known for the Herbal Essences advert and Peter Andre's mysterious girl video. We also had a chance to spot some wildlife, including a wild tree kangaroo which looks more cuddly than a koala.

Made it back for a $4 (about £2) hostel dinner and a night out at the Gilligan's bar. At the airport now, having packed up my summer clothes and suncream in preparation for real Australian winter down in Adelaide.

Whitsundays

After Fraser, I was off on another overnight bus to Airlie Beach for my tour of the Whitsundays!

I arrived the day before my tour so had plenty of time to chill at the lagoon with some friends from Fraser Island and catch up on some sleep in the sunshine. I'd booked to go on a tour with True Blue Sailing on the infamous Atlantic Clipper - speak to anyone about the clipper and they'll respond with "whoa, party boat" or "sausage fest". I was starting to worry what Charlie had booked for me! Fortunately, I ran into the group of Scottish girls I'd been surfing with in Byron who were also on the same boat and the ratio was pretty even with some really sweet boys on board (although we found out on the tour after there was a full boat with only 12 girls and 40 boys)!

Before we headed off a group of us went for a champagne breakfast at Fusion Café, starting as we meant to go on. Armed with goon, towels and sun cream, we headed to the clipper where we set sail through the islands and stopped off to jump off the boat and ride down the slide. Later we hit the goon until the earlier hours of the morning - perhaps not the best idea in reflection after the 6:30am wake up call on a very rocky boat. Needless to say, seasickness and a hangover are not the best combination. 

However, the hangovers were soon forgotten once we were dropped off on steady land at the stunning Whitehaven beach which is made up of the purest sand in the world - 98% silica. Even though the weather was unfortunately a little overcast, we were still able to appreciate the stunning beach, which is the 4th best beach in the world according to Tripadvisor! We then spent the afternoon snorkelling and sliding down the giant inflatable slide.

That evening the crew organised a 'Clipper Show' full of crazy challenges and fancy dress followed by another boat party for those of us who could stomach more goon. Had another snorkel the next morning before we made our way back to shore. It's sad to say taking my beautifully clean laundry out the tumble dryer was one of the highlights of the day. Finally there was an after party back on land with the crew and our clipper family. We were so lucky to have such a fantastic group of people and was pretty emotional saying up goodbyes the following day as everyone went their separate ways. Most people were up to Magnetic Island next but due to time constraints I took my final greyhound bus straight up to Cairns for my final stop on the East Coast.

Fraser Island

I'm just back from my tour of Fraser Island which was awesome! I had quite high expectations, since everyone I'd spoken to had described it (as well as Whitsundays) as one of the highlights along the East Coast.

I went on the tour organised by Dingo's and I also stayed at their hostel which had a really sociable atmosphere as it was full of backpackers either going or coming back from the island. The night I arrived we had a safety briefing where we were also split into our groups, with one group to a car. It was a tag along tour so rather than everyone be taken round in a tour bus, this meant we'd actually get the opportunity to drive the 4x4 cars along the beach and around the island (provided you were over 21 with a driving licence). My group was a real mix - 2 Essex girls, 1 German, 3 Dutch girls, 1 Swede and me.

Once the cars were packed up with all our food and drink for the next 3 days we drove to the ferry and crossed over to the island, dolphin-watching on the way over! We then took it in turns to drive along the sand and inland on some very bumpy, windy tracks with an upbeat playlist on full blast. Even though I'm a pretty nervous driver I still had a lot of fun and at times it was probably easier than driving around London in a little fiesta. We visited some beautiful lakes where we went swimming and had lunch (always wraps with salad, cheese and a questionable meat) then eventually headed to camp where our tents were already set up and we made a campfire. One group had been in the guide's car that day so had started drinking very early on so the rest of us got out our goon sacks and joined in. For those of you who don't know, goon is a very popular alcoholic drink among backpackers in Australia (as well as Australian chavs and teenagers), mainly due to its cost - $10 (around £5/6) for 4 litres. It is similar to boxed wine, however usually sweeter and generally more disgusting in taste, as it's made from the leftover/bad grapes used as well as all sorts of other odd ingredients rumoured to be in it such as fish eggs - probably better off not knowing.

We had a very large group on our tour, as there were another 4 cars of people also in our group with a different guide. Evidently, no one had really thought through dinner plans until the other half of the group arrived and we had a very entertaining/stressful evening trying to cook chicken stir fry for 24 people while another 32 people were navigating the outdoor cookers and half the group was intoxicated. Somehow, everyone managed to be fed in the end!

The following day we did some more sightseeing around the island, visiting the Champagne Pools (although the waves weren't very strong so they were more like goon pools when we saw them) and an 86-year-old shipwreck. Our dinner preparations were a little more organised that night - the three Dutch girls in my car turned out to be pro campers and quite happily went about preparing our group's dinner of steak, salad and potatoes that ended up being restaurant quality and gained a few envious looks from the other cars. We washed it down with goon and had a camp party, toasting marshmallows round the fire and playing drinking games. 

Final day on Fraser was spent with a visit to Lake Mackenzie, another stunning freshwater lake. We even saw a dingo on the drive there which was very exciting. Later we had lunch - yes, wraps again - and in case we weren't sick of wraps already we had double the amount to eat as somehow the other group's food box ended up in our trailer. I got to do the final drive along the beach to the ferry, fun but also terrifying when you hit soft sand!

Finally made it back to camp and the f rest stop was the laundrette followed by the showers. A couple of my friends from Noosa had arrived at the hostel so it was fun to see them again and I spent the following day with them at the beach before my bus to Airlie Beach. I even had time for a beach barbecue Aussie-style (sausage in a piece of bread cooked on the public BBQs). 

Noosa

I wasn't back on my own again for long as I met a girl called Rachel while checking in to Nomads. I later ran into loads of people I'd met earlier - the same group from my Blue Mountians tour and the Scottish girls I went surfing with in Byron. If you're travelling up the East Coast you're pretty-much guaranteed to keep running into other travellers since everyone does the same route.

The following day Rachel and I went on the Coastal Walk from Noosa Heads to Sunshine Beach through the national park. We took our time, stopping off at the viewpoints along the way and sunbathing at Alexandria Bay, which we soon discovered was a nudist beach! Just as we were arriving at Sunshine Beach we spotted a huge brown snake in front of us that quickly disappeared into the bushes. It wasn't until we asked someone later that we learnt it was probably the second most poisonous snake in Australia! There was a wedding taking place at the beach which was cute to watch then we treated ourselves with Golden Gaytimes (caramel biscuit ice cream I was told to try that was amazing). After an extremely stressful experience cooking in the hostel's tiny busy kitchen the night before, we decided to go out to eat at what was supposed to be the best burger restaurant in Noosa (or even Australia), Betty's Burgers. They did not disappoint!

Had a couple of glasses of goon with some friends back at the hostel but it was a pretty chilled out evening. The next morning I had a final walk around the town and browsing the gorgeous boho-chic shops before boarding my bus to Rainbow Beach, ready for my trip to Fraser Island!

Brisbane

Although I only had a day in Brisbane, I managed to do and see a lot!

Charlie drove me first thing in the morning and we went for another delightful brunch then walked around the city centre which was gorgeous- I could definitely get used to having a man-made beach in the middle of the city.

Later we headed to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary which was amazing. The sanctuary houses over 130 koalas, in addition to reptiles, snakes, dingos, cockatoos, kangaroos and more! They also offered a decent student discount so we're much better value than some of the other places nearby. Charlie and I stocked up on kangaroo food then spent the afternoon feeding them along with a group of schoolchildren - we were probably just as excited as they were.

Afterwards was the highlight of the day when I got to hold a koala called Jarvis who was just adorable. We even had time for a snake show and a koala talk before we said our goodbyes and Charlie dropped me off at the bus terminal to board my bus to Noosa. Thanks for an incredible few days Chazza!

Gold Coast

I had a break from Greyhound buses and had the luxury of being driven around by Charlie who had rented a car for the next few days. On the drive from Byron Bay to Gold Coast we stopped by the beaches and went for brunch at Coolangatta and had a walk along the sand at Surfers Paradise. At sunset we went up the tallest skyscraper in the Southern Hemisphere, Q1, for some epic views.

On Wednesday we had a road trip to Springbrook National Park with a group of Charlie's lovely uni friends and we walked through the Green Mountains taking selfies, chasing waterfalls and eating fudge (after finally deciding which flavours to buy from the shop, we all agreed hokey pokey was the best).

We had a very early start the following morning for sunrise at Main Beach, views definitely worth getting up for. Afterwards Charlie and I headed for breakfast in Labrador for more fab Aussie avocado and poached eggs. Next stop was to Tamborine with the rest of the group for more walks in the national park, followed by a delightful afternoon of cheese, wine and liqueur tasting in town and another beautiful sunset. That evening was student night at the club Vanity - free drinks for girls and the biggest girls bathroom I've ever seen, complete with a bed, free straighteners and a beauty area.

Next stop: Brisbane