With our usual foresight and planning Ash and I applied for our visas the afternoon before our flight. Needless to say it was not a straight forward check in. We were eventually granted visas by some head honcho in the Australian embassy in Malaysia. But no before we were given a good telling off. Apparently we were irresponsible, should be eternally grateful tho the Australian embassy, and had we been from any other country would’ve been sent back. Good start to the trip.

We flew to the Gold Coast but headed for Byron Bay asap. Hostels were booked up in advance as it was the Christmas period, but we managed to get into the same hostel as Harriet, Kat and the girls for one night. For two nights after that I would be homeless.

Only a few hours after meeting up with the girls we’d had hit the beach, been made a lovely dinner, checked out some potential camper vans and were having goon forced upon us. The bags of wine took their toll. Ash didn’t even make the club and along with any dignity , my pearl earring had been robbed. Thankfully the girls were there to keep an eye on us.

The next day woke at 3 pm, just missing the 10 am check out. This meant I had missed Toby’s arrival but still had plenty of time for some beach activities including some sweet games of rounders, before we were getting gooned up again. Thankfully there was a spare bed in the girls room that night, but we were well aware we could be sleeping on the street soon so we headed to Brisbane to check out a van. For some reason we didn’t even take a bag, just the dirty clothes on our backs. Unable to finance the purchase, the three of spent the night in a Toyota Yaris we’d rented. Cosy and… Sweaty. A bad nights sleep was made worse by a drunk guy trying to steal Ash’s sun shade (t-shirt) at 5 in the morning. I think he got a shook when he realised 3 guys were sleeping in the car, but not too worry, he gave us a cheery “GOOD MORNING CAMPERS!!!” and was on his way.

Despite soaked in sweat, cramped, and awake at 6 o’clock, Brisbane morning was awesome. I washed my clothes, went for a swim at the river side beach, took a warm shower, had a chai latte and muffin, then bought a camper van…