Oh dear - sorry it's been so long since I last wrote! Hmm so what have I been doing? Well last Wed I went to Canberra with Tricia and I had a whistle stop tour of Australias capital. It was very wet so not exactly fantastic sight seeing weather but we went to the War Memorial museum which I really enjoyed. Its very interesting seeing and understanding the different wars from a different countries point of view. We then went off to the National Library for a bite to eat and had a look at the Ballet Russe expedition thats on at the moment. That was also cool to see as ENB are doing lots of the stuff that ther were original paintings of costume designs etc. It's Diagalev's anniversary you see (no idea how you spell that!) Then we whizzed off in the pouring rain to the National Gallery hoping to see some of the Aboriginal art, but it had been packed away and there were ver few things to see as they were renovating. Oh well. Lastly we went to the New Parliament house which was also very interesting! We saw the equivalent of the House of Lords (all Pinky) and then we were allowed into the House of Representatives (all Greeny) where it was Prime Minister's question time! Was hilarious! What a rabble they all are. Very noisy stuff. But I really enjoyed seeing it. Have never seen anything like that live. Was great. In a brief moment of no rain we headed up to the roof which had great views. Could see the whole layout and design of the city. And then we were allowed into another much smaller room where the senate were really grilling some of the inportant cabinet ministers about the current financial situation. Fascinating stuff. Then it was dark and we headed off to Tricia's mums house (my Dad's mum's sister, ie, my great aunt) and had dinner and watched the all important 'State of Origin' footie match (Rugby union kinda thing) between New South Wales and Queensland. It wa a pretty exciting match, despite not really knowing what was going on!

It was an early rise for me in the morning. Was catching my flight to Ballina/Byron at 9am. It was delayed though because of fog in Sydney, but it was fine because that also meant my connecting flight from Sydney was also delayed. Got there and easily onto a shuttle bus which dropped me right at the Hunt's (Diane and Louis - Thomas and Kate are both at uni) door! Made myself at home and waited for Diane to get home who then gave me a quick tour of Byron and we visited Louis at his work (Fishworks, a nice fish and chip place right on main beach) before coming home and getting dinner ready for when Louis was back. Had a nice chilled out evening. The next day Louis had the day off and we had to get up super early coz we were getting a lift with Diane to Louis dad's house which is near where Diane works (Lismore). So we spent a nice chilled out day there playing pool, playing the piano, hanging in the sun (which finally came out after lots of rain!) until Diane picked us up and we went home again. Sat I joined Louis at the beach where he surfed and I watched and lay in the sun - we had no car and I didnt fancy taking a surf board on a bike so I settled for chilling in the sun. Was lovely. I love the beach! Especially when the suns out! The afteroon was spent at home and in the evening I went to a house party with Louis and his friends. It was good, though it's always a bit weird when you know one person, but they know everyone. I got chatting to a few people though so it was a fun night.

Sunday was another good day. Kate and Mike (their dad) and Jazzy (their half sister) came to visit for the day and Kate took me and Jazzy surfing in the shallows at Dolphins beach (where there are dolphins out in the deep with the good surfers - wish i was good enough to join them!) so that was pretty fun. We showered and dropped Mike and Jazzy at the bus and went to meet Diane who had been having breakfast with her friend who lives in an amazing house overlooking Wategos beach - we even saw whales from her house! What an awesome place to live. Walk through the garden and you're on the beach. Fab. So Kate and I had some of the remaining pastries and other breakfasty items as a little bit of lunch and then Diane went for a swim while we walked up to the lighthouse - the most Easterly point in Australia. Its the time of year when the whales migrate north from Antartica to mate and give birth and we saw lots of whales and big splashes. Very exciting. Then we headed back home for an easly dinner so Kate could set off home while it was still light. A good day. Monday was a day off for Diane as it was the Queens birthday! So we went on the lighthouse walk again with some other of her friends - it's quite a steep walk, but makes you feel very good! More fantastic views and whale/dolphin sightings. Met Louis and his girlfriend for a BBQ on Wategos beach after. Its great here - they have these free public BBQs all over the place that you can use anytime. So that was yummy. More chilling out in the arvo then a nice couple - Jane and John came round for dinner. Jane's from England and they moved out here 6 yrs ago. They're very nice. And Jane invited me to go with her on a walk the following morning with her dog which was nice becuase I was at a bit of a loss as to what to do coz Diane and Louis would be at work. So I did that, and then went into town and organised 2 trips - one was today when I went whale watching, and one is for tomorrow when I'm going snorkelling! The rest of my day yesterday was spend chilling on the beach in the sun, getting discounts on food from Louis at Fishworks and watching the sunset with the hippies playing drums and didgeridoos etc in a sun worshipping kind of ceremony. Was pretty cool. Came home and cooked spaghetti to have with the bolognese sauce Diane had made at the weekend. She's pretty keen on me cooking when she's at work - so much for my holiday!

So today I went on a whale watching trip. There were about 8 of us in a speed boat kind of thing and we saw some amazing stuff! We saw 3 whales breaching (jumping out of) the water but my camera and my reactions were way to slow to capture any of them! I've got some good pictures of big splashes! And lots of the sea and the sky! A fab trip though. And I spend the rest of the day with 2 people I met on the trip, just chilling in the sun and having some food. I was again under instruction to cook so I wandered around Woolies on my way home (not our kind of Woolies, this is more like Sainsburys or something) for some inspiration, and settled for tuna pasta bake which was a great success if I say so myself! I wonder if i'll be cooking again tomorrow..probably! Hmm - any ideas?!

Oh and I've managed to download Skype in case anyone who's reading this has it. My user name is eleanor.swithinbank......add me!