Japan!!!!

My typibng will go to pot as the japanese keyboards r different spent about 10 mins trying to find the underscore!!!!!As u then may have guessed we have arrived safe, but annoyingly cannot have our room till one so being VERY tired we are trying to do things in 3 hrs wen we shud be sleeping!!! Had to have our fingerprints taken and photo at immigration, but so far Japan doesnt seem too hi-tech just very very efficient (like the white gloved train officials who usher u onto the train), anyway going to look at Tokyos most venerable buddhist temple in a min...have to force my eyes open to stay awake - altho saying that i did get 3 seats to lie out on the plane as it wasnt full so ran to them as quick as the captain said u can move around now and heard about 3 people go "dam it, iwanted those!!!!" HAHA my quick moves foiled them all.

This is a day later....
As u might have read Japan had earthquake at 7 on richter scale but dont worry it was 240 miles south of tokyo!!!!! HOWEVER, me and fran were lying in bed and i was like "erm fran i think the bed is moving" and she goes "yeah the door is too"!!!! quite alarmed we remained in bed and it stopped....how dramatic....we are fine mum dont panic. Anyway had awesome time today, done alot!!! Had to figure out the sprawling tube system which we deciphered after about 15 mins of just standing there going "erm....." finally managed to get to the Imperial palace which was....RUBBISH!!!! U pretty much arent allowed to see anything so that was a short trip and we left!!!! Then went to Roppongi Hills which is this VERY swanky business and shopping area, and had sushi for lunch with a proper sushi train...SO YUMMY!!!! Its actually pretty cheap here which is weird! Is it Lehman brothers that Jo works out? Cos they had their massive tower in the swanky area!!! Went to Harajuku (yes ali and lu the place where Gwen gets her girls....) loads of teenagers in the weirdest fashions hanging around down this chockablock street selling all kinds of tat!!! Also visited the Shrine of the Meiji emperors, going through beautiful gardens and in perfect season as covered with stunning irises - amazing colour!!! My feet hurt after all this walking!!!! Hopefully going to the fish market very early tomorrow, and then to the gadget area!!!! I love Tokyo (except for the whole earthquake thing...!) lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Woops

Oh dear...i seem to have neglected my blog beyond all comprehension...but is shall attempt to rectify this now! Well what can I say, what haven't we done? After Fraser Island we spent 3 weeks driving the car up the east coast, let me tell you that that is an awfully long drive! The Bruce Highway just goes on and on and on, it is most disheartening to ever look at a map whilst driving that distance! However finally got to Cairns and we dived the Great Barrier Reef!! Amazing coral, absolutely stunning, but the fish were a little lacking, we saw much better fish while snorkelling in the Whitsunday Islands. I loved Cairns, it had a really relaxed feel to it, and because of the stingers in the sea, they created this huge artificial lagoon where everybody sunbathed...soooo good to not have to lie on sand (Henrys perfect place, freshwater and no sand!). Going back to our dive, when we got on the boat they said please make sure if you are seasick to take some tablets now cos it is really rough out in the open sea...this american guy ignored him, and we had to watch him getting progressively greener as we got further out, and finally throw up in a bag, to then yell 'It smells just like chocolate', to say the least it was disgusting! Anyway spent about 4 days in Cairns, and took Ellie to the airport to fly down to Sydney, our final meeting until we are all back! Then we had to the face the biggest drive ever to get the car back to Bens aunt and uncle in Noosa. AHHHHHHH that was the worst drive of my life. 3 days solid driving, staying in the worst hostels the east coast had to offer, and then the last night before we finally got back we had to sleep in the car for lack of accommodation! It was the worst nights sleep ever, an experience never to be repeated! Anyhoo we decided to drive the car down to visit Byron Bay before giving it back, so spent a couple of nights there, really nice beach and great atmosphere, the others went to this place called Nimbin where they are trying to legalise cannibis (not to try it i might add, just to see it!), they said it was crazy with people just yelling across the street if they wanted any drugs....weird. Went to Dreamworld, this huge themepark near Surfers Paradise, sooooo good! We overdid it a little going on every single ride and ended up feeling sick, but definitely worth it!!! I can safely say it would have been Mums day of hell! Then spent a day in Brisbane, went on a river cruise through the city which was beautiful, amazing weather. Finally had to drop the car back off, so spent a few day back in the empty house where Ben recovered from toncillitis(or however you spell it) and I got over a revolting stomach bug. With all of us having recovered we got a flight from Brisbane to Melbourne (all going smoothly after the inital panic that Ben's bag would be too heavy, it was over 20kg but the lady just put a big 'Heavy' label on it, obviously they are quite lax), domestic flights seem very relaxed about everything, we never had to show any form of ID, weird. Anyway spent about 5 days in Melbourne, really cosmopolitan city with very crammed CBD...went to see the Rod Laver arena which annoyingly wasnt set up as a tennis court, but great to see all the other courts (sooo many!). We also went to an AFL match (Aussie rules football) at the Melbourne cricket ground, an absolutely hilarious game to watch when you dont know the rules (there seem to be very few) and unfortunately we were sitting next to some other visitors who didnt know either...a well spent afternoon i feel! Visited the Old Melbourne Gaol where Ned Kelly was hanged, the boys shut me in a cell and actually couldnt open it for about 10 mins, Fran was just about to go and get someone to help when finally i kicked it and it opened....phewww (the boys found it hilarious i might add, me somewhat less so!).
We then got a greyhound bus to Canberra, just so we could see the capital city. Really weird sort of dead town, with nobody except business men (did not see a single child!). Went to the parliament buildings and got to watch PrimeMinisters questions, which was BRILLIANT! They were all arguing about whether they should have gone to war in Iraq, and we were like 'Erm, its a bit late to be discussing that now!' All heckling each other loads, hilarious to watch!! Fran and I also went to the Australian Institute of Sports, got shown round by a 6'9'' Olympic volleyball player, no wonder the Aussies win everything with all those facilites, amazing! Only spent a day and 1/2 in Canberra as the accomm was so expensive, so got the bus to Sydney in the afternoon and we are spending a week here before the girls and the boys go their separate ways! Saw a performance at the Sydney Opera House called 'Jupiter and Alpine' (Mozart and Strauss) which was beautiful, managed to get premium box seats for only $25 because we were students when normally they were $100!!! Woop woop! I know dad will be very jealous! The weather here is shockingly awful, it has rained solidly for 3 days, our walk back from the opera house to our hostel might aswell been our swim back to the hostel, we were that wet! Will hopefully update again with a smaller gap than last time!!!! Lots of love to everyone xxxxxxxxxxxx