Byron Bay was the last stop before Sydney that I deemed absolutely vital, but given that it's still 790km north (nearly 500 miles) I thought it prudent to have a couple of stops along the way. 

The first was Nambucca Heads. Absolutely nobody got off the Greyhound bus there...it looked very quiet. But I wanted a couple of days there to spend solidly watching TV and reading the paper (on the beach. Nice!) ahead of looking for work in Sydney. This photograph shows a storm brewing. Perfect weather for my TV viewing! 

I also stopped at Newcastle....mostly because it meant I would arrive in Sydney at a sociable hour, but also because my sister worked there as part of her science post-doctorate a couple of years ago and I wanted to see what it was like. Unfortunately I only saw it in the dark, but with free wifi along the whole of Beaumont Street and a dorm room all to myself it certainly served a purpose. 

On the morning of 11th April I boarded the bus at Newcastle, and by  early afternoon I was knocking on the door of my new houseshare that I'd managed to sort out while I was on the road. I hadn't realised we would enter the city via the Harbour Bridge and my first view of the Opera House took my breath away. It felt like a symbol of a place I've wanted to get to for well over a decade. 

I spent the first few days catching up with people that various friends had put me in touch with, then my birthday came along and I spent it at Manly, a suburb (with a glorious beach) to which you catch a ferry. In the evening my lovely new housemates took me to a local vegetarian restaurant. Then it was time for the work meetings. I lined up five and got immediate work out of two of them. I am now freelancing in rolling news and breakfast television. Woo hoo!!

I heard about Byron Bay when I was in my late teens and the gathering point for hoards of hippies has been a place I’ve wanted to experience ever since. Unfortunately when I turned up the weather took a turn for the worst so I explored the town dressed in a Bundaberg Rum poncho – not quite the colourful attire I would have imagined wearing all those years earlier.

I was at the YHA which, aside from the nice hammock outside my room, was a little uninspiring for somewhere like Byron so I set off to find a hostel I’d been recommended by some German girls I met in Mooloolaba. It paid off because next door to the ‘Byron Beach Resort’ (which I ended up staying at two nights’ later) was a lovely bar called the Treehouse where I whiled away some time writing my diary and talking to the staff about music, the local area and the benefits of being a vegan (which I’m not, but I’m not far off). 

Later that evening I happened upon the most fabulous live act playing at a restaurant. They are possibly some of the finest musicians I’ve ever actually seen. A guitar and violin duo called Hunter and Smoke. Whether this excellence was a hangover from the Blues Fest or whether Byron is always this cool is a question I feel I ought to answer with a further trip! 

The next day I went diving at Julian Rocks. They can be seen from the bay and are only about 3km out. This was my first dive since qualification, as well as my first boat dive, and I was really rather nervous. Especially as I’d read about a fatal Great White attack there within the last decade. One of the great attractions of the dive is to see sharks so I trusted the divers who do it every day and along with a lovely Swiss girl called Joelle, we were guided by Paul from Sundive who showed us lobsters in their holes, loads of big, fat Wobbagong Sharks that looked like a large scale bottom-feeder like a dogfish. I also saw a pipe fish, huge blue groupers and best of all a turtle. 

Later on I was collected by my friend Rob, from England, who’s lived in the area for about a decade. Since I last saw him, he’s had three children with his wife Mo, and it was absolutely brilliant to experience 24 hours of family life, and family cooking. But first of all it was off to the family pub to meet another ex-pat couple. Weirdly, I met a further ex-pat couple the following day and between all of us there is no more than 3 degrees of separation (without taking Rob and Mo into account). All I can conclude from that is that they must be my kind of people, which obviously must mean that Australia is my kind of country….?!

During my stay, apart from the pub, we visited the beach and a tea-tree lake. In lakes like this the water has turned red because of the tannins in the surrounding tea trees. Apparently it makes your hair feel really soft, but mine was already covered in seawater so I can’t confirm or deny this effect. Within about a metre of wading in the water looks black and you can’t see the bottom. Also it was freezing but I had to have a dip, just in case it was excellent. You never know! I was rather ambitious on my first swim out towards the middle, but curbed my enthusiasm after I realised my arms were about to stop working because of the cold. 

It’s not too far to come from Sydney (just the old 500 miles, don’t even worry about it) so I am certain I will be taking up Rob’s offer of a weekend up there sometime soon for a spot of fishing or kite surfing. Nice! 

I’d wanted to go to Coolangatta – on the border between NSW and QLD – because I have a friend who’d raved about it previously, so I booked a place to stay a couple of days in advance.

Unfortunately I then booked my Greyhound bus journeys all the way down to Newcastle and totally forgot about Coolangatta! But no dramas…I cancelled the room and was about to get on the bus to Byron Bay. It’s always nicer to have something booked that you know you’re doing when you arrive, so while I waited at Brisbane bus station I started phoning hostels. The first option was full, so I tried the next option, that was full too, and so it went. I had thought it would be ok – the famous Blues Fest had finished a week earlier, and the rest of the coast was quite quiet as everyone was back at school and the weather was on the turn but no. Byron Bay was full. So in the 20 minutes before the bus left, I ran to the desk in a panic and asked if I could add a stop at Coolangatta, and while the lady typed I reinstated my night in the dorm at Komune. 

And how glad I was that this happened! Komune is easily the best dorm I’ve stayed in – it was more like a hotel, great ensuite bathroom WITH washing machine and free washing powder. I can’t tell you how exciting that is for a smelly backpacker! And the people in the dorm were lovely – all of them surfers apart from one dutch girl who had such a brilliant attitude towards job hunting and as a result some inspiring stories to tell. She was about to start work at an exclusive resort near Darwin where film stars go. Good work that girl! 

I went for a little jaunt to the beach and that spontaneous hour I spent in the sea was one of the best of my whole trip. No jellyfish, waves that absolutely smashed you onto the beach, I even managed a body surf (sort of) but ended up with a lot of water up my nose. It was just divine. Also, you could see Surfers Paradise across the water – which looked stunning, and made me feel glad I hadn’t gone there – my friend Laura describes it as Miami meets Malia. Sounds horrific! 

Later on I came back to the beach with my camera, and I decided to phone Laura. While I was on the phone I saw dolphins….exactly where I was swimming just a couple of hours earlier! I would recommend Coolangatta to anyone. 

I arrived mid afternoon again making the mistake of having booked nothing. I was aiming for the YHA when I got tempted in to a hostel slightly nearer…but having checked in I took an instant dislike to it so set off on a big recce to find somewhere better. The walk took me 5 hours and two trips on the boat but at the end of it I felt I had a pretty good grasp of the geography of Brisbane. And I found what I think might be my favourite hostel so far – a place called ‘Somewhere to Stay’ a massive ‘Queenslander’ building (big, wooden structures with deep balconies to keep the place cool). I met some tremendous people in my dorm and it was the sort of place where you could be who you wanted to be with no problems. Bed at 9pm if you wanted or the nearby West End is full of bars. I went to a particularly nice one called Archive where I had the best pint of cider I think I’ve ever had in my life! 

Anyway, there’s nothing outstanding about Brisbane but it is nice. The ‘Southbank’ is the spitting image of London’s Southbank with what the League of Gentlemen would call an eye wheel, as well as blocky concrete buildings housing cultural things! I went to the Gallery of Modern Art and completely felt I was in the Tate Modern as I looked out the window. 

I was lucky to be shown round the local area a bit by a friend of a friend who's a teacher here. Anita grew up at Tamborine Mountain about a 45 minute drive out of the city and into beautiful countryside that flips between woodland, rolling hills and rainforest. As we gained altitude the views across to the other mountains became spectacular. We had a Devonshire tea to get our energy levels up and then embarked on a two hour rainforest walk. In the rainforest we found ourselves stopping every few footsteps to look at yet another weird and wonderful quirk of nature. But aside from the mysterious tree roots, numerous lizards and mad sounds, today I saw some very pretty flowers, including a tree absolutely covered in deep purple petals. And this was just on the roadside! 

It seems that everyone at Mooloolaba Backpackers was there for the same reason as me. They’d had to miss Noosa because it was booked up for Easter. However, I had specifically wanted to come to Mooloolaba as part of my travels because I’d heard from the people on Magnetic Island that it was nice, and it also seemed a little off the usual backpacker trail so I thought I might meet some interesting people. 

Well I was right! Within minutes of arriving I’d met a fellow diver, so after a chat with the local dive shop - which wasn’t so successful, but they did give us some good advice – we went off for a look at the beach. It was the biggest place I’d seen in months. And big in a sort of ‘normal’ way. Unlike Bundaberg or Townsville which seem to be just big towns in an area where you just need a town at some point, Mooloolaba is in a beautiful area geographically and close enough to Brisbane to attract crowds of real-life Australians.

It’s also the first climate I’ve come across in which I could actually live. Really sunny and hot during the day – but not too hot for me – and cool enough to warrant a hoody at night. The esplanade is lined with nice places to eat and drink, and in addition to the beach there’s also the beautiful marina.

Molloolaba Backpackers was cool. I met some really nice people here – a Frenchman who could do backflips off the sea wall, an American who’d just been living in Norwich, an Englishman who’d just finished school and who I was trying to convince him not to follow the crowd and go to uni too soon! Also a fellow TV producer, and just now, a local chiropractor who clicked me into place and then took me to see Mooloolaba spit in the time I have waiting for my greyhound bus!

Yesterday I walked up to Maroochydore which is a couple of miles up the coast. I happened upon a World Festival, a market and a terrific book exchange.

I would recommend a few nights in this area to anyone.