GB hockey star Crista Cullen is hoping to take part in this summer's Olympics with the British women's team. They missed out on Athens four years ago but have qualified for Beijing.

Over the coming months on 606, the 22-year-old will be providing an insight into her preparations for the Games - at the moment she's in the middle of a tour of Australia with the GB team.

Since we arrived in Australia we've been really busy and training quite a considerable amount, especially at the start of the trip. We'd been training for a good week and a half before our first game against Australia and I think we were quite tired come the first test. This is not an excuse but it didn't really help, and we lost 5-0.

A thrashing like that is a real, hard lesson you need to have every now and again - you learn a lot about each other, it's a real smack in the teeth.

We bounced back from that quite well and were unfortunate to lose the second game 2-1, because we controlled most of the game and should have taken our chances to kill them off.

We were 1-0 up with seven minutes to go, but that's why a side like Australia are number two in the world and we need to learn by their example.

We spent our first two weeks in Perth, which seemed to be a very quiet city. Now we're in Brisbane, which seems a lot more cosmopolitan. We're staying in quite nice self-catered apartments with double bedrooms and kitchens, so we can cook in for ourselves when we don't go out as a team.

We all have room-mates - I'm only in a two but the majority of us are in threes and fours. I normally share with Jennie Bimson at the majority of big tournaments. You seem to fall into the groove of sharing with the same person at big events.

We spend most of our time together as a team. You have an hour here or there where you can go out and do things, but the sad thing is that when you get the opportunity to go out you're so tired from training and matches, all you want to do is lie on your bed and sleep or watch DVDs. I went into Brisbane shopping for a couple of hours this afternoon though, and that was really nice to get out for a bit.

I grew up in Kenya and my parents live there so I've been speaking to them quite regularly, because it's a really difficult time for people there.

Thank God, things seem to be settling down now and I would be confident in saying that it is safe for people to travel out there and get the opportunity to see such a beautiful country.

My dad runs a hotel on the coast and the tourism trade has been hit quite badly with what is going on. I just hope Kenya recovers from what has happened quickly. It took us twenty years to build what Kenya has become, and it's scary that it only took a week or so to break. It's an amazing country and hopefully people will realise it hasn't been ruined just because of a few politicians.

There has been concern on my part as to what is happening at home, but I know my parents will always be fine and they know where to contact me if not. I am not saying that it hasn't been on my mind as it has but there has also been a need to focus on hockey through this important preparation phase.

It is made harder when what's on the news isn't necessarily what's actually happening. When it's your home it is something you're really passionate about, but I know that all will be fine and we will be back to the old soon.

At the moment I've put myself in a hockey bubble - it's hockey, hockey, hockey right now - and everything else seems so far away.

Back in the UK I normally work for the Kennel Club helping with things like sponsorship, and as soon as I get back Crufts is the next thing on my agenda, which will be a whirlwind.

First of all we have the rest of the tour to finish. We're working on some new things to try against the Australian system. We'll see whether we can run away with it next time like we should have done in the second game.

After the tour we'll have a trip out to Macau to play on the pitch there, which is the same pitch that's laid down in Beijing. We'll have some training sessions there to get used to the pitch and the temperatures, and that's where we'll train for two weeks before Beijing.

I'll give you a full update when I get back from the tour, and in the mean time if you have any questions for me, please post them below and I'll answer as many as I can.

Crista Cullen was talking to BBC Sport's Ollie Williams