Mel Birta, who isn't religious, and Marwa Elsankari, a Lebanese Muslim, met during a week's camping at Umina Beach, which they both describe as the best thing that's ever happened.

While they started with what was common between them, there were still misconceptions that could have hindered the friendship from the very beginning. 

"I thought she didn't have a choice, didn't realise what a great sense of humour she has and I didn't know Muslims were allowed to get divorced," Mel said.

"Marwa is more educated and more free than I had ever imagined."

Mel had seen negative representations of the Muslim faith in the media, but applied her easy-going attitude to the situation.

"You've got to take people at face value, if you're nice to me, I'll be nice to you," she said.

It was a simple smile that broke the ice for the two women, followed by nights of questions and education that forged a beautiful friendship.

"Mel was just too easy to talk to and so genuine and up front," Marwa said. 

"I was happy she was asking the hard questions because she can relay the information to others."

Marwa started wearing the scarf when she was 18, which has had a massive affect on her. 

"I'm automatically identified as a Muslim and the response is worse now than ever before with everything that happens around the world," she said. 

"I'm not a blind follower and when I thought about putting the scarf on I wanted to know why.

"When I finally did it, I did it with conviction."

Since Mel and Marwa met at the beach, the world has again experienced an horrific act of terror with the shooting at Charlie Hebdo in Paris. 

Marwa said there were 1.8 billion Muslims in the world, and it was a minority of extremists who had misinterpreted the Holy Quran, the central religious text of the Muslim faith.

"The extreme images shown on television are not what Islam promotes, however my dealings and interactions with you is," she said.

"People that have a problem with Islam are more vocal than those that don't and I truly believe it is the result of ignorance."

When the Paris shooting occurred, Marwa reached out to her friend as she was concerned about how Mel felt.

But Mel said she just thought all Muslims were like Marwa, that they were all nice.

"I feel like I've changed since I met Marwa," Mel said.

"I feel enlightened, happy and relieved that my eyes have been opened to a whole other culture."