Pommies finish AussieLAND!!

---

Having a Whale of a time...

We set sail for the whale watching expedition on a glorious day with whales in our sights! The catamaran took 2hrs to get to the whale migration and spawning area and 2 painful hours to return. However..while we were there we saw brilliantly marvelous humpback whales and dolphins! NICE!

On the road again...we stopped at a rest site near Gladstone, and headed for Rockhampton 'Rocky' the next day. The place looked nice..we were hopeful that this would be a good place to go out and party...we were sadly mistaken! The town had one bar/nightclub 'Struttersss'..which by the name and look..didn't seem worth it! We made our own fun in the desolate 'city' (free prawn crackers from locals and crazy jumps over stuff..see pics). The next morn we jumped into the swimming pool...BAD mistake! After one second we had jumped back out again.

We drove to Airlie Beach..about 7hrs. Knackering!! But Hetty was a good ride as always! 😊 We arrived..our ultra expensive campsite was ultra dismal $30 a night! However, the town and nightlife was SWEET AS! We stayed there 3 nights...our first day was spent on a speedboat which took us to the Whitehaven beach..95% silica sand (it squeaks underfoot)..and also snorkelling on the great barrier reef!! AMAZING..we saw turtles and lots of colourful fishes 😊 The next day was spent bumming around on the beach with our new lame frisbee...

The drive back to Brissy was a mammoth one (see satnav display pic)...1800kms South!! This took us mainly one day (11am - 1am), where we arrived at a rest site and cooked up a feast! 😉 Bangers..mash..broccoli..onion gravy..carrots..spinach..ALL on ONE camping gas stove!!! (We must have been crazy to think that was a good idea, it took two hours!).

We hit Australia Zoo the following morning and paid our respects to Stevo Irwin... CrIkEy...what a fella!! We had lots of fun with the tame kangaroos and not so tame crocs! Alch also made a VERY close friend 😉 nice one alch! After one croc display we noticed that the English dude talking quoted the Mighty Boosh..saying "I'm old Greg" as an intro...we asked him about it and had a few laughs.

That night we made it back to Brissy and found our nice new friends Kim, Michelle and Hannah...Kim we'd met on our first night..she was our waitress! They had said we could stay anytime so we took them up on the offer...real Aussi living! They cooked us homemade burgers, tasty..and we had wine. Thank you guys!! 😊

The next day we dropped off the Hippie 😞 and caught our flight to Sydney! We stayed in Sydney for 3 days in the red light district of Kings Cross..in a cool hostel called 'Mates Place'! The owner Rich was awsome..and a good laugh! We went out every night and had good times..most of the time the beer was free with our hostel!! We also had amazing $10 steaks...which were AMAZING! In the city we visited the Sydney Opera House, Harbor Bridge and Aquarium!!

On our last night Hannah's aunt Sylvia and her husband Chris cooked us an AWSOME dinner of steak roast potatoes, bean and spinach salad, meatballs and the BEST waffle pancakes for dessert!! We were literally stuffed and couldn't walk properly, we got back to the hostel and collapsed! Thanks again to Sylvia and Chris! 😊

The next morning..we checked out and headed to the Airport. We're currently in Fiji...Oscar has no phone signal..heading to the islands tomorrow!! (hopefully).

See you all soon, lots of love,

Oscar and Stu X

---