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Following our departure from Magnetic Island we took a trip down to Airlie Beach where we had booked a sailing trip around the fantastic Whitsundays. The Whitsundays are made up of 74 islands off the coast of Eastern Australia and a World Heritige site, taking a 3 day, 2 night trip around them is a great way to explore them. We left and met the rest of our shipmates, Katie and Michelle from near London as well as Charlotte from Dorset and Jim from Devon. The sailing was amazing and really peaceful to be on the water. The scenery was awesome and the beaches are some of the nicest in the whole world. We did our fair share of snorkelling on the boat, although because it's Stinger season in Queensland we had to wear the very unflattering stinger suits to protect us from the lethal jellyfish, but it was awesome swimming from the sholes of fish and we even saw some turtles. At night the main activity was watching the sunsets and drinking and conversing. It was quality listening to some chilled music, drinking a beer and watching the sun go down. The first night me and Rick slept on deck
and skygazed into the sky. We had quite a romantic moment and saw some shooting stars. The night was spoiled when we were woken up at 5.30 and soaking wet because of the dew. The last night everyone sat on deck and talked about some quite serious topics including Climate Change, Karma and Death. Wow.
Arriveing back in Airlie Beach two days later we went out for a meal with the crew and the people on the boat and ended up bumping into the Bristol lot again, as well as people we'd met in Kuala Lumpur over a month ago! It was a great night, especially when Manchester United comfirmed an all-English Champions League final. None of us got much sleep and the bus to Kroombit was at 7am.
Kroombit Cattle Station was our next stopoff, although just for one night. It was as close to the real Australia as we'd get. It was the most remote place yet and was only made up of some small huts and dinner area and of course a bar. Al, the owner of the ranch, showed us all how to crack a whip, we had varying degrees of success in the
group, before a dinner of goat. The evenings activity was a Bull Rodeo which was great fun, I managed 14 seconds, not bad and sitting around the campfire playing some games. The next morning we woke up and it was a special day. Nick and Jonny were 19! Yay! To celebrate we did a goat muster which was basically getting on a horse and rounding up goats. It was pretty good fun and not as simple as a normal horse ride, but actually quite challenging. The funny thing was that not all the horses got along so they kept on trying to kick each other, Jonny's horse, Arrow, was not interested in anyother horses at all! We then did a goat rodeo which is sport in which three people have to capture and brand a goat as quickly as possible. Our group was last and won the event with a time of 24 seconds! We felt like real Aussies now!
After spending all their birthday on a bus Nick and Jonny were keen to celebrate when we arrived in Rainbow Beach at 6.30. Unfortuanately it's a tiny place which only 1050 residents and only used as a base to
get to the famed sand island, Fraser Island and short ferry away. So after birthday drinks all round we got merry late into the night at the hostel bar and took the party back to our room later on. It was a good birthday celebration for the twins, so Happy Birthday to them.
We had one day in Rainbow before we went across to Fraser and embarked on a 3 day 2 night 4x4 adventure on the Island. Basically you rent a 4x4 with a company who put you in a group of 10 or so and you can drive around Fraser on the beach and the trails, swim in the lakes and camp there at night. Before this however we checked out Rainbow's beach and did a spot of bodyboarding, which wetted our appetite for some surfing further down the coast. Later on we met our 4x4 group, a group of 3 girls and 1 guy who had all studied law at Manchester Uni. Charlotte, Tom, Gemma and Jenny were great and great to get along with. Fraser Island awaited!
The next day we arrived at the Island after packing all our camping gear on the roof
and just about managing to fit 8 people in the back of a Toyota Landcruiser. We had a rough iternery, but within a few minutes were lost on the sand tracks inland, instead of on the beach. This took a while to get out of and by the time we'd done it we had to catch up with the other groups. We saw the Mauho shipwreck on the Eastern beach and the Pinnacles further up before settling down at camp for the night. We had a barbeque the first night, and it was reasonably successful and again we stargazed and drank beer. The Manchester Uni guys were awesome to talk to and a great laugh as well. The next day me and Rick awoke at 5.30 eager for the sunrise. Rick quickly decided he couldn't be bothered due to the clouds, but I hung in there and despite the patchy sky saw a great sunrise. After the heavens opened for a few hours and got us all very wet, we went up to Indian Point to gazed down at the Ocean from the vantage point 60 feet above the crashing waves into the rocks below. We suddendly realised our skydive
in New Zealand was not going to be easy.
Then we drove back down the beach to Lake Wabby, a lake surrounded by sand dunes and enclosed with trees and rocks on one side. The dunes are slowly encroaching on the lake and gradually it is getting smaller. Unfortuanely on the way to Lake Wabby there were some rocks on the beach and we managed to hit one which busted the front suspension. It was a total accident and resulted in us getting a replacement 4x4 for the remainder of the trip. That night at camp was our final night on the island, we cooked pasta and sat round in a circle talking, drinking and playing truth or dare, how very Year 6 of us. We didn't care. Highlight for me was me and Rick sharing a romantic kiss, but hey I'm comfortable with my sexuality and it wasn't the worse dare by far.......
The final day was spent at Lake McKenzie a very beautiful lake inland from the beach. We also met some old friends from the Whitsundays boat on the beach there. Driving back to Rainbow later in the afternoon we reflected that despite the problems
with getting lost and crashing the car it was an amazing time. As we pulled into the 4x4 rental place everyone was silent but it could've been alot worse at $2328 overall it worked out at $208 each, given the extend of damage on the vehicle it really wasn't too bad.
The next day me, Nick and Jonny travelled down to Brisbane so Jonny can see a doctor about his arm which had been gving him pain and so I could get my debit card, which I did yesterday, so I have money again. The rest of the group arrive here from Noosa on Friday.
No Worries Mate.
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