What? I can sleep in today?

---

I'm in Mission Beach
Cruisy day sea kayaking
Crashing waves all round.

I had a pretty cruisy day today. I actually got to sleep in a bit. Grabbed a bite to eat, washed up and got ready for a bit of sea kayaking. I looked out to sea...waters look a bit rough! But no worries I can go in a double kayak with Stretch who apparently has eight years of life saving experience under his belt.

So we took the double kayak out through the waves and paddled to another part of the beach where we rode the waves and made it to shore. Stretch went into the warm waters for a swim. I only walked in to jump a few waves when Stretch notices a capsized kayak in the distance. Come on, quick! Let's go over there to see if we can help them out. So after a bit of hard paddling through some heavy waves we made it to some calmer waters. Man that was a lot of salty crashing water that we went through. I was just grateful we didn't capsize! In retrospect it was pretty fun paddling through the rough waters and waves. I guess because I know now that we didn't capsize! lol

By the time we made it to the other capsized boat they had figured out how to get back on AND that the heavier person needs to go in the back. So we cruise along some more and before we knew it an hour had passed by. Since checkout was at 10AM, all of my stuff was stowed at reception and we had no where to go but sit poolside. What a tough life. 😊 It was nice that the clouds would come by every so often to break up the intensity of the sun. What a scorcher! So it was about an hour and a half poolside with Laura, Lucy, Brad, Ashley and Stretch too. I did a bit of reading and chatting.

Brad and Ash are two buddies that have been travelling around together the last six months. It is hilarious listening to their banter. Almost like an old married couple. lol Brad thought I was taking the piss when he asked how old I was and I told him 32. "Seriously?" was his reply. He didn't think I seemed over 24! How flattering! Lucy and Laura also thought I was about 23 or around that age. I guess it is because most people on the Oz bus are younger but then Lucy and Laura said it was because I look really young. How flattering! Then again these two are turning 19 next weekend so 23 probably seems really old to them. LOL

It’s only one more day on the bus til getting to Cairns. It's been four straight days on the bus so it'll be good to be in one place for four nights straight. I've been lucky that the last couple of days have been with a small group of people. It's also been quite impressive that our driver is quite knowledgeable about things Australian (e.g. flora, fauna, Aboriginals and history) and the area we are passing by.

Tonight seems like it'll be a quieter one. I’ll have dinner with Laura and Lucy and probably just talking round the table with our fellow bus mates. Hmm, who was there today? Andy (He used to work in HR and just got his hairdresser's designation back in England. He's pretty cool and fun to talk and joke around with.) Katie (She’s a great story teller. The best story was the one where she almost slept with her second cousin!) Amy and Phil (They’re a real nice couple to chat with. They'll be heading over to NZ after their time in Oz is up.) And there were a couple of Canadian girls but I didn't chat with them too much but they do seem nice. So as I always say, riding the bus is always a bit of a hit and a miss in regards to who you meet and get along with. For the most part I’ve been pretty lucky and have met some great people like Nicola...Sofie...Vee & Darj...Lucy & Laura...I just hope my travel partners to Alice Springs and Uluru are easy to get along with since there are about three long days of driving just to get to Alice Springs and then another five to six days straight down the centre that will be spent with the same people. I'm getting excited about seeing Uluru loom before me...I know it'll be another one of those amazing moments in my life.

---