Australia (Eleven)

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G’day G’day,

Well I thought it was about time I wrote to everyone. It’s now drawing near to Christmas and about time for me to extend my visa as I have now finished working at the meatworks which I needed to do in order to qualify for a 2nd visa. I’m now on the Gold Coast staying at a friend’s house and eating all his food and drinking all his beer!!

Rocking Rocky didn’t turn out to be as bad as I’d expected... I met some awesome people in the hostel and made some great friends. I also managed to go to Great Keppel Island which is beautiful - if not expensive. But worth it. In fact I liked it so much I went twice. I had two four day weekends so I used them to go there. The first weekend I had there I spent 2 nights. When I arrived I was greeted by the hostel on the beach where I had disembarked the boat and to my surprise I actually knew the person. An American lady who had been in the hostel in Rocky a few times. She put me in a 2 bed tent which was lovely and gave me a tidy discount!! I paid $25 per night - it should have been $70!! The next morning unfortunately the weather wasn’t the greatest so I decided to go walking to the other side of the island, to the Lighthouse and then back a slightly longer way. The walk took me 5 ½ hours in which time I saw only 3 people it was brilliant. It was great to get out doors for a bit and get some fresh air after being cooped up in Rocky and there were some fantastic views!! During the day the weather started to slowly improve and when I got back to the hostel I met a few people I knew from them staying at the Ascot in Rockhampton and went for a few beers at the resort and sat listening to the band and watched the sun set. The then next day I went for a walk along the beach then returned had a bite and went for a walk to Monkey beach where there was a reef but we didn’t discover where it was until it was too late for me and I had to return to get the ferry back.

The following weekend on the Friday night there was a Rodeo a the Great Western Hotel in Rockhampton so a few of us went down to watch cowboys or Jackaroos falling off bulls!! I then planned to return on the following day to Keppel however that the morning Toby, a German guy who had been in the hostel a few weeks suggested we did ’Dave’s Tour’ which we did - this involved driving into the scrub and seeing some bulls, pigs etc then having a look for lots of wild life - some found us such as mozzies!! Mmm pommy blood they think!! Not quite as happy as them 😉

We tried to get our ’bush socks’ which involved jumping around bare foot on an ants nest the angry ants then come out and climb all over your feet and bit you - feels really freaky!! We also saw lots of ’roos, went swimming in a billabong a cut off part of the river which is full of fresh water and no crocs. There were also tea trees there and the mud in the billabong was infused with the oil so after a brief swim we covered out selves in the mud. Then we went in search of snakes - but first we found a huntsmen spider which I managed to put on my face!! It was huge!! The pictures are worth a look!! Then we finally found out snake at the end of the day - an nice non poisonous one which we got to hold!! Then what better way to finish a great day but with a massive lump of beef!!

So the next day I finally made it back to Keppel and met some really cool Belgians who I spent the next couple of days hanging out with. We went to Long beach and then back to Monkey beach and swam to the reef. Where I saw a turtle!! Woo!!! Been waiting so long to see one!! And a ray and lots of little tropical fish. We spent some time chilling on the beach and some of the other people from the hostel turned up and we hung out on the beach for a bit. That evening we went and had a few drinks at the bar then went I went and cooked dinner before joining the gang who had gone back to Leanne’s (one of the workers I knew from The Ascot) place. The following day I climbed up Mount Wyndam - hardy a mountain really but there were some awesome views of the island!! In the sunshine the views were like something off a postcard - just perfect. Then in the afternoon we swam or snorkelled rather around a headland looking at all the fish then unfortunately we had to return.

Then on my penultimate weekend Rockhampton City Council very kindly decided to put on the Fire in the Sky which is an annual free fireworks display held at the beginning of December. So a few of us went and watched that and then we went to the closest pub - as you do but after 20 minutes of being ignored by the bar maid we left and went up the road to the Irish pub where Nathan my long term roommate went after work and knew the land lord. When we got there is was clear the land lord was actually the drunkest in the place, there was only a handful of locals there. Bought 2 rounds and half way through the 2nd he picked up our half drunk pints and just topped them up for free. He then didn’t charge us for any more drinks!! Awesome!!

Then on my last week at work I was able to arrange a quick tour of the kill floor at work. Unfortunately I was unable to see the cows being killed as I didn’t have a hard hat on but they are first knocked out cold then they have their throats cut with a halal knife. They then came up to the kill floor where they are skinned, drained of blood then the heads are taken off and the tongues removed its really weird to see skinned cow heads with the eyes looking at you. They then get their guts removed. Some of them are pregnant and the blood of the unborn calf is extracted, I think it’s sold to the Japanese and it worth a lot. The carcasses are cut in half and then hung over night then sent to the boning room where I worked where the individual pieces of meat are packaged and boxed.

Then on Tuesday I caught the train here to the Gold coast!! Really nice to catch up with Dug and chilled out on Wednesday then on Thursday I went to the Warner Brothers Movie World which is a theme park here with some rather good roller coasters. All in a Warner Brothers kind of theme which was fun. Then yesterday I headed over to South Stradbroke Island with Dug and some of his friends. WE spent the time having a leisurely beer. The place we went to was a resort and one of Dugs friends father had a water taxi and took us over there... and even picked us up!! We had a splash in the pool and dug and Lianne did so mental flips and then I was taught leg wrestling which was lots of fun. We then headed to Surfers for a few drinks and a bite in the evening and Jess, the girl Dug is seeing came along too. Was great to meet here too. Then today I got up and eventually met up with Trin and Lianne and headed to the beach for a surf. Yes I have finally tried surfing it only took 11 ¾ months in Oz!! Didn’t manage to stand up and the waves weren’t the greatest but was really nice to see some surf again. Unfortunately though there wasn’t enough wind to go kite surfing which would have been awesome but hey always next time J

Hope all is well with everyone at home...

Mark

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