Back on the road..

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10th Aug - 07 -

So - this is it - 6 months of work and now i am back on the road, with Leila.. we hired a WICKED camper and drove 2500 + km from Brisbane up to Port Douglas... but back to that in a mo...

Well - we left Heron island on Wed 1st Aug to a huge send off that saw me and Leila in tears walking down the jetty.. that is until Silas pointed out that the boat was leaving and we should hurry - and Brett was saying in wonder - "well - yes, but is it actually moving away from the jetty???!!" - it was !! Leila and i had to throw our bags on and jump - good luck it was low tide!!! this - added to the drama that we were escorting Jai on the boat too - he had been NBO'd (Next boat off) as his boyfriend Jeremy (The F&B manager) had caught him in bed with the new apprentice chef, (a with a penchant for self harm,) the night before -

Brett, our resident drag queen on the island dislikes Jeremy for not being a gay that is receptive to the more overt gay types - so he was wetting himself with laughter as Jeremy and Jai wept!! all very draining...!! so we left amidst the biggest drama the island has ever known!!.... but on a plus point we saw a huge pod of dolphins playing in the wake behind the boat then we met up with some friends on the mainland that night and proceeded to get more than a little tipsy!!! :-)

The next day saw us catching the night train to Brisbane to pick up our campervan.. and David (my big bro) i am sorry to say that we soooooo nearly had the Star Wars van with R2D2 and C3PO and stormtroopers on the side - but muggins here complained about the service we had had online - so they upgraded us and we got a purple swirly angel - i nearly cried.. Leila told me to harden up - and we drove out of the depot - and i whinged at Leila for ages.. poor old hey!!.. so after trying to follow a dodgy tourist map and ending up on the worst gravel track possible, Leila learning to drive on the opposite side of the road as well as the car - and being eaten alive by mozzies on a random night in a forest when we were trying to save money by not going to a campsite - we met up with our Friend Dave in Mackay - we worked with him on the island - and he took us up to Eungulla national park - (a mountain range rainforest park) - it was amazing - we went Platypus watching in a creek, watched a forest fire, stayed up fo an amazing sunrise and cooked 3 tonnes of super noodles - we're on a budget!!!..
After this it was pretty much straight driving for the next few days - Blanche had phoned to say that she was in Cairns for just a couple of days and we wanted to catch up before she left... so several hundreds of km's later we arrived - met up - got drunk - went home.. woke up with hangovers in stuffy campervan etc etc - the usual hey??? After a total of over 2500 kms Leila and i have decided that we are NEVER going to drive again....

After this Leila and i checked out Port Douglas - it was very cool - we stayed at a great backpackers and sent out a million cv's - halfheartedly looking for work, but knowing that the money just wasn't going to last - unknown to us though - our old General Manager from Heron had been contacted to see if he knew of any staff that might be available or willing to transfer - and he recommended Leila and me.. so the short of it is - Leila and i are off to another Voyages resort.. Dunk Island this time - also on the Barrier Reef....

10th September -

Ok ok - i am pretty slack lately at keeping this up to date - but its so hard to find a pc to get online....

That being said - we have now been on the island for about 3 weeks - with me having just 3 more weeks to go, then i am off to the Northern Territories, Ayers Rock and Perth, frantically cramming my last few weeks before i head home on October 26th.. back home in time for Zoe's now infamous Halloween party!!

We're having a pretty good time on the island now - first couple of weeks was tough but a few sessions at the staff bar soon loosened things up, its pretty busy here - a bigger resort so not so much lazy time - but i have managed to do a few bits, the sunrise horse ride is a bonus - riding along the beach watching the sun come up and then venturing into the rainforest is something i'll never forget... the island is recovering after a massive cyclone hit about 8 months ago - so the beaches are not what they were - but a short water-taxi to mission beach resolves all that... we are taking the little tinny out on our next day off - planning a picnic and a few bottles of vino with the s,

Not much else to report so far - i'll be sure to show you all my inventory of scars when i get back - got another one a week or so ago - a coffee plunger related incident!!!

Hope everyone is doing well - miss you all..

Love Lucy,

Photo's to follow when i find a public terminal that allows me to download my memory stick!!!

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