Slept remarkably well on the overnight bus journey, considering I kept waking up in uncomfortable positions with no feeling in my left leg! Arrive at the Hervey Bay stop at 0630, which turns out to be about an hours amble to where I am staying. Since I can't check in until later though it is not a problem, and I see a monument in memory of Aborigines, before a nice walk through a little park. Have a sit down on a bench by the beach, a lovely long beach, a bit like Swansea Bay. Very windy.

Check in early, about 1000, as I need a shower after the overnight and the walk. After that I take a four mile walk alongside the beach, as it gets hotter and hotter. At the end of the walk is a Shark Expo' ($15, but $12 for backpackers) so I go in. It is essentially lots of paper cuttings about sharks, and Vic Hislop, a famous shark killer opposed to the Great White becoming a protected species. A couple of rolling videos and the actual heads of some big sharks he killed. It is an interesting place, and exactly the kind of off-the-beaten-track thing I'm looking for. A slow wander back to the hostel for 1500, where the AFL Grand Final is on. Beer is $2.50 a can while it's on, so I get one and settle down to see if I can make any sense of it!

If rugby were an animal, and went rabid, wild-eyed and frothing at the mouth, that's Aussie Rules! Actually very enjoyable - the final quarter was utter mayhem and it went right to the wire, finished 80-68 to Geelong over St Kilda. Wrote up diary, noodles for tea. Then watched the semi-final of the NRL - Melbourne Storm beat Brisbane Broncos 40-10, then to bed.