Woke up in the morning feeling a little delicate but not too bad. Had breakfast again, this time not joined by my feather friends. I then went to catch my bus, and got there in plenty of time! I’m getting better. This was only a short journey by comparison to the last, only 7 hours.

I met two lads for Sheffield who were staying in the same accommodation as me. James and Alex are both a good laugh and after we dumped our bags we all went and had something to eat (plus a few shandies). The hostel where we were staying was above a steak restaurant so that's were we ate. I had a dish called “Bellow, Snap & Jump” which was beef, crocodile and kangaroo and it all tasted great.

The original plan was for me to spend just one night in Rocky before moving on to Hervey Bay, while Jim and Alex were spending two nights here. But after a discussion over a few beers I cancelled my bus ticket for the following day and booked myself into the hostel for another night. We decided that we would go on the “Beef n Reef” tour the following day. This was a small group of people, 10 or so, going to the edge of the out-back with a guide who would show us animals, plants and explain everything to us.

The tour was one of the best things I have ever done. It started with us getting picked up rather early in a mini-van. All over the inside the van were loads of notes from people who had been on the tour before and every single one said they loved it! Obviously nobody had ever explained to Dave, the guide, that this mini-van actually wasn’t a massive 4x4 designed for aggressive driving. Most of the morning was spent racing down dirt tracks on over seriously rough ground at stupid speeds. Was a really good laugh. We were soon out and about, having a walk with Dave showing us various animals from frogs to spiders. That was followed by a swim in a billabong, which was so refreshing. But Dave did keep making jokes about crocs, funny!

After lunch we drove to a huge fig tree because according to Dave it would contain “loads of nasties”. He wasn’t wrong. After about 5 minutes Dave found a “Huntsman Spider”. This was the biggest spider I had ever seen. It didn’t use a web to catch its pray, it would stalk them instead and then pouncing! Before I knew what was happening I was holding it and then agreed to have it on my face!! I have to admit that it actually felt quite nice. In the same tree we found a “Tree Snake” (imaginative name). She wasn’t very big at all and felt smooth when you held her. Unfortunately she had been quite badly injured so she spent the rest of the day with us in the van so she could be taken to a vet.

 Once we left the tree we went looking for kangaroos and it wasn’t long until we found some. We followed them round in the van and tried our best to keep up when they set off hoping but at full speed they were doing 60km/h and not even Dave and the “wonder van” could match that. After the van’s suspension had been successfully destroyed we drove to a second billabong where we had a mud bath using mud taken from around the roots of the trees that lined the billabong. According to Dave this was very good for your skin. I’m not too sure about that but it was good fun and a nice way to end the day.

The whole day was the best value for money that I have had in ages, if not ever! On the tour we met two more English lads who ended moving to stay at our accommodation. Johnny and Dave were also heading down the east coast but had rented a car. So, again, over a few beers plans were altered and the five of us were going to drive down to Hervey Bay the next day.

What was supposed to be a 12 hour stop over turned into two days of fun and I made some good mates who I’m going to meet up with further down the road after we have all gone our own ways.

To Hervey Bay in a rented car. ROAD TRIP!