Ok so for everyone who was disappointed with the lack of detail in the last blog entry (sorry Mum) here is the fleshed out version........

Spent a night on a cattle farm - Kroombit - last Thursday which was alot of fun but probably would have been even more fun had it not rained torrentially the whole time we were there. We arrived in the afternoon on this remote cattle farm which really had us feeling like we were in the back of beyond and going to be eaten alive by something deadly. First off we went for a walk up to the loko out and across the mountains. All you could see for miles around was dry deserted land and skinny cows. Then the rain came and we got very wet and muddy in a goat rodeo!! It was my job to catch the goat by the horns and Jon had to roll it on it's stomach ready to be branded - very funny I can tell you!! Then we had a go at clay pigeon shooting which i am really glad we did - despite missing all five of my clays!! After a yummy roast beef cooked on a open fire we were taught to crack a whip! Jon must have had practice at this before and he mastered the breaking of the sound barrier required to properly crack the whip! I on the other hand spent most of the evening whipping my own arm - not pleasant but quite amusing! We also saw a snake and a bright green frog during the course of the evening which made us slightly nervous of sleeping in our wooden huts!!

Still alive the next morning we departed for Airlie Beach which is the main access point for sailing the Whitsunday Islands. We booked three days and two nights on an ex-racing maxi yacht called Broomstick. We left Saturday lunchtime and joined 23 other backpackers (including Sarah and Hans) and three crew. Our first stop was snorkelling at a place called Cave's Cove. The colour of the water was something that never failed to amaze us no matter how many times we saw it - beautiful aquamarine - and the fish were simply beautiful. We had to wear stinger suits as it is jellyfish season here but luckily we didnt have any encounters of the tentacle variety - just beautiful coral and colourful fish!!

We then sailed to Hook passage to drop anchor for the night and watched the sun go down on deck which was a wonderful experience - the ocean, the sunset and then the stars. The stars in the southern hemisphere are absolutley out of this world. Multiply the number of stars you can see at home by about 50 and then you have some idea of what its like. We spent a few hours after a yummy dinner laying on deck watching the stars and asking questions about them to the crew. We saw lots of constellations including the scorpion and lupus (there you go Dad - something for you to look up) and again we saw the milky way and lots of shooting stars which was so cool!!!!

The next day we went to Whitehaven Beach - we knew it would be a good one but nothing really prepared us for how good and we are still picking our chins up off the sand. The beach was made of silica which is formed in an underwater volcano and solidifies as it comes to the surface. We were told it was almost pure silica and this is what gave the beach a talcum powder feel - it was simply paradise. Sand bars ran through the water making it shallow and warm. We took residence on one sand bar to soak up the sun and beautiful surrounding, only to find an hour later we were stranded!! Fortunately the water was shallow until Jon went off to chase a sand shark and found himself in deeper water!! We had a group photo taken on the beach with the rest of the people on our boat and if you havent watched the video caught on hans' camera then you must - we are still giggling about it now!

After returning to the boat we went to Blue Pearl Bay for more snorkelling. We thought the snorkelling was good the day before but this time we spent about an hour squeling and shrieking at the abundance of beautiful fish. One of the crew threw some bread into the water in front of us and we literally couldn't see for fish!! Jon got a bit freaked out I think - reckon he thought he was going to end up swallowing one!! we saw a Maori Rasse which must have been almost a metre. back on the boat for tea, cake and sunbathing we all shared our stories of what we had seen. That night we went to watch the sun go down on a beach and the crew came over in the speedboat with nachos. I must say we were well looked after and apart from hoisting the sails once a day we didnt lift a finger. That night we had a barbeque and again stared in awe at the stars.

The next day we set sail for an amazing few hours. We had a good wind and so got up to a good speed - about 15 notts. We had a race with another maxi yacht and beat them twice (after letting them catch up after the first thrashing) to everyone's delight!!

Back on dry land with wobbly legs we spent the afternoon relaxing and swimming by a lagoon and then went back to the hostel. It was Hans' birthday so we went out for a lovely meal last night and then onto meet the group from the boat for a drink! Had lots of fun and may have had slightly too many shandies!! It must have taken us about an hour to walk home as we staggered from left to right! Hans said it was definitely his best birthday ever and we were very glad to have shared it with him.

Up early and very possible still drunk this morning we boarded the Oz bus at 7:30 after a lot of moaning and complaining and last minute packing. It was not the most pleasant of bus journeys but I guess we only have ourselves to blame for that. We watched The Simpsons Movie which helped to pass the time. We arrived in Townsville and after a mad rush we made it on the 12:00 ferry to Magnetic Island. The hostel here is great and right on the beach. Will take some photos tomorrow and post them when we arrive in Mission Beach or Cairns. We spent the afternoon exploring the island and then came back for a swim.

Tomorrow we are off to Mission Beach. We leave Australia in less than a week which we are quite sad about. We have made great friends in Hans and Sara and I am sure they will be lifelong ones. Although they are going to New Zealand also they start their journey on the South Island and us on the North. We hope to meet up in the middle somewhere to celebrate Sara's birthday on the 4th. They are then off to Fiji for a week and we will meet up with them again in Los Angeles. It turns out they will be there the same time as us and are planning to see everything we had planned to. It is not surprising that they are more organised than us and have already booked a hire car for a ten day round trip in the US. They have upgraded to an SUV so that we can join them so we are very excited about that!!

So there you go Mum - all the gorey details of what a great sailing trip we had!! It was truly a once in a lifetime experience and will certainly be one of the highlights of our trip.

Off to make some dinner now - the money seems to be slipping through our hands like water and although we thought we were budgetting quite well, it may be time to well and truly tighten the belt!! On the plus side we may lose the extra pounds we seem to have accumulated from all the good food!!!

Hope everyone is good and it's not getting too cold at home - it really doesn't feel like October for us, being 29 degrees and all - he he, I couldn't resist!

Miss you loads, especially you Pads xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx