Wow, it seems like a while since i wrote on here although it's just less than 2 weeks ago! Well we are now one third of the way through the trip and it's going ridiculously fast. Always does i guess! Anyway...the adventure continues...

We left Byron Bay and headed for Brisbane, via a ZORBING site - which is with a giant rubber ball, full of water - you climb inside and they roll you down a hill - there are some pictures of Damo doing this (DAMO just happened to be on the same bus as us - random)! Me and Em are going to give it a go in NZ when the hills are a bit steeper. We were only in Brisbane for the best part of 12 hours because of the nature of the buses which are hop on hop off and sometimes they only leave on selective days. Got a really good feel for Brisbane, it's supposed to be the most liveable city in Australia (I've got many many of these random little facts!). We met up with Mike Irving off our course at uni who's currently living out there with his girlfriend.

Then we headed off to Noosa, a small but upmarket coastal resort north of Brisbane - we really wanted to go to Australia Zoo (the one that Steve Irwin set up) but the buses were fully booked, so we spent 2 days walking over the national park spotting koalas and eyeing up the beautiful scenery! One of our last oppurtunities to try surfing - past here it's limited because sharks, jellyfish and such like inhabit the waters!

Then off to Hervey Bay (pronounced Harvey Bay for some reason) - we booked a 4 wheel drive trip around Fraser Island which is the world's largest sand island. Basically we hired a 4WD and were put with 8 other people and spent 3 days, 2 nights touring the island. It was good fun, and our group was lovely but it was a quiet trip. The rain on the first night was a bit trougherific because our tents weren't waterproof. I guess that's what happens on a budget trip! I think the highlight was swimming in the lakes (Lake McKenzie which is in the photo accompanying this entry) and the contrasting Lake Wabby which has green waters! It was amazing. Also on the island are DINGOES (big Australian Dogs) - i was terrified! They have been responsible for many human attacks previously - we had a massive briefing on how to behave around them!!

We spent one night at a Cattle Station at Kroombit - it's an extra as part of Oz Experience (the bus tour we're doing). Here we tried our hand at a whole range of activities - horse riding, rounding up goats, whip cracking, the mechanical bull and then they even had a GOAT RODEO going on! It was lots of fun.

And then the trip has taken us here to Airlie Beach (pronounced AIR-LEE beach and there's not even a beach here)- it's a very small town but it's the base for all the sailing trips around the Whitsunday Islands - there are 74 islands in total!! We've just finished a 3 day sail on a boat named SV Whitehaven - it was an amazing trip. Complete escapism and the ocean was beautiful. We did 2 snorkels from the boat and we are now into the Great Barrier Reef so the size and colours of the fish were so impressive. We kept joking that we were on a simulator and it really felt like that! Slept out on the deck last night - under the stars. It was a brilliant end to the trip! We leave in the morning for Magnetic Island - then onto Cairns - and then we fly to NZ very late on Sunday 13th!

Hope everyone's well and that you can access the pictures on facebook! Missing you lots, Love Lizzi xxxxxxxxxxxxxx