Bundaberg - The place to be for turtle viewing, and at this time of year (December), the turtles were coming onto the beach to lay their eggs. They come to lay their eggs once every 2 to 3 years, and always return to the same part of the same beach. Intelligent cretures. We arrived at the beach in the evening with a tour group, and our groups were called out one at a time once there was turtle activity on the beach. Luckily we were amongst the first group to be called, and got the chance to see a turtle on the beach preparing to lay her eggs. She started by digging a 30cm deep hole in the sand using just her hind legs in turn. She then lay the eggs, approximately 40 of them! While she was laying her egges, we were able to get a bit closer, and as they can't hear out of the water but can still see, we had to remain behined it. The turtle was then measured, and was picked up to be weighed. The turtle then ambled down the beach, and slipped back into the sea. As a group, we were then instructed to carry these eggs up to a designated spot higher up the beach, under a shelter. The researchers had specifically done this to keep tutrle eggs cooler as many turtles had died due to excessive heat last year. The whole experience was just amazing, especially carrying the newly laid eggs. We were then quickly taken off the beach as there was news of another one arriving to lay her eggs, and she would return to the sea if she saw us as she'd deem us a threat. The hostel we stayed in saw us sharing a room with some of the 'long timers', a fab but overworked group of fruit pickers.

Noosa - Here we stayed in the YHA hostel, a really chilled out, friendly place to stay! 'And only 50metres from the bus stop'!!! We thought this was great, not having to lug our ever increasing luggage around! That is, until we arrived at the bus stop... It may only be 50m away, but 50m on a 45 degree gradient is something else! That's the polite version, the x-rated version had been generously used by all of us who arrived on that bus! However, looking back, and having done the easier descent, the stay was well worth the climb! This was not only the perfect excuse to eat copious amounts of ice cream, daily (!), but also the gateway for the greater 'Australia Zoo', Steve Irwin's very own. Not surprisingly, we saw lots of crocs, and a fantastic snake show! Really enjoyed it, but better from a distance eh! The rest of our time here was spent indulging in another favourite pastime, shopping!

Brisbane - I loved this city! I found it to be so pretty, especailly at night by the water, where I had some cool evening walks with some people I'd met. Dip arrived the day after me, and we headed off to 'Wet 'n' Wild' water par! What a day! It was fab, and my best ride for sure has to be the Tornado! We got shipped off lying on our backs in this rubber dingy, head to toe, down a dark tube, only to find at the last dip, we our being spat out by this spout into a big funnell, 'The Tornado'!!! It's pretty scary when you're going backwards, but worse when you can see your path!! Ace! That night we went to watch a big outdoor Christmas Carol event with some girls we'd met along the way! One of them had borrowed my name too, what are the chances of that?! While we waited for the receptionist at the hostel of a very well known chain of hostels around Oz to book our taxi, we heard some mumbling which we were a bit unsure of. Then she asked for my name to give to the company, I told her 'Rupali', and she said 'what?', i said 'Rupali', and she said 'R eh heh eh .... or something like that' (chuckle chuckle). I"LL GIVE YOU 'OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT!!!!' Stupid woman! This probably doesn't sound like much, but it was the last straw of many incidents in only a couple of days! Anyway, back to my trip! After a fabulous sing song under make shift black bag unbrellas, we headed off to a club. Good night! Enough about me, Dip managed to juggle counting stars with being chatted up by randoms very well! ;)