Hi There,What a few weeks it has been. I'm not too sure where to start but I can tell you now I have been sailing, camping and 4 wheels driving for starters! It has been quite an adventure.So the story goes......We left Cairns just about two weeks ago now and headed south on the greyhound bus to Townsville. We got the ferry across to Magnetic Island which we had heard was absolutely stunning and they weren't wrong. It was so beautiful and serene. It felt more like Cornwall or being in Guernsey as they're was such a community feel to the island. It was quite unspoiled but pretty pricey. The sun was shining and we were happy to be on the move again. We were only there one night as this amazing dive site caught my eye of the coast, so I left earlier than planned to check it out. It was the wreck of SS Yongala which had sunk with 124 passengers on board during a cyclone in 1930. But after spending the night doing 4 hrs of prep and exams so that I could pass my deep dive and wreck dive sections of the advanced stages of my PADI. I was turned down to go down there as I can faint and they didn't want to take any risks. At 28m, you have to be sure that you are 100% ok to go down and I wasn't! On top of that, I took 2 kwells, seasick tablets as I had heard that it was pretty rough out at sea at that time, and I was starting to feel a little spaced out and generally out of sorts, so all in all, it was a good idea not to do the dive, but I was pretty gutted! Hey ho, I pulled myself together and got on the bus to Airlie Beach and met Jess at the most liveliest of resorts we have stayed at so far. It was called Magnums and was basically a party hostel. It had its own bar and club and was generally pretty mad. We arrived there and spent the night in the most uncomfortable bed ever - every little move I made and the whole bunk moved and squeaked - so I was glad to be oughta there the next day. But we did a very silly thing in deed. We thought it would be fun to go and see a frozen giant shark - except we didn't really think it thro as we were spending the next few days on the boat so it left us pretty scared of the water. It was called Vic Hislops Shark Show and was basically a whole heap of newspaper cuttings on the walls and videos of him catching MASSIVE sharks. It was enough to scare me from doing any more diving for a while. Especially when I read a clipping about a diver whole 'went missing' (as they all do) and then a head was seen floating past the next day! Nice! Another dead story to go with all the other hundreds I've heard since being here. Well, I guess we are talking about great whites here. But they even showed us a tooth of a shark which is estimated to be 70ft, found in the deep sea. Wowsas, that's frightening.Well, after the morning's events, we then boldly set foot aboard the Clipper! I say boldly as I was a little scared of the sea sickness, and being trapped on a little boat for 3 days. But after all the worrying, it was fine. The weather was nicer at sea than it was at Airlie Beach, so that was lucky! We basically hang out with the crew, the passengers and the goon for 3 days. First night on the boat was a bit like being in an Ibizan club. There were plenty of drinking games going on in the cabins below and then when the booze had run dry, it was straight into the spa for a dip. I wasn't 'cookoo' enough for that, but it looked mad. There were bodies everywhere being crammed into a little pool. The aim was to try and break the record of the most amounts of people in the pool, which was currently at 30 people, but the most our gang got was 20. That's still not bad going but wasn't enough. The Irish lads had a thing for stripping off and showing their bits to the other boats, which kept up the reputation of the Clippers name of being the party boat! After an alcohol filled night we went to bed in a sweat of heat in the cabins below but awoke with very sore heads in deed. I was glad to be hoping off that boat at 9am, as the rocking of the boat wasn't helping the hangover! So we hopped off to see the most spectacular sight of the Whitehaven beaches of the Whitsunday islands. What a beauty! It was just like paradise. Beautiful long stretches of sand, the whitest in the world made from the coral. It was so pure and clean. We walked up to a lookout and got attacked by the mossies. In fact our trusty stinger suits usually used for the stingers in the sea were make shift mossie suits to stop them biting us alive! So anyway, we chilled out on the beach before hoping back on the party boat. We sunbathed on the deck and floated in the spa as the Clipper sailed along. We did some snorkeling and saw some lovely fishes. In the evening we anchored up opposite the Whitsunday Island and watched 3 sharks circle the boat while trying to catch squids. At that point I decided that I definitely didn't want to go diving again. But, somehow, in the morning I forgot all about that and by 8am I was back out there snorkeling with the fishes and saw the biggest Napoleon Mauri Wrasse ever. It was about a meter long and came right out of the caves at the bottom to feed on food on the surface with all the other fishes. I was scared of that monster, so swam back to shore...Phewy. We anyway, after all that excitement, we ate brekkie while finishing off the rest of the goon and arrived back to the rain in Airlie Beach at lunch time. In the evening there were more drinks, but this time we had to deal with our land sickness. It took a good few days to get used to being on flat ground again. But what an experience!After that, we left Airlie Beach to head south towards Rockhampton. We stopped over the night, but we had heard it might not be possible to get in there due to the floods that have been going on around Queensland. We stayed in this old, old colonial hotel which was opposite the river, so made a quick exit in the morning to go on to 1770. We had heard that this place was so so beautiful, so we made a detour to get there. But, with all the rain, we kinda didn't see much. We got there and were told to walk 7km to get there or hitch hike. So we tried both and failed miserably. The walk failed when we realized that the footpath ended and didn't feel it was safe to walk along a busy road, so then we started to hitch hike, which didn't work either! So we walked to the beach and fell asleep and woke up just before a massive torrential downpour. More rain. That's all it seemed to do. So the wonderful view we went to see, we didn't actually get to see it. I got the postcard instead! That night, we were chilling in the hostel and then a guy turned up with a snake, so we tried him on and thought he looked good as a necklace! Anyway, after one night there, we were on the move again. This time we were heading for Hervey Bay, destination Fraser Island!So we got there in the rain might I add. Apparently it's been the wettest summer for ages and ages. Great - the year I finally decide to come to oz and it rains continuously! Oh well, its better being in the sun in the rain than in the cold. So we got there and went on a desperate hunt to find me a rain coat. The one I have I showerproof and lasts all of 5 minutes in a down pour. But had no luck as its summer, no where stocks rain coats in the summer! Great! So I got a 2 dollar poncho instead and hoped for the best. Off course, that made no difference as it rained regardless of what suited my needs. We had booked ourselves onto a 4wd adventure 3 day tour of Fraser Island, but I kind of pictured sunny beaches and permanent tents. Alas it wasn't the 5 star accommodations I was dreaming of, more like you pitch up the tent on the side of the beach and keep an eye open for the roaming dingos. We even had to watch 2 videos lasting 2 hours to make sure we were well equipped for the experience. Things like how to deal with the roaming dingoes if they approached you, or how to drive a 4wd in the sand and not get bogged. All of it we did actually need to knows when we got out there. After a long packing session and signing lots of documents to say we understand not to trash the 4wd, we were off (in the rain). First of all there was the crossing, and then we got there and headed straight for Lake McKenzie, a beautiful lake right in the middle of the island. It was gorgeous. So blue and the nicest softest water. We were only there briefly as we had to make our way to the site we were to camp out and pitch our tents before high tide. We managed that ok, but still had to cook on a stove in the rain. Lovely. No dingoes were spotted that night thankfully, but we did need to hit the goon so that we could sleep ok. By 7am the next morning as the sun came up it was roasting and the sand flys were eating us alive. The digging a hole for the loo in the middle of the night wasn't pleasant but I'm told it's all part of the adventure. I wasn't having fun at this point. And then it got worse. The 4wd decided to break down half an hour after leaving the camp to drive up to Indian Heads. We managed to flag down some people to help with diagnosing what the problem was and amazingly, the guys we stopped were mechanics with jump leads! Excellent, the sun was shining and we were back on the open road (I mean sand) again. When we eventually got to the top of the island and climbed the steep hill to the top, the views were....breathtaking! Absolutely amazing in fact. I even spotted a stingray. The sea was a marvelous turquoise color and the waves were like the ones in Castaway with Tom Hanks, they were two or three rolling in at a time. Not the sort of sea to go swimming in. But lovely none the less. So we got back down the mountain, headed to Eurang, a little settlement with a shop and called the mechanic (the only one on the island) who with a drunken slur said it 'well it either works or it don't' so we took that as it was ok to drive. Next stop was the campsite. My turn to drive this time, and wowy was it fun! You slip and slide everywhere on that sand and trying to miss the waves coming your way is a task, but it was awesome. I didn't mention to anyone that I hadn't driven for 5 months, as if I was them, I would have been scared - but it was easy peasy! So we camped up but this time it was a thunderstorm that hit us and the island. We had many sightings of dingoes and it got too dark and wet for us to cook in the rain, so we went to bed by 9. Rock'n'roll! The next morning, I was in charge of waking everyone up at 6 so that we could get any early start of walking 3.8km to get to Lake Wabby. Except, somehow, I got a little confused and set the clock for 5am. Whoopsy! An hour early! But, at least we all got to see an amazing sunrise! We set off after brekkie around 7 for our walk and it was quite enjoyable, through forests and along the beach, before ending up crossing sand dunes to arrive at Lake Wabby. A lovely green lake with the forest around it and the cooing of birds. A nice rest for a few hours but the sun was scorching already at 10am, so we headed back for an early lunch. I drove us through the island, back to the crossing and back to civilization. I see my time on the island as a love hate relationship, I loved the sights but hated the roughing it. But I did it and that's the most important thing. After Fraser, we were in need for some serious luxury, so we knew the town of Noosa would hit the spot! And it sure delivered. With, jetty's and richness oozing out of the seams. There were cute little cafes on every corner and nice restaurants. We hopped of the bus and took ourselves for a well needed fruit juice and Caesar salad at a posh little cafe. A little treat! Then did some wandering round the shops and checked out the beach at sunset. It was bliss. And we were happy again! The only thing that wasn't quite upper class about that place was the hostel I was in, when a guy rushed in at 12am with two black eyes and blood pouring down his face. Nice! He had had a fight with the bouncers!Only a short stay in Noosa, before carrying on down the coast to Brisbane. Everyone had said how boring it was, so we weren't really expecting much. We didn't realize until we got there how much we had missed being in a city with tall buildings stretching up above our heads and towering above us. Everything in Oz is so low-rise so to see some architecture again was refreshing. We stayed at Tin Billy's, were the music at the bar below never seemed to stop playing and drunk people just seemed to fall out of the place. But it was backpackers after all. It was the best of places but it was right opposite the bus station and in the centre of town. We only had the day there but had fun shopping, sorting out our flights for the next part of our journey and booking up hostels. We then jumped aboard the City sightseeing tour and saw the place. Stopping for a pit stop at Mt Coo-tha to enjoy the views of the city while sipping on a Chai Latte and nibbling on a Citrus Tart. This is the life we thought! Then a bus back down into the city and boat ride to Southbank. Our one day there was pretty action packed and had we had more time a trip to the museum of art's would have topped it off.Well, next was Surfers Paradise, the trashy, flashy town on the east coast. And it was. As usual it was pouring with rain so we decided just to wander the shops and sit the rain out, which didn't ease up. It's the party town, but we weren't in the mood for partying there as it looked so full of high rise building and looked pretty ugly. So we were oughta there pretty quick and are at our final destination along the east coast, Byron Bay. A much more serene place with a dose of hippyness! A rather cool town might I add. We quite like it here and have another 2 full days before the overnight bus trip to Sydney. We plan to go to Nin Bin, a little hippy community about half an hour down the road to check that out - it's supposed to be a bit crazy!Well, anyway, as you can see it, been pretty action packed over the past 2 weeks. Lots of stories to tell and some amazing experiences. I've just finished reading my Rabbit Proof Fence book and have started my Bill Bryson's Down under. So as you can see, I'm living, & breathing oz right now to the max! I can't get enough of it. So, that's all, it's been a long one this time. I will right again, with new stories of the south east coast as soon as I get down there.Take care, Adele