The home of the great barrier reef, i was excited and luckily the weather was holding out too as rain was predicted. First night ended in some serious drinking on a pub crawl we got hooked into and we got very very VERY drunk, and it ended up with dancing on tables and doing handstands which is about either of us remembers. The following afternoon was spent sunathing by the lagoon where we met up with some friends we'd made en route from Darwin to Alice Springs. It also resulted in Becky with a serious hangover, throwing up and not being very much fun at all! But all was good and the next day we shot off to cape tribulation, which was a lot to do in one day but we saw mossman gorge and did another croc cruise, and an organic ice cream factory. We also got to see Port Douglas and had "a scenic costal drive". The following day was the highlight the great barrier reef. And we didn't just go anywhere we went to where the filmed Finding Nemo (you know the drop off point) and we saw so much got to touch the corals (our guide was a marine biologist so she only let us touch the safe stuff) and some GIANT clams that close when you swim over them, and there were so many colours and things incredible. We had a beautiful seafood lunch of fresh prawns and salmon mmm mmmmm and the had a guided snorkel tour where we got to see loads. It rained pretty much all day and the boat was rocking all over the place but i loved it, best day out so far it was so cool.
Next we headed off to mission beach, and can't really tell you much about it it rained A LOT so all we saw was the hostel and the local bar! But after we shot down to Magnetic island and the weather picked up we hired a tiny little convertable car thingy and explored. We hand fed wallabies and got to hold a croc called Barbie and a Koloa called Barney who was so cute, we woke him up though and he had a huuge dribble mark down the side of his face!
Next was Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays. We were booked onto an old fashioned wooden sailing ship called the "Ileola", owned by an Italian family the food looked incredible which was what swayed our decision. But again bad weather was on our side and the rain just kept coming :( But out we went and what we saw was very nice, but that wasnt much. We went for a little hike (in the rain!) and got lost trying to find a stream and ended up just trekking randomly through the jungle! And the amazing look out part thats normally so picturesque and used on all the post card looked like it was taking a battering (our skipper at the time told us we were lucky to see it like that not many people do...not amused) but again good food and a cuppa and all was good. After a while we got sick of hiding inside so we donned big yellow rain macs and sat on dec drinking cans of G and T, terribly civilised! But luck smiled on us and for a brief interlude (im talking an hour or so!) the sun came out in full glory we put the sails up, everyone had a go at steering and we even got to go snorkelling in some sexy ass stinger suits with mittens and a hood! We put bread up our sleeves to attract the fish, at first they were nice but when we were nearly out a massive shoal of parrot fish turned up and started chasing Si it was hillarious!
When we got back to dry land we found out all roads north were flooded and buses cancelled and the water front had flooded loads of shops were closed it had been a really wet weekend!
However luck was about to frown again for my birthday as we arrived at rainbow beach for Fraser Island. The sun came out in full glory it was beautiful the morning we set off (with soo much alcohol we could have got a small country drunk!) Si drove first (and most of the rest of the time) and we set off for Lake mackenzie. it was a bit of a bumpy ride and Si did very well to keep us upright but it was worth it, the lake was like an inland se it was just incredible in size and in water temperature...FREEZING 'aint the word!
Then after a buffet lunch we set up camp for the night on the beach...no toilets or showers (we were rank when we got home) and we made a fairly large dent in the booze kitty by partying most of the night. Didn't seem like such a good idea when the sun came up and roasted our tents at 6.30 am but all good fun. We found all the lost shoesd and mugs and headed right to the north to Indian head (wher we didnt see any man eating sharks unfortunatley) and to the champagne pools, so called because the waves crash over the rocks that surround the pools and it fizzes. Very relaxing, we also stopped at Elli creek where we had a race to get down to the sea the fastest on hands and knees, finally the Mehino shipwreck where we had massed of fun trying to bury ourseleves in the sand then it was camp again. This time a little more sedate dinner then most of us were nakerd (after our 6.30am wake up call) so we went to bed quite early. But the followign day was MY BIRTHDAY wooo hooo and i can honeatly say it was the most amaizn place ive ever spent it, just paradise. And to top it off our last stop over en route back to land was lake Wabbi where we could sunbathe on the immense sand dunes surrounding or we could soak in the lake which was infused with tea tree, for the first time in days we were clean! But then it was time to go back to land and it was so sad to leave the most incredible place ive been in my life.
But hey ho the life of a traveller and we were going back to luxury booking into a nice hotel with barbeque on our verandha and our own bathroom...bliss! We headed out and had a celebration with our new friends and then on the move again this time to Noosa. Here we booked the cheapest hotel we could muster (a bargain at 20 dollars) and found it was set in a national park, was incredibly nice and clean with loads of room but was miles away from anywhere, but only for a couple of nights and it was a nice place. We did the Australia zoo whilst we were here and it was really cool, we got to see them hand feed full grown tigers milk, the croc show, see a massive python and loads more, Steve Irwins face is everywhere, but its nice that his legacy lives on and they are trying to do so much for conservation, and lucky for us the weather stayed fine. But alas it was not to last the following day the rain appeared so we didnt do a fat lot of anything until we moved on again the next day. And we were in Brisbane, we had a private rooms for a treat as it was nearly Si's birthday, and didn't do a lot. Theres not much going on in Brisbane just an industrial city, but our hotel had a nice roof terrace so we sat up there and drank the alcohol that we were still carrying round from fraser island, until Australia day. When Si shares his birthday with a whole country and they celebrate in style out here, with the annual cockroach races. Which were a hoot(except for the fact that they ran all over your feet!) they had a massive band come on with drums and bagpipes and people dancing with flags before they let the roaches loose and then there was a lot of shouting and dancing then it was all over and Sir. Cock-a-lot was the winner of this heat. But the weather was brilliant and the drink flowing freely, so we had a good day albeit a short one as we were too drunk to carry on by early evening and had to retire for a while.
I also went to one of the museums, which used to be part of the old prison when the eurpoeans first settled, which was interesting especially the jar of finger tips they house, which apparently came from convicts trying to get time off work by deliberatley relieving them selfs of the end of a pinky.
Brisbane over (it felt like it was going as fast and as rushed as im typing it!) next was surfers paradise and what else could we do there but...learn to surf of course! I was useless but did manage to stand up quite a few times (the trick is remebering to twist) Si seemed to pick it up quite well and was shotuing "Cowabunga" before most of us! We also watched Johnny depps latest movie contribution sweeny tood, which was different to say the least! But the best bit about our hotel was the heated spa pool which we spen the better part of our day lounging in!
Finally before Sydney again was Byron Bay, where we did a sunrise tour to lighthouse but of course it was cloudy so not much to see, and we did bodyboarding (much more fun that surfing in my opinion - just lie there and let it take you plus you dont get a load of brown water fall out of your nose 3 hours later!) and chilled on the beach before the over night bus to Sydney, and here we are.

After many many many months together we decided to have a wee break from each other, Si shot over to Melbourne and I stayed in Sydney as i'd made quite a few friends. I Had a ball, missed Si, but went out and partied, went to the aquarium, the wildlife world and went shopping to try on the most riddiculous clothes i could find. I also visited the Blue mountains, which im told are beautiful but in true typical sods law style the fog set in and i couldnt see a bloody thing, i got saked visiting a waterfall and climbed so many stairs my legs nearly fell off! But it was cool, and we were soon reuinted for what feels liek the last leg of the journey, we're off to New Zealand.