We arrived in Airlie Beach on the day of the world cup final, which kind of out shadowed everything else the first night. We booked into our hostel called Magnums and headed straight down to the bar for some pre game drinks - which happened to be quite a lot as the game wasn't until 4am the following morning. Suitably hammered we ambled down to the only bar in town that was showing the game with all of the Dutch and Spanish revellers. The atmosphere was awesome during the game with the Dutch definitely showing the Spanish how to support their team. Unfortunately that is as far as the Dutch went that evening as they fell to the Spanish 1-0. All in all a great night was had by everyone.

The following day we were booked on a boat trip around the Whit Sunday Islands. The Whit Sundays are the 4th most Photographed place in Australia and are a symbol of east coast beauty. This was very exciting of course but what excited us maybe even a touch more wad the fact that we were sailing on the infamous Atlantic Clipper yacht. Known as the best party boat on the east coast, we were not disappointed. We spent three days aboard with 52 others, who were from all parts of the globe, and all walks of life and we all got on brilliantly. The crew were fantastic, joining in at every moment they could. Each had their own individual character, 2 stick out in my mind, Steve waking us up 6am in the morning belting out Tom Jones' Sex Bomb from beginning to end in a near perfect rendition! And Dave who said either Woo Hoo! or Happy Days! at the end of EVERY sentence, sometimes both!

Oh and the Whitsunday's Island were absolutely stunning, especially Whitehaven beach it is easily the whitest sand and the most crystal blue water I have ever seen on a beach. Apparently (and weirdly) the sand is so fine on the beach that you can clean your teeth with it. I didn't try it.

We became part of the tourism statistics and took plenty of photos as it was a beautiful place to be and hopped back on to the boat for our journey back to the mainland.

The Oz experience bus's next stop was Krombit Cattle station. I guess it doesn't take much explanation as it is all in the name but it is a place that is a real farm that is also a tourist stop. But before we arrived at Krombit, our driver Coaster took us lawn Bowls!! Odd I know, we were all a little confused by his admission that we were stopping en route to go lawn bowling. It was actually lots of fun and everyone seemed to enjoy it especially Daryl who I am convinced could turn pro she won every round and the final at the end. My competitive streak didn't like it but she was good, what can you do?

When we arrived at the Cattle station we got cowboy hats and neckerchiefs, it was hot, dusty and felt like the parody of a spaghetti western movie. During our stay their we were taught how to use a whip, a Lasso and how to spot, grab and brand Billy goats by hand (to all animal lovers out there the branding iron wasn't hot). Oh and I have to say the food was amazing. Vegetarians need not apply!

After a recommendation a couple of weeks ago from our first Oz Experience driver Disco, we decided to take a slight detour from our original plan and visit the village of 1770. In the most un original period of place naming history, Captain Cook decided to name this area of the east coast after the year that he arrived there. We had heard that it was a beautiful spot where you could travel round on a Chopper styles scooter. It was so cool, we spent the afternoon bombing around the place on bikes that were very loosely modelled on miniature Harley Davidson's.

Fraser island was our next major destination, it was a long drive to get to the drop off point for the island which for us was Rainbow Beach. When we arrived we met a few friends that we had made along our east coast trip, so we spent the evening drinking and telling the tales of the last couple of weeks. Fraser Island is just off the coast of South Queensland and is just a 5-10 minutes ferry ride away and is mostly known for its 4x4 tours. It is the worlds largest sand only island, which means that the islands is only accessible with a 4x4. We were separated into groups of 8 and given a vehicle, food, and camping gear camping gear. We stocked up on beer before we left and off we went. We all took it in turns to drive over the rugged terrain which was so much fun. We camped on the Island for 2 nights, and had so much fun with the other guys in our group. We played drinking games till the early hours, especially a game called Zimmi Zimmi. I will never forget this game, I actually had bruises on my legs the following morning.

We had a brilliant east coast trip with the Oz Experience, made all the better by the drivers and the other back packers on the bus. Our next stop was Byron Bay were we were going to be meeting Steve and Katy.

That's all for now, take care everyone loads of love

Ben x x x