Well...sorry I havent had a chance to write over the past week or so, but tons has happened in that time!
After Byron Bay we made our way up to the Gold Coast a.k.a Surfers Paradise, we sat on the beach all day pretty much then went to a restaurant for dinner that is solely kept going by the money we pay for our meals-its like a volunteer set up for the lifeguards and stuff on the beach-we had to sign in as visitors and everything! After the meal we just went to an Irish bar for a couple of hours (suprisingly there are tons of Irish bars out here!) and got to know the new people who joined our group in Gold Coast. We now have a girla dn boy from Essex, and two girls from Minnesota (or however you spell it!). They seem really nice so we have a really great group.
After the Gold Coast we made oiur way up to Rockhampton, had a few toilet and snack stops along the way-there are tons of bakeries and pie shops here as well! Rockhampton reminded us all a bit of America-lots of people in cowboy hats, thos traffic lights that hang from a string, and lots of rocks and sand! We went to watch a Rodeo that night-apparently on the tour they usually only catch the practice rodeos, but due to the date it fell on we got to see the whole thing! Was out the back of a pub in a sanded area which was a bit random, but we were all just sat there with our steaks watching them all. It was really fun actually, although one of the horses kjnocked itself out on the railings which wasnt so nice! It just happened to be the horse i decided to video as well! It got up though-my friend Katie had her arm arund me while the horse was down-talking to me like a 5 year old to re-assure me that the horse would be fine! haha!
After the rodeo we pretty much just all slid off to bet as we were pooped and always have to be up at about 6am. Busy days, late nights and early mornings are a killer!
From Rockhampton we then made our way up here to Airlie Beach in the Whitsundays. This has definitely been my favourite bit so far ( i know i keep saying that but it all gets better!) Yesterday and today we have spent our time on a British Defender sailing boat in the Whitsundays, snorkelling, partying, drinking, laughing, sunbathing, trying to help with all the millions of ropes on the boat! Its been really fun-we were all a bit worried about 22 of us being in such close proximity for 2 nights but its actually bought us closer i think. The food on there was amazing, not so amazing was the beds and toilets....but you cant be fussy!Q We werent allowed to wash for 2 days as the only water is to be used for cooking and toilets-so we were very glad to get back and shower! We had a group photo taken at the ened of it (great timing....when we all look so rough!) so i will try to find out where that is. I will try to put some pics up now actually, but depends how quickly i can get through them all-ive been vbery snap happy with the camera recently!
Oh i missed a bit out! We have also been to Fraser Island for 2 days which was ace! Its basically an island in the middle of the sea which is just sand....very little tarmac so all the roads and runways are on the beach-we often had planes landing next to us while we were driving along the beach. We were in a massive 4WD thing which basically looked like a cross between a school bus and a bin lorry! It was SO bumpy and we often went flyikng round the bus but that is the whole fun of it! We went to McKanzie lake-which is quite possibly one of my fave places in the world....white saoft sand (good for exfoliating!), clear blue water that conditions your hair, and its massive, pretty and so quiet! That was also somewhere where we felt qu8ite dirty-because the sand is so fine over there is just floats in the air and gets everywhere-we even got given sandwich bags to put our cameras and phones in so the sand didnt get in there and ruin them!
Tonight we are off for a meal at a pub called Beaches-i think the crew from the boat (Lou, Mike, Locky and Chris) will be coming with us as well, they are really great.
Our tour leader and the boat crew have both said that our group is in their top 5 of groups they have ever had in terms of fun and actually listening to them-so thats nice! On a persoanl note...the tour leader said to me the other day 'Ahh i love you because your so cute and dainty!!'....cute and dainty??? Bless him hes only known me 5 minutes haha!
Anyway i will try and upload some pics for you now-help you visualise where ive been! p.s. sorry about the spelling-im rubbish when im in a rush!xxx