I honestly didn't think we would ever have our van ready to leave, but by late afternoon on the 28th of March we hit the road. First stop was Hervey Bay. It wasn't the greatest start, our whole journey there it poured with rain. We arrived in Hervey Bay, found a campsite and still it rained. Unable to use our brand new gas stove because of the heavy rain we got ourselves a chippy for dinner. We headed back to our van to spend our first night in it. It was definitely cosy. However the noise of the rain hitting off the roof kept me awake most of the night. The following morning it was still raining . Its a shame because we really didn't get to see Hervey Bay at its best.

We left Hervey Bay and headed up to a place called Bundaberg. We stayed in a campsite right on the beach and that night headed out to the On Repas Turtle Rookery to hopefully see baby turtles hatching. There was a chance we might not get to see any at all but we were lucky. After just a few hours waiting and watching numerous turtle documentaries (ask me anything, I'm now an expert!) we got taken to the beach in time to see 12 turtles, the last of a clutch, burying themselves out of the sand. They were so tiny and cute. They immediately follow the brightest light, so naturally head towards the sea. It was amazing to see. We even got to hold one before watching them all scurry into the sea for the very first time. Sadly only one in 1000 will survive to maturity, approx 30 years old, to return to the same beach to lay their eggs. We were doubly lucky that night. When we were being led back to our campsite we stumbled accross another nest which had suddenly errupted. As a torch lit up where I was standing we saw that me and Lauren were smack bang in the line of fire of turtles. They were everywhere, all making their way to the sea. For about 20 minutes we couldn't move a foot in case we crushed any. We could feel them scuttling accross our feet, their fins all scratchy. It was incredible. The night before the visitors had seen nothing!

It was so nice to wake up the next morning to the sound of crashing waves. Even better the sun was shining for the very first time since we began our road trip. The previous night we had a bit of drama with our new stove, it wouldn't work! We had to make do with sandwiches. So first stop of the day was to get it fixed. We spent the rest of the day at a beach in Bargara. It was very pretty and the water was really blue.

After spending the night at a free campsite where we eventually got to use our new stove we drove on to the Town of 1770. It was very peaceful and again very pretty. We managed to find a few viewpoints with amazing views out accross the sea. We then went and spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach in nearby Agnes Waters.

The next day we hit the roadonce again and drove to Gladstone. We passed a few places on the way but there didn't seem to be anything to see so didn't bother stopping. In Gladstone we took a walkalong the harbour, took a look at the beach (wasn't too impressive) and went to the Botanical Gardens.

Today we drove to Rockhampton, the beef capital of Queensland. They actually have statues of cows everywhere! We took a walk around and drove up to Mt Archer to the viewpoint. We plan on treating ourselves to a trip to the cinema tonight. We have been living a quiet life recently.

I am so surprised by how sleepy all these towns are. Seriously, we never seem to see anyone! It's all rather strange. Other than that everything is going fine. I'm happy I remember how to drive! Living in the van is actually pretty easy. We have a little routine now. As long as we have eaten dinner and are all cleared up before its dark and the bugs start bighting its fine. We have made our van look like a proper little home. It's amazing what you can do with a couple of mattresses and bin liners as curtains!