OK so the drive today to Krombit was about 8 hours leaving at 8am. What a day to have the hangover from hell. You see what happened last night was that all the boats that went out (about 6 in total) all have tables booked for the night they get back to shore in the same place. the result is about 100 peeps getting very drunk. Ofcourse not wanting to be outdone I embarked on a quaffing session with the crew of the Boomerang. the result I am pleased to say is: I dont remember. Although i woke up the next morning with my jeans soaked (and no not smelling of piss) so i guess I got up to something suitably cringeworthy!

Well the journey was agony - but well worth it. The Goat ranch was very authentic. In the middle of nowhere and really peaceful. When we arrived we are given some bush meat (which was revealed later as goat) and allowed to unwind with a few tinnies until dinner was served. Yummy soup with damper and roast beef all cooked over a log fire stove). After this we were told a little of the ranch and then taught how to crack a whip. In fact I proved very good at it - I may have potential as a cowboy yet! After this was mechanical bull riding (but due to my delicate state I didnt compete). Then after this I decided to call it a night and stumbled off in the direction of my dorm.

The next morning after brekkie we went down the road and did some clay pigeon shooting (2 out of 5) lassoing and then we had a goat rodeo. Out team "the Goatfather" got 37secs that put us in 5th (although in fairness I was teamed with 2 girls AND our goat was a mentalist jumping all over the shop that no one elses did). We took a walk then up to the top of sunset hill to have a good look around the area then back to the bus and heading to rainbow beach.

Rainbow beach is a tiny little place not even a 1 street town - that closes after 8pm! I am here as it is the launching point for a 3 day self drive on Fraser Island - the largest sand island in the world and the only sand island to support trees and forests! We had a spare day that was spent on the beach (and amazingly it was ok to swim in the sea here - so I took advantage and did some surfing (without a board) in the 3 m surf. That afternoon we had orientation for the Fraser island trip which involved two very comical government movies about saftey on the island. We were divided into groups and handed a shopping list of food to get for the next day.

My group was 9 girls and me and one other guy. At this point I felt pretty dam lucky - however this would all change. Things started off ok - however it quickly became apparent that the girls were the b****y, whining, complaining sort of the genre of when offering to fry them an egg they would come up and tell you that you were doing it wrong!! It was this express reason why I did not have a great time on Fraser. I tried to spend as much time with the other groups and even formed a splinter group with the nice people of our group but really their negativity ruined the trip for everyone. The island itself is lovely and definately worth seeing - but perhaps not with strangers. Oh and a word of warning - the Dingos there steal anything. They even scarpered with my left shoe! It was recovered later smelling suspiciously of dog urine!

The next day we were outbound for Brisbane which would mark the end of my Ozexperience travels for the time being as I meet up with my Aunt, uncle and parents. It was nice to meet them but a big part of me misses my new friends and the chaos that is life on the road.

Today I found out that I have got a position with Australia zoo volunteering starting 3rd Jan so it looks like I may be in Bris for a while. In 4 days I head out to Melbourne to spend Xmas with my brother and his family and my parents then back to the sunshine state!

There may be a blog before xmas - however if there isnt I hope everyone has a great xmas - if you can spare the time write me a couple of lines letting me know what you are planning to do for xmas. :-)