S: We had made a plan to visit two places today and knew there was a bit of a drive. We first visited Wallamans Falls; it is the largest, permanent, single drop waterfall in Australia. Well we didn't know what to expect but we were in for a treat, it was huge to start with and as the water struck the rocks below it created a vapour, and we could see the colours of the rainbow. It was breath taking, well worth the drive here. As we stood there admiring it, there was a biologist who obviously knew the area. He explained to us how to make the waterfall look like an optical illusion. We had to stare at one fixed place in the waterfall for 30 seconds, it was hard work to keep your eyes in one place, when you then moved them to the cliff face, the cliff face itself seemed to move upwards, it was very cool, and the effect made us all feel a little giddy.
We then had to back track and drive to Mount Fox, it is an inactive volcano. After Marika's little problem with the Japanese volcano she was a little sceptical of climbing this thing. The drive there was about 100km into the bush, it was very baron and when we pulled up we were the only people for miles. It was then that it popped into our heads the safety message of never going into the bush without letting someone know where you are and how long you will be…. we slipped up on that one.

J: So we put the factor 50+ sunscreen on, loaded up with water and set off on the hike to the top of the Volcano. Marika and Georgie were looking for a nice track up but this was not a place tourists go and Sam just found it randomly, so it was a rough hike up on some dark dusty soil and volcanic rocks. When we hit the top and looked into the crater it was green and lush, beside us there was some noise in the bush, I wondered if it was a dingo, but it was a wild kangaroo! Our first ever kangaroo and he was bouncing a couple times through the bush and over the craters edge, we were all excited about that when we realised there was another one in the middle, he sat down checking us out but didn't run, then we noticed more on the other side, we walked through the middle to the other side then around the craters edge. For as far as the eye could see there was only one farm far in the distance. Once we had made it down and nearly to the campervan we noticed that we were slightly dirty, but Georgie looked like she had been rolling around in the dirt, she was positively black; I just couldn't work out how she had gotten that dirty. We all had a baby-wipe wash before setting off to Townsville. When we got to Townsville it was late but thankfully the girls we met the evening before had already found a cheap place to stay. We quickly stopped off at a Hungry Jacks, which is like Australia's own Version to McDonalds (they still have McDonalds also) but it wasn't any better, "same same" I thought. Once we got to the camp site it turned out to be in a church's grounds, it was cheap so we were happy and it had great facilities.

S: Marika wanted to do some diving as she had missed out because of the Japanese volcano, so we headed to the nearest dive shop and got that sorted. We then headed to the beach and went for a long walk. We stopped and looked at the warning sign posted on the beach that explained about all the types of jellyfish, I think it's safe to say none of us were venturing into the water, especially with box jellyfish around. On the way back we had the most amazing gelato ice cream ever and the best thing was that they let us try as many flavours as we wanted beforehand, so you get the best one. We decided to play 'Come Van with Me', the rules were you had $20 each and you could use the oil, salt, pepper and chilli sauce in the van. So we all drew lots and it was Marika's turn first, she was on it. She knew what she was cooking straight away, so that night whilst James, Georgie and I played cards Marika cooked tea like a good little house wife she is lol. We had the most enormous homemade burger with filling and nachos. And her $20 even stretched to a bag of sweets for dessert, although she did go over by 18 cents, and because we are all harsh we deducted a point for every dollar spent over lol. We spent the evening paying cards with another couple and went to bed relatively early, ready for the next day.

J: feeling fresh we set off early for a little walk up Castle Hill, it's in the middle of Townsville, it is a pink granite hill nearly 300 meters tall. We all set off and feeling a little lazy the last week I challenged everyone to walk up in one go….. then we almost killed Georgie so we slowed down. Once at the top we had an unspoilt 360° view of the town, out to sea and inland, it was beautiful! We then headed off to Alligator Creek, which despite the name was a recommended swimming spot. We were advised to take bread, snorkel and goggles to the creek by a girl there. When we arrived to the creek it was clear and in the valley of the mountains, the creek was filled with Fish, Turtles and even an eel came to play. We had a few slices of bread, when I threw some near Sam and Marika the fish swarmed around them, they had a hissy fit and said it wasn't funny…… until they got the bread and threw it near me and Georgie which was clearly funny to them. Although we didn't mind and stayed calm, which in turn brought in the bigger fish (some were Perch but most I didn't know) and these fish were coming between our legs and rushing up towards our faces when we wore the goggles! It was fun and I wanted to catch one but got voted out of that idea.

S: So after a hard day it was my turn to cook. Now I had no idea, what to do. So I walked into the Coles and decided to start putting items in my basket. I had nearly finished shopping for wraps when I spotted Kangaroo sausages reduced to $2. Bingo, I thought but had no idea what to do with them, so I asked an Australian lady what to put with it and she said a fresh salad and couscous with feta. Perfect I thought, and I spent under my $20 budget which was great and hopefully would provide a true Australian meal. We got back to the van, and obviously the guys took advantage of my good hospitality skills and demanded beer on tap lol!! So whilst they were playing cards, demanding beer and watching the thousands of Fruit Bats (Flying Foxes) flying from the sunset towards us and through the caravan park. I made a chocolate mousse dessert - I put it in the cups to be retro (remembering that I have no measuring faculties lol) and then made a fresh salad, couscous with feta and chilli on top and cooked my bangers. Apparently they all thought it was great and I didn't really cook anything but they wanted seconds. That night there was the lunar eclipse, so we all sat watching the moon slowly become redder and redder. It was fantastic to watch and knowing the fact that we were in Australia, made it all the more special!! We had been advised to go to the zoo in Townsville and had planned to do it while Marika was diving. So we arrive and bought some feed and next thing I know Georgie and James are feeding a parrot and it's crawling along Georgie's arm. I then pointed out the nice big sign that said do not handle the birds, they may bite lol.

J: This was the best Zoo I had ever been to, as after the parrots we walked 10 meters and found Kangaroo's that just walked about the ground and we were able to hand feed them! Such a random animal, especially when you see them with young in their pouch but it was wonderful being so close to them. This Zoo was really different as each animal had a "show" which was a 5min introduction to the breed, what they do/eat/life span etc then you get to go up and interact with the animals. They really educated you on the various species and made you prepared in case you met the dangerous animals such as snakes, spiders and crocs in the wild. We got to see an Inland Taipan (the world's most venomous snake), Koalas, Crocodiles, and Wombats to name just some of the animals. We also saw Dingoes (wild dogs) which turned out to be a type of wolf instead of dog, but in the zoo they were very tame and we saw them playing like puppies and even got to pat one, although in the wild these are very dangerous and have to be avoided. Apparently they only attack small people so I should be fine at least lol.