imagine this... the Whit Sunday Islands - crystal clear waters, the great barrier reef, sunshine sparkling off the sea, sailing along with a faint breeze whisping through my gorgeous locks of hair...now imagine the truth - a 28ft maxi sailing at full speed through monsoon rains, the bow crashing through huge waves and me stood at the bow with a beer in my hand shouting "yaaaaar!". with this image on your mind you have a pretty clear picture of what my two night two day sailing adventure started out like. the rains were so heavy that you couldnt see far infront of the boat, the captain was even quoted saying "i think this is where we should be heading...". I was loving it, give me churning rough seas over no winds anyday! both sails were up and we were flying over the water, there was I in my shorts and vest while the girls huddled around in their bright orange water jackets (some looking quite niffed that the trip hadnt turned out quite like the brochure!).

the trip brightened up the next day, some sunny spells meant for excellent snorkling on the reef and some good times back flipping off the boats diving board (i managed my first backflip after much bullying from the crew and fellow ship mates). after one snorkling session the captain told a few of us to jump in the water...he had a surprise for us. No sooner had we done so he was throwing bread into the water. immediatly out of the dark depths came huge murky shapes the size of a large melon (i know this dosn't really help but iwanted to give some indication of size - they were big). Bat fish had instantly detected the bread and were heading straight up for us. luckily these fellows werent intereted in eating us, so the fun of it all soon became aparent and we were set the task of catching one with our bare hands. of course, out of the three men only one could come up triumphant...It was I, your glorious sun/friend/nephew/godson/cousin/grandson who emerged victorious and held the fish high above his head (before gently releasing it into the sea from which it had came).

for the rest of the trip I was considered some what of a God in all honesty, of course I completly refused all acknowledgement of the manly status symbol which I had become - and I would prefer it if the episode wasn't mention again, i just want to forget how brave, smart, handsome and daring I am.

So the rest of the trip went well, we had brilliant sunshine on the final day. The Cap'n woke us at 6am and shoved us off the boat for more snorkling. the amount of fish was incredible, every shape, size, colour you can imagine - swimming through the coral was like being in another world.

the trip ended with us docking in port and the heavens literaly opening up on us - the streets turned into rivers. but we were happy, everyone still managed looks of admiration when they caught my manly gaze, but enough of that!

since then I've traveled as far up north as you can get in a car, visiting mission Beach, Port Douglas, Cape Tribulation and by far the best....Cooktown. the small sleepy village had no other travelers in it, due to the fact that its so far up north alot of people over look it. we arrived a night before the towns bigtgest event of the year, Legal Assault 2 - Thai Kickboxing. for three hours we watched the youngsters and adults face-off infront of everyone in the town. one fight saw two young girls showing off their skills in Rock Balboa style, it was almost David V Goliath (the younger and smaller girls opponent was pulled out at the last minute and bigger, more experienced girl was dragged in as her replacment). I'm happy to say that the lil girl won me five bucks as she fought her was through 5 tough rounds and came out victorious! the crowd went absolutley wild at this and she has now become some sort of town legened (infact, I'm pretty sure I heard her shout "this ones for you adrian!" at the end of the fight).

so now hear I am, back down in Townsville - the last weeks has had me swim under beatuiful water falls, have my picture taqken with a moth the size of a dinner plate, slide down natural rock water slides, meet some crazy local aussies, fend off giant man eating crocs/spiders, treking through snake infested jungle and see some of the most spectacular views australia has to offer.

unfortunatly my young travel buddy, Hanny Felicity Roe has now left me- I am on my own. where I will write my next post from, I dont know - but you can be sure of one thing, it'll be from Australia...I think.

keep safe everyone! and thanks for the wall posts!

p.s. it was only a small snake - Does that mean that you do or dont miss me Mrs M - theres nothing worse than goon in your mouth (the cheap wine) - no I wasnt really embarased but my mind was telling me i should havce been - it was defiantly JJ - your too old to know who JJ is Uncle Andrew (stop shortening your name to Andy so you sound younger). gotta go!