No alarm this morning, woo hoo!!!

I was just planning my day and where I would go and get this big steak from, which was now long overdue especially after my great dinner last night, when I got a text message from Emma and Jane (who I had spent 4 weeks in China with). The message said that they would arrive in Hervey Bay today and be there for a couple of days only before heading up to Airlie Beach and would I be around to meet up with them finally?

So it was a quick look at the GPS and the map to see how far away from Hervey Bay I was and then I text them back to see where they would be staying and that I would try to get down there to meet up with them. Luckily they said that they would be staying at the YHA in Hervey Bay and they had a campsite there so I could park my van there too. It would be great to see them again as we had not seen each other since leaving Hong Kong and although we had been travelling to the same places around South East Asia, our paths never crossed.

It was soon back in the van and then my second long drive in as many days as I had to drive another 500km south to Hervey Bay. On my way down there I clocked up my 2000th km in the van since I picked it up.

Arriving in Hervey Bay, I found the YHA very easily stopping at Woolworth's Supermarket in town to stock up on food and cider. I checked in and parked my van around the back in the camper van grassed area and was the only one there. It was only $12 per night here for me even with electric hook-up as I was here on my own.

As I had a couple of hours to kill before Emma and Jane were due here on their bus, so I went for a walk around the beach and the (very small) town to see what was around.

Emma and Jane arrived at 6pm and we decided to go out for dinner straight away as we were all very hungry by now. I still wanted a steak for dinner and I explained to them that I was missing out on my steak that I had planned for myself in Rockhampton as I had to leave to meet them without getting my steak.

We spent most of the night reminiscing about China and Hong Kong, especially how cheap it was compared to Australia and also catching up on our travels over the 4 months since we had split in Hong Kong.