Well I left you when we were sitting in cafe at Airlie Beach yesterday. We continued to sit there for another couple of hours before going to get our Greyhound bus to Hervey Bay. As we were walking to the bus stop it started to rain really heavily - we just can't escape it!

The bus came a little bit late, and our driver took our names. As we set off he was talking into his mic, just rambling on partly to us and partly to himself, it was quite sweet. His favourite phrases were 's'all good' and 'we're cruisin' '.

The journey was about 12 or 13 hours, and although I managed to sleep a bit, I was constantly woken up by the horrible pain in my coccyx, which I injured last February. I think I'm going to have to go to the doc about that when I'm home!

Eventually, feeling groggy and messy, we arrived at Hervey Bay, where it was overcast but at least dry! There were a few vans belonging to hostels at the bus station, and we chose the cheapest, called Fraser Roving. I had heard of it online and the reviews were good. The five of us (me, Hannah & Vicky, plus Sam and Hanna who were in our car from Cairns), got a dorm to ourselves for $17 each. The place seems pretty dead! We decided to book a tour to Fraser Island with the hostel, where we drive our own 4x4s behind a lead vehicle.

It is $315 each, including 2 nights on the island and 2 nights here at the hostel, so we got $17 knocked off for the night we have already paid. Compared to some of the prices I've seen it seems pretty good. We also get a free half an hour on the internet and a free drink.

We wandered around the quiet town and had a walk along the beach, I bought a new belly bar for $19.95 because the ball from my old one went missing. I'm trying to be good with my money so it's annoying when things like that come along!

Back at the hostel it started to rain - the receptionist said we must have bought it with us! I bought the Aussie Sunday Telegraph and lounged around reading it in the big TV room - we had it to ourselves. I had some pasta for lunch at about 12.30pm, and then fell asleep until about 4.30pm - obviously needed some sleep from the bus journey!

We had previously looked at the restaurants down the road, but they were all pretty expensive - between $12 and $30 for a main course. Instead we went next door to 'Foodworx' where we get 10% off because we are staying at Fraser Roving, and bought ingredients for chicken fajitas. We got enough food and drink for five people and it came to $8.63 each, which isn't bad compared to restaurant prices.

At 6pm we had a meeting about the trip tomorrow. Our guide is called Syd and is quite funny, although potentially a bit deaf as he doesn't always hear everything we say. We had to watch a DVD about how to drive 4x4s in different types of sand and offroad, and how to deal with dingoes etc. I'm really excited to drive a 4x4! We have to remember to lower the tyre pressure for soft sand and lots of other things like that - I don't actually know how to do that but I'm sure Syd will (if he hears us ask)! Also, the cars are pink, which is a bonus (for somebody as easily pleased as me). During the DVD, it started to really, really rain. Great. We have definitely brought the bad weather with us as apparently it was fine before we arrived! Hopefully it is okay for tomorrow...

After the talk we made our fajitas - it was the first proper (ish) meal we have actually cooked since we've been away.

The internet room closes soon which is annoying, although we have found a hostel to stay in in Brisbane which has unlimited free internet! Hopefully we can stay there and I can finally upload some photos from Koh Phi Phi up until now for you to look at.

Night night!

xxx