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Rockhampton - cattle country ( as far up as we go) & Great Keppel Island
We were glad to get out of Bundaberg but found ourselves in Townsville which didnt look that much better. The only reason we had come up this far is because the far end of the Barrier Reef starts round here. The are well know here for their cattle ranches, steak and the rodeo thing. The hostel uy was telling us in the bus there that some fellow traveller asked if he could ride a cow/horse at the rodeo and got thrown straight off. nutter.
Ema had a migrane so she went straight to bed but i was feeling quite lively so i went for a walk to the supermarket and back. Then i went bed as we had a trip booked for Keppel Island in the morn.
Great Keppel Island
We caught the early bus from the hostel to the coast at Keppel Bay, about 45mins away. On the way, Rachel, the swiss girl we met in Bundy got on the bus. We then got on a passenger ferry to the Island and Rachel came and sat with us. She was staying there for a few days..lucky b*****.
When we arrived it was grey and cloudy. We landed on a big beach witha spit at the far left. The sea looked calm tho. Rachel left us to get to her hostel and we went to the resort in search of a map. We then bumped into an older couple that i had met at the hostel. We ened up chatting to them for ages and they were lovely. They had bben doing much the same as us and i think its really nice that they are doing so. So listen up MUM and DAD, you are not to old to get off your arse. We then headed back towards the beach whre we encountered a large dragon like lizard with legs and the body of a snake. We found out later these are called lace monitors. Going for a dip seemed like a nice idea so we did. Then looking back on the beach there was a giant shark mouth which you can walk through. That made me think 'look out for sharks, look out for sharks'. It was very relaxing as you can imagine, added to the fact that the sand is not very compact under the water, so everytime you stand on the sand loads of bubbles come up and make you feel as if there are loads of animals under the sand. Rachel walked by on the beach then came to join us in the sea. There we wallowed and chatted for a bit. Me and Em wanted to hire some snorkel geer so we went to the Yha and they told us the best place to go was a little cove just over the hill. So we all trecked across the beach and over the hill following this TRACK sign. It was a bit of a job walking over these steep, sharp rocks in flip-flops i can tell you. One it came into view it was stunning. Turquoise water and white sand. There was only one other group of people there who left sharpish after we arrived -yea! Me and Em slapped on the snorkel gear and where away whist Rach lay on the beach.
As soon as i was in the water i saw a school of fish. Then as we went over to the rocks we saw these stripped zebra like fish who followed you everywhere. So cute. Then there were these amazing dark green fish with neon blue and pink on their fins, one 'tin-foil' fish that was hard to see, yellow angel fish, rays buried in the sand, giant clams, these bright blue and yellow spotted fish and all sorts. It was amazing and i wish we had brought the disposable underwater camera we had seen earlier. As we were not actually on the reef, we were in the Reef marine reserve, we got to see loads of fish. We didnt see any live coral but it was scatterd all over the bottom where bits had broken off and made their way here. With the flippers on you could swim for ages and not notice how far you had gone. I kept looking out into the dark water and thinking what the hell would i do if i saw a shark. As it happens we didnt see one for the whole 2 hours we were in the water.
We then had to treck back, say bye to Rachel and catch the ferry home. The Island was very relaxing and bit like the Scilly Isles. It would have been lovely to stay there and chill out but not this time.
Stone Steak & good old Baskin and Robbins 31
Rachel had recommended a good place for steak wich was just up the road from our hostel. There we were served our steak on a steaming hot stone (400 degrees) where you cook it yourself. It tasted really rich and almost like venison and liver/kidney. Twas good tho. Then we had the urge for sweet stuff and by pure coinsodence ended up at a Baskin and Robbins Ice cream parlour. God were we happy. It was being run by what looked and acted like 15 year olds, one being very crasy but nice. We had a sample of this pink and purple ice cream which was just like candy floss. Both of us settled for a Brownie sundae which consisted of hot brownie, 2 scoops of ice cream, a sauce, nuts, cream and cherry. Em had expresso and cream & some choc one with hot choc sauce, and i had Rich choc with lumps, choc caramel and white choc, with this magic choc sauce that goes hard. Unlike last time i look my time and didnt feel too sick afterwards. emma did tho!! he he. Baskin and Robbins is usually know as with the 31. Thats so you can have a different flavour for every day of the month. There are over 1000 flavours which are used to rotate the 31 they use every month. The sad thing is the the company is american. Oh well it tastes stunning so i dont care. We got to bed fat and satisfied (you will see what i mean when you see the pics) and woke early to get to the airport for our flight back to Brisbane. Oh you jet setter you!!
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