We really caught the diving bug and after much umm-ing and ahh-ing decided to go ahead and book the advanced divers course, despite the lack of money. It was well worth it though, 6 more dives and half of them were unguided and not under instruction. Finally diving freedom! Actually looking forward to going home to do some wreck dives now. The advanced course allows us to dive to 30 meters instead of 18 which is best because most wrecks are 25 meters deep (ish).
The course consists of 5 specialities; deep dive and navigation are compulsory and then I chose to do, underwater photography, peak performance buoyancy and search and recovery. On these dives we saw a pretty big whitetip reef shark, various rays and lots of fish!

After this dive course we decided it would be best to head down south again and so, in our new rented car (see pictures... I apologise for the profanities, we didnt choose it!), we drove down to Hervey Bay to stay with Kieth and Cherrie again. The drive took 18 hours in total, we did 7 hours on the first day and slept on the grass verge next to Bruces Highway. Every time a truck drove past it hit the horn, a very sleepless night. Then the next day we got up at 0630 and drove for 11 hours, only stopping for fuel and lunch. NICE, NOT.

When we got there they very kindly gave us each a room and we hit the hay quite quickly. The next day Kieth managed to get hold of a 4x4 off his mate and we drove down to Rainbow beach for some off-roading and messing around in the sand. It felt like driving a tank cross with a truck, big beast. That was great fun and a laugh, especially when it was Richards turn! Once we got back they took us out for dinner at a Chinese all you can eat, and we did just that.
In the morning we headed over to the Seafood Festival in the bay, spent most of the day there until 3pm when we left Kieths to go south, just north of Brisbane, for Richards Skydive the next day. Although upon arriving at the skydive airfield it turned out the company had booked him on a day that there was no jumping and he didn't have the money on his card for it, so that was called off.
Instead we visited the Australia Zoo (Steve Irwin's) which was good, if a little sad. Everything seemed to be in memory of him, I think they took that too far!

Our next stop was Armidale to visit some friends there, John and Caroline, who own a Cattle farm. After driving around the roads there for hours we finally found it, with a little help. We got shown around the farm and I fell in love with the lifestyle, I want a farm! Unfortunately they didn't have or know of any jobs. They fed us really well, best food we've eaten since home. We even had a roast :D.
Then the two of us went to visit the city centre (highest city in Australia) and the local national park. The gorge was amazing and you really didn't expect it to be there! We saw Roos in the forest and even an Echidna! The area sort of reminded me of the Scottish Highlands, it was just as cold.
We had a great few days up there and really enjoyed staying with John and Caroline, they looked after us really well. Definitely going to be going back!

Then we drove down to Sydney as we had run out of time with the car, and are currently staying in a hostel on Bondi Beach. It would be nice if it wasn't raining! However the forecast is set to stay miserable so we are heading down south, train to Melbourne tonight. Looking forward to seeing the city and hopefully going to rent a car for a few days and drive into the mountains with the possibility of skiing. Then I really must find a job, going to max out credit card soon!

Over and out.