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Hi,
Can't believe I've been away 6 weeks today! It's gone so quickly but at the same time I feel like I was at home ages ago - a weird travelling time warp I think.
I'm now at Airlie Beach, on the last leg of my trip before my parents fly out. From Bundy I went to a cattle station ranch for the night which was...interesting. Strangely I actually liked it and I was using it as practice for my farmstay but unfortunately that's all fallen through so I'm afraid there won't be any amusing photos of me milking a cow, not this trip anyway! There were lots of activities to do like shooting, which kills your right shoulder, goat mustering which I opted out of because I'm leaving the horseriding until Cape Tribulation where you ride through the rainforest. There was also a sick game that the ranchers played and tried to get us involved in. They literally throw a goat in this big pen with you and two other people and you have to chase it round the pen, grab it, turn it on its side and pretend to stamp it. Sounds like fun?! Well, it was fun to watch other people running around like a headless chicken but me and the two girls I was with sort of chickened out when it got to us because the goat before us had magically managed to jump out of the pen and was wild! Dinner was definetly the highlight, we got homemade soup (of which I had two courses because it would have been rude not to sample a few!) and then we had roast beef, veg and gravy. All of you at home might not understand the significance of that but I'm sure Vix will. I've been living on quick supermarket food like tinned soup and salad, not to mention the takeaways... so I'm looking forward to my first roast at home Mum!! After dinner, we had some whipcracking to do which we got to do in the fields in the middle of an electric storm (probably not the cleverest idea!) and then we had to ride the mechanical bull (not a good idea after a ten course meal!) Made two really nice friends from the Oz bus that night, Cat and Hayley, who strangely enough are from Enfield! Not only that, but they went to Latymer and Hayley starts uni at my favourite, Southampton, in October! But they didn't get off at Rockhampton with me so I had to wait to Airlie Beach to see them again.
After Kroombit, I went to Rockhampton, although I didn't see much of it because I got off the bus and straight on to another to take me to the ferry to Great Keppel Island. I had an amazing 3 days there. It's one of those postcard places that you can't really believe unless you're there to see it with your own eyes. It's a quiet island and all you can do is swim, snorkel and sunbathe. My paradise! The beaches were out of this world and the water was green and the clearest water I've ever seen. Met 2 nice German girls in my hostel so spent the 3 days snorkelling with them. When we weren't on the beach, we were asleep in the hammocks! Snorkelling around the rocks was great, I saw 2 massive stingrays and a turtle. But then one guy told me that wherever turtles were, tiger and reef sharks would be, so I didn't make it back in after that!
After Keppel, I got to Airlie Beach. Aussies don't rate Airlie that highly but I've loved it. It's just a massive strip of shops and cafes with 3 massive hostels in the middle. My hostel here is luxurious compared to ones I've stayed in before. It's right in the middle of the strip and it's got an outside bar which is pretty good! Even better, I keep bumping into everyone I met over the last 2 weeks because everyone is here to sail. Met up with 2 guys from Noosa who I shared a room with and the two Enfield girls which was nice. The highlight has been my sailing trip though. I had the best time on my yacht and met some really lovely people that I'm meeting up with along the rest of the coast. My sailing boat was a racing yacht which didn't mean anything to me until we got to the final day and we sailed home! My God, what a terrifying 2 hrs! Naive I was before my sailing trip, I didn't realise that sailing actually means you turn off the engine and use the sails and wind. Not only that, but the yacht tips to a 45 degree angle which means that half of the yacht is actually in the water. Everyone has to stay on the high side, the side that's way off the water, and we were all holding on for dear life! After a while, you got used to it and it was actually really good...until we nearly lost 2 people overboard because they slipped. For the first 2 days, we had great weather. I even slept on deck the first night with about ten other people, or rather, we passed out but it was nice to be woken up by sunrise, even if it was at 5.30am! We also snorkelled at every chance we got. Got some great photos of me and everyone in our sexy stinger suits! We all looked like Power Rangers! Had great food on board and played some funny drinking games which I've consequently found out aren't a good idea to play on a boat. For those of you that don't know yet, I was slightly merry and had a bit of an accident when I tried to climb through the hatch from the deck down to the cabin. I thought the floor wasn't that far and turns out, it was, so I've actually ended up fracturing my toe! But I still had a great time and got looked after really well by my friends on the boat. It's led to lots of sympathy drinks so I'm not complaining!
Anyway, I'm off to Magnetic Island next. It's supposed to be the sunniest spot in Oz so I'm hoping to top up my tan before Dad gets here. I live in hope!!
XX
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