Thursday 29th January-

We arrived at Rainbow Beach at about 7pm on 26th January and checked into out hostel (Pippies). The room was basic but nice enough, and we had a little balcony over looking the pool. They provided a free breakfast every morning and a free BBQ on Wednesdays, which was good. We didn't do a lot here, we spent most days in the pool. We originally went to Rainbow Beach to get to Fraser Island (the world's largest sand island), but we decided not to go there in the end as day trips were very expensive for what they were. Today we woke up very early (6.20am) and got the Dolphin Ferry minibus at 7am. They took us on a boat on the river to Barnacle Point. On the way, the driver explained about the local area and the history of the river dolphins. He also managed to attract over a big bird of prey that flew around the boat and dived to catch some bits of food that the driver was throwing into the water. At Barnacle Point we queued up to get a fish in a bucket and then we went into the water to feed the dolphins. It was an exciting experience to feed wild dolphins.

Sunday 1st February-

After feeding the dolphins we had gone on a walk to try and find the Carlo Sandblow at Rainbow Beach. We walked for ages up an overgrown, sandy cliff path, but we couldn't find it and couldn't see any signs that it was anywhere near so we gave up. The next day we had the full day to wait for our bus at 7pm, so after consulting the map we decided to go and look for the sandblow again. We realised that we were actually really close yesterday, which was annoying, but today we went up an easier way on some roads and eventually we found it. When we climbed up over the ridge and first saw it, we both just said 'Wow'. It was amazing, just a massive stretch of sand on the top of some cliffs that has covered the forest underneath. We admired the view for a while, but the wind was whipping the sand around our ankles which hurt so we left.

Later we got the bus to Bundaberg. The hostel was very small and old fashioned but the owner was very friendly and helpful. We stayed in a dorm here for 2 nights. We had a nice irish girl in our room the first night who was friendly and chatty. On the 2nd night we went to Mon Repos to see the turtle nesting grounds (the reason for us staying in Bundaberg). There were lots of people there, and we could only go down to the beach in small groups, but because we'd booked the tour through our hostel we were luckily in group 1. We went down to the beach at about 7pm when it was already dark. We stood around a nest area and suddenly loads of little baby turtles came burrowing out of the sand. It was amazing to see, they were very cute. They followed the light of the ranger's torch and she picked them all up and put them in a wire enclosure so that we wouldn't stand on them. There were so many of them, they just kept appearing! Some of the workers brought a couple of the turtles around so we could touch them and feel the strength of their flippers. This was the only time we were allowed to take photos of them. Then we stood down the beach and made a runway for them, with people standing down the middle shining torches to make a line of light for them to follow down to the sea. They were all released and they raced down the path we'd made. We watched until they were all in the sea, and then we headed back to the centre. We had to wait for a few hours for all the other groups to get a chance to go down to the beach and see something. No adult turtles had been spotted coming to lay eggs, which was disappointing. Eventually, at about 11pm, we joined another group and went back to the beach to see another lot of hatchlings. They were Loggerheads like the ones we'd seen before, but it was cool to see them again. Surprisingly, another set of hatchlings nearby emerged at the same time, and they were Flatbacks, which apparently weren't very common in the area, and we got to see them too which was great. We watched them run out to the sea again. The ranger got a message on her walkie-talkie that a nesting turtle was on the beach, so we all rushed down to the other end of the beach, but before we got there we heard that it had turned around and gone back into the sea without laying- very disappointing and frustrating! We were both very happy at what we did manage to see though. We got back at about half 12. We had the whole of the next day to kill until about 11pm for our bus. We walked to the Botanical Garden, which is something to do with Bert Hinkler. It was quite pretty, we saw a lot of lizards and turtles. We spent the rest of the day relaxing watching TV and watching the news. A cyclone and a lot of flooding was happening up north which could be quite worrying for us as roads are closing!

Thursday 5th February-

We had a 10 hour bus journey to Airlie Beach. It was raining heavily and the driver said we might not be able to get there, but luckily the tide was out and the roads weren't too bad, but the fields were very flooded. We got to our hostel and were shown to a little cabin. The other room in the cabin wasn't taken so we had the place to ourselves. Unfortunately the weather has been rubbish. It rained for about 36 hours straight, and the other days have been cloudy with showers, so we haven't been able to do anything. We are disappointed because we haven't been able to go to the Whitsunday Islands, which are meant to be beautiful. We are hoping to get up to Townsville tomorrow, and then on to Magnetic Island if the weather gives us a break!