[Photos uploaded now, check the "photo albums" bit for a step-by-step goat lassooing masterclass!] After a couple of days in Airlie Beach, it was time to catch the next Oz Experience bus. This was a bit of a struggle, since it left at 7am. I suppose it would have been less of a struggle if I hadn't been in the pub until 2am, but never mind... The day started well, I was in the top bunk and when the alarm on my phone went off at 6am I leaned over to the worktop to switch it off, so as not to rouse the other people fast asleep in the nearby bunks. This noble plan failed miserably when I somersaulted head-first towards the floor. Luckily my reflexes still worked, and I landed on my hands and right knee - my knee taking most of the weight, so I probably made quite a thump and said a rude word. At least I only woke up the strange English guy who hadn't said a word to me the previous day. After packing and limping over to the bus, we set off for Kroombit. The driver for this leg of the journey was called Jason (or "Jase", they can't seem to make do with even a short name if it can be abbreviated). He quickly turned out to be one of the better drivers, not waffling too much (like Cosmic, the first driver, who spoke an impressive stream-of-consciousness gibberish), and he seemed to know a bit about what he was talking about. It was a completely new crowd on the bus, and the ice was broken when we stopped to play lawn bowls at 9am. Not really a good idea when at least half of the people present are nursing massive hangovers, and one of them has a sore knee. Still, with about 16 hours of driving to do over the next two days, it was good to see just how incompetent everyone was at trying to roll an uneven ball along a flat surface. As we passed through Rockhampton, Jase cheerfully informed us that we were now leaving the tropics. We were also heading inland, having a change of scenery to huge brown plains dotted with bushes and trees. We saw a few kangaroos around, but their novelty value has well and truly worn off by now. After a few stops for food, toilet breaks and a hair of the dog or two, we arrived in Kroombit just after it had got dark. It was easy to tell that we were away from the sea and out of the tropics, because it was bloody cold. Obviously no comparison to Scotland in the equivalent season, but a bit of a shock after being in warm places for months. We stayed on a farm-stroke-backpackers hostel, and after we were shown to our dorms (in a converted barn, with all the soundproofing you would expect) we were able to get a beer from the licensed bar - a converted trolley with a coolbox and a till dating from about 1870, festooned with whips. Time then for some soup and steak, before a talk from Allan, the owner. Allan was a fairly round figure with a dry sense of humour. He told us about the main business of the farm - cows and goats - but didn't mention the large number of dorm rooms for backpackers. Obviously Oz Experience deposits a certain number there each night, and some decide to stay and help out at the farm (for free bed and board). Then we had the chance to crack a whip, with some having more success than others. (Mine did crack, but not very loudly.) After this the inflatable mat around the bucking bull was blown up, and everyone took turns to try and stay on. I wanted to have a go, but it would have been stupid with a very sore and stiff knee. Some people flew off in the first second, some (including the strange, skinny Canadian bloke who was there with his morbidly obese girlfriend) stayed on for longer, although nobody came close to the record for a first-timer. The evening was rounded off sitting around the campfire being entertained by Celine, one of the farm workers. I had assumed she was about 12, but it turned out she's 15. In between chain-smoking and telling Allan to f-off, she got the whole group to play various observation games before everyone got bored and went to bed. Next morning some people went goat mustering, which involved sitting on horseback and trying to persuade goats to go in a certain direction. Again this was something I had wanted to do (having survived a morning on Mischief) but common sense dictated that it wouldn't be the ideal treatment for a sore knee. Instead, the rest of us went for a walk up a nearby mountain. Well, I say mountain. The locals kept calling it a mountain. I always assumed mountains were higher than about 300 metres. Also, the "walk" involved being taken up the mountain in a 4x4 and strolling back down to the farm. Still, it killed 15 minutes. Next up was a chance to learn how to use a lassoo on some metal poles with goat skulls affixed to the top. Once we'd got used to the basics we were ushered one by one into the goat pen, asked to choose a goat from the multitude, and then had to lassoo it within a minute. I would have had mine in 30 seconds, but another goat dragged the rope away with its feet. It was only delaying the inevitable, though, I did manage to rope the beast in the dying seconds. This is made slightly less impressive by the person who did it in one second, but never mind. Not content with learning to lassoo goats, we then got to find out if we could shoot one that was flying through the air. The goat launcher was obviously broken, though, so we had to make do with clay pigeons. $10 bought five shots, and I went first. After missing the first four, my pride was resting on the final pigeon, so to my relief I managed to shatter it as it headed back towards the ground. Again, this was made slightly less impressive by the fact that one of the mouthy Essex girls hit 3 out of 5, but I think she has anger management issues. After lunch it was time for the long bus journey to Hervey Bay. Naturally, there's no internet access in Kroombit - it is in the middle of nowhere, you know - so I'm back-dating this entry (and the next one) from Brisbane. Tune in for the next exciting instalment, where the hedgehog travels to Fraser Island! It's full of intrigue, unbelievably stupid behaviour, some familiar faces appearing from the woodwork, and sand. Mainly it's full of sand.