Australia was a challange.

We arrived at 0000 and decided just to crash at the airport, obviously this meant a bad nights sleep for all except for Luke who appears to be the group sloth. We didn't really have much of a plan which was a mistake.

At 0800 Tom and Pip lerft to go see a few old friends down in the Gold Coast area, it was weird seeing them go and I think us other three were all jealous of the fact that they had a plan. Us three just slumped around in the airport for another few hours, feeling more and more desperate. In the end, Sam went away for a while then came back, announcing he had booked a ferry to a place called Moreton Island, 'Brisbane's best kept secret'.

After arriving in Brisane, we tried to find a place we could buy a tent. This proved to be more difficult than imagined as no one there seemed to know their way around their own city! Generally we werren't too impressed with Brisbane, it may have been better if we had known that the minimum wage there was over $20 p/h, there for everything is at least twice the price it would be in the UK. After finally finding the tent (and buying several days worth of baked beans, tinned fruit and bread) we settled in for an early night at the hostel.

The next day, after an early rise followed by an extremely expensive taxi ride, the we found ourselves at the ferry terminal. The ferry took about 2 hours to get there, but our first views of the island were spectacular. It looked as if it had been taken straight out of 'Castaway' and put just offshore of Brisbane. We eagerly jumped off the ferry to explore.

It didnt take us long to explore the full extent of our campsite's facilities. Two taps (water must be boiled before being drunk) and a very nasty looking toilet, whose inhabitants included two tarantulas, a snake and a lizard. We soon pitched the tent and discovered a huge python right behind us. Being classic naive Brits, we approached it and confidently declared it was dead (more about that later).

The first day consisted of a swim in the warm sea and Sam swam out to the spectacular shipwreck just offshore. After lunch (a drawn out affair as we tried to break into tins without a tin opener) we walked down the beach. Suffering unbearable heat, we soon became very jealous as we compared the basic facilities at our campsite to the air conditioned beach villas that we walked past. The beach seemed to go on forever as we walked past the resort and on towards the "Desert", a place which Sam promised us was brilliant for sandboarding. However, deciding that the heat was too much, Mike and I soon turned back.

Back at the campsite (and without the watchful eye of Sam) we decded to investigate the snake further. After throwng several sticks at it we confidently decided it was definitely dead. Still, one test remained. Mike picked up a brick and (with hindsite what was a very bad decision) threw it right at the snake. It didnt move. I then slowly approached with a stick aiming to pin it down if it was alive. Suddenly the snake lunged. I quickly dropped the stick and ran. We realised later that there was very little chance of any positive outcome from our actions. Needless to say we moved the tent to another spot.

The next day (after a terrible nights sleep) all three of us swam out to the wreck. About 100 meters off shore and standing on the wreck, we were suddenly surrounded by hundreds of exotic fish. We all agree that it was the best snorkeling we have ever done. After a walk on the beach we decided to exploit the resorts facilities. Sitting in the nice cool bar, we ate our lunch. We then walked up to Shark Spit and, on the way back, we spotted several dolphins swimming just offshore. We quickly jumped in the water and they seemed to come towards us. Sam managed to get about a meter away before they swam off. We then went back for our last, incredibly uncomfortable, nights sleep.

We caught the ferry at 11 the next day. One of the assistants working on the ferry kindly offered us a lift to the train station, where we caught a train to central Brisbane to meet Tom and Pip. Whilst sharing stories of the past couple days, we heard some screaming in a park next to us. A boy had broken his arm pretty horrifically and Pip ran off the get help while Sam told the boy's friends what to do.

After that strange situation, we explored Brisbane before getting a taxi to the airport. We soon discovered that our driver was none other than Manjit Boparai the "world famous" singer. He had sold about 43 000 of his albums which includes his single 'Aussie Aussie Aussie'. Look it up on YouTube if you dare... A very surreal taxi journey followed. We regrettfully left Manjit and spent the night in the airport before our 8 am flight to New Zealand the next day.

Pip and Tom willl write about their experiences soon...

Luke and Mike x