G'day people! hope your all keeping well and wrapping up warm from the cold winter your having. complete opporsite here in the last 2 weeks with the crazy bush fires in the south and flooding in North Queensland! what is the world coming to really???? Adam and I were not really affected by the floods but it did nearly disrupt some of our plans.

So......once leaving the girls and guys behind in Hervey Bay, we both jumped on a Greyhound north to Airlie Beach, a short 12 hour journey! Airlie Beach is a real party town for backpackers stopping off to travel the Whitsunday Islands. We both had a trip booked to travel the islands for 3 days 2 nights on an old racing yacht called the Matador. Unfortunately when we arrived in Airlie Beach we where greeted with the tail of the most recent cyclone so heavy rain and winds kind of dampend spirits even though it still was about 30 degrees! So once aboard the Matador we sailed off around the wet Whitsundays. only 2 hours into the trip some people on board wanted to leave as they where wet and feeling seasick! couldnt believe it, ok it was wet but give the trip some chance, they where gonna be at sea for 3 days solid! We 1st sail off past daydream island, then on though past Whitsunday Island to reach a large bay where we anchored for the night. Me and Adam got well involved on the boat, pulling the sails up, steering the yacht etc! it was pretty cool. once anchored up me and adam took advantage of the diving board on the boat, we spent an hour back flipping and summersolting into the beautiful warm water which was probably warmer then out of the water. we have to wear stinger suits as this time of the year there are loads of box jellyfish and other nasties lurking just below the surface to come and possibly kill you! so we played around for an hour until it got dark, not a good time to be in water full of Tiger and Bull Sharks!

2nd day on the Whitsundays we get up to a dry day for once, soon changed though with heavy downpours every hour or so. we take a trip to Whiteheaven beach (picture above) as you can see from that its pretty amazing however it didnt quite look like that as they have had so much rain, its was pretty cloudy the water. We did manage however to get ou on one of the sand bars and swim with some stingrays, not quite Steve Irwin Style thank god, and some Reef Sharks! pretty cool. After 2 hours on the beach we headed back to the yacht to sail on to a location for scuba diving and snorkelling. Again with the water been so cloudy it wasnt worth spending the money to dive so me and adam do our thing and snorkel around looking for some fish, not much seen..... :-( so we head back and hit the diving board again, so cool, a pod of dolphins came to have a look at what we where up to aswell. Once all back on board we sail on past Hamilton Island, a beautiful luxury holiday resort here, we hit the goon and kick back while it wasnt raining. nice way to end a long day.

3rd day we spent sunbathing! yes the sun was finally out! we spent 4 hours heading back to Airlie Beach sailing around some of the islands which look a whole lot more beautiful under a bight sunshine! Airlie Beach is a really beautiful place aswell when its not pouring down, i suppose it was our own faults for booking trips in wet season in North Queensland.

we get some good news about the roads north, they are now open through to Cairns so me and adam would be able to make our flights back south on the 15th and 18th so one last heavy day and night drinking in Airlie Beach with some friends from Fraser Island we met back up with. Managed to get myself to a gig aswell in Airlie Beach which was cool, havent seen any bands for so long and i love my live music. missed it more then my mums cooking! sorry mum!

When the day finally came to leave Airlie Beach it was very hot and probably the best time to head out on the Whitsundays! typical, oh well atleast we can get to Cairns finally. Another 13 hour greyhound through the night up to Far North Queensland, me and adam are arrange to stay with a friend wer met in the Cook Islands, Laura has a house on the outskirts of Cairns and she would be quite happy to put us up for free for aslong as we wish! Jackpot! we turn up at 2am in the morning! The next day we go for a wonder around Cairns, its a really beautiful town, smaller then Brisbane or Sydney, its very much as far north as tourist go so its a backpackers playground with plenty of cheap bars and activities to do. we decide for the short time we have in Cairns to go out on the Barrier Reef as this is something ive always dreamed about as a kid to do. we book a trip for the 14th. the rest of the day we just spent walking around, checking out what Cairns has to offer. we find ourselves chilling out next to the lagoon for 3 hours in 34 degrees of sun. its so humid up here as you are well into the tropics and in the middle of huge rainforests. The beaches and sea look so beautiful and tempting to swim in however up here Beaches = Crocodiles and Sea = Stingers! not good. unfortunately a small boy who was swimming in a freshwater pool with his dog got eaten by a croc a day before we got there, literally 10 minuts from lauras house! nice! i think ill stick to the lagoon aka 'the abbo bath' yes there are alot of homeless abbo's up here! not quite like Alice Springs but still you have to watch yourself. That night we head out for a meal at a beautiful place called Palm Cove, 5 mins drive from lauras house. here we eat an ozzy BBQ Grill consisting of Kangaroo, Emu, Crocodile and Barramundi, probably one of the nicest collections of meat ive eaten! Adam loved it as he hadnt even seen a Kangaroo in the wild yet and he was now digesting one at some pace! on the way home we did happen to see aload of live ones just for him! i think it made his ozzy trip complete.

my last day in Cairns was to be probably the best day of my travels so far! me and adam head out of Port Douglas to the outter Barrier Reef, around 40km off the mainland. here we did our 1st ever scuba dive which was out of this world. after slowy desending to a depth of around 10m we sat and looked around at where we actually where, right in the heart of one of the worlds most beautiful natural wonders. thousands upon thousands of fish swimming around us in there own spectacular world. we swam on to go and see some clown fish chilling out in the reef, the really Nemo's were so inquisitive swimming right upto our goggles. me and adam also had hired an under water camera so record our experience! once spending a few minutes with nemo we swam off to the edge of the reef, a scary place, just darkness, a huge drop off to the deep deep ocean. we then find ourselves in a small coral valley where we stumble across a turtle eating away on some coral, it was amazing to see them in there natural habitat, he was cool with us sat watching him. we then grabbed a jellyfish and hand fed him! its was a moment ill never forget! after that mindblowing experience we swim on with huge smiles on our faces passing a barracuda and some huge clams! so after 45 mins under water we come to the surface buzzing with excitement. me and adam plan now on doing a whole lot more diving once in Thailand. once back on board we go 20mins before our next stop where me and adam just snorkel but its still an amazing experience, snorkelling the barrier reef!!!!! after a beautiful seafood platter of a lunch we head to our final 3rd dive site, here is where our dreams finally came true. me and adam dive in with our snorkels and find ourselves surrounded by 4 5ft grey whaler sharks! oh god it was the most amazing thing swimming with these beauties! they where all feeding on bait fish we threw them so they where right up in our faces! we just stook around for an hour watching them and filming them! got some great footage! After an adrelalin pumped day out on the reef i dont think anything could now match it so we head back to port and look forward to seeing the photos and films.

Following day i fly out of Cairns to Brisbane where i met with a friend and we drive down the Gold Coast to visit Surfers Paradise and Coolangatta, Surfers is like new york skyline on the beach! huge apartment blocks and fancy hotels line this beautiful goldern beach, big tourist place is surfers, not my kind of place but still nice to visit, had a great steak sandwich here! Coolangatta is a short 20 mins from surfers and alot quieter, has a huge beach and amazing surf which attracts 100's there everyday. we lay out and chill in the sun before a thunderstorm came along and spoilt it! bloody weather. that night i caught a 15 hour Greyhound to Sydney, the longest bus ride iv ever done, past quite quick though as i slept most of it.

Now back in Sydney, adam flew in this morning, we have 4 days to kill before heading out on our final part of our adventure to Thailand. Oz has been an amazing country to spend 3 months in and i could quite easily stay longer to see more of what it has to offer. The people ive met and the experiences ive shared with these people will live in mine and adams memories for ever more. Roll on Thailand......... AUSTRALIA..... DONE!!!!