The trip of a lifetime

Well it's certainly been a while since we have updated this thing!! By my reckoning it’s about 10 weeks! This post won’t be like all the others in that we won’t list all the dates of where we were but merely give you an account of what we’ve been doing since we last posted.

After we left Rainbow beach, we made our way South down the East Coast so a place called Byron Bay. It’s a nice little place and is well known for surfing. It is at this point that Ric decided that he would take the opportunity to spend 3 consecutive mornings out in the surf (with a qualified instructor obviously!). Matt spent his time during the day just chilling out on the beach. On a couple of the evenings we headed out to a bar called Cheeky Monkeys where we would meet up with some of the other backpackers from our dorm room and have a few drinks. On one of these nights Ric entered a competition and won $350 worth of campervan hire! We decided that if need be we could use this in either Australia or New Zealand.

After leaving Byron Bay we had to head down to Sydney to meet up with Charlie when she arrived on the 5th April. To give a rough overview, we spent about a week in Sydney before all 3 of us headed over to Perth in Western Australia for Gary and Jo’s wedding (an ex-work colleague of Ric’s who is now living out here in Perth). Whilst in Sydney Ric and Charlie did most things that were available. The Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb, the Sky Tower, The Maritime Museum, the Aquarium, the Sydney Wildlife world, a ballet at the Opera House (the Australian’s amazingly obscure take on Swan Lake!), ate out at many great restaurants, ate seafood and spent the first night of our holiday in the Marriott Hotel!! This was courtesy of Debbie and Pete who I would like to thank for this gift. Whilst Ric and Charlie were out exploring Sydney, Matt spent the time getting to know his fellow travelers in the hostel, socializing and enjoying a break from Ric!

We then all made our way to the airport to get the flight over to Perth where we picked up a hire car (a canary yellow Getz) and drove an hour south to Mandurah where the Wedding of Gary and Jo would take place. After the wedding (which was a quite family and close friend’s affair on a beautiful beach) we went to one of their friend’s house for the reception. Ric was asked to read at the wedding which was a real honour but he was very nervous when reading it. The day after the wedding the 3 of us drove another hour south to Gary and Jo’s house which they had kindly let us use for the remainder of our time in WA. We went to one of G&J’s friends houses for a BBQ and played about on their Nintendo Wii (Guitar Hero was the game of choice!). The following day Ric agreed to be the chauffeur for the day and drive Matt and Charlie through the Geographe Wine Region, they tried a few wines, Ric played with the dogs and then we headed back to G&J’s for a Chinese takeaway. The next day we headed back to Perth City where we met up with Gary for one final drink before we headed to the airport to fly back to Sydney. We spent one night in Sydney before Charlie flew home and Matt and Ric flew to Auckland, New Zealand.

Hello to you!!!

We last left you as we were about to go to our briefing for the Fraser Island trip. The briefing was highly amusing and informative!! The one piece of information from the video that stuck in everyone's minds was that if you see a Dingo you have to cross your arms and cover your nipples! Strange we all thought!! The guy giving the speach after the video was called Merve and he pretty much contradicted the entire video! Changing speed limits that we had to adhere to, asking us to stick to roads that he suggested and that if you see a Dingo, don't cover your nipples because he'll probably laugh at you!! One vitally improtant piece of information was that we had to look closely at the high and low tide times so that we knew when it would be safe to drive on the beach (our "highway" on the island). As a group we then placed an order for some alcohol that would be ready to be packed onto the 4x4's in the morning along with our stuff and everything else we would need. We all met up in the evening and had a drink and got to know each other a little more before getting an early night.

25/03/08
We got up early due to the fact that we had to have another briefing behind the hostel which would run through the vehicles, the equipment and how to operate the 4x4s, due to the fact that most of us had never driven one before! In our group (soon to be known as our new family) there was us two, Andy (from Germany), Deena (from Ireland), Cheryl (from Ireland), Daisy (from Wales), Veronika (from Austria), Maeka (from Holand), Adi (from Israel), Ofri (from Israel) and Efi (also from Israel). As you can see the lads were greatly out-numbered by girls but meant that we could take charge and by the end of the trip we had been clearly labeled as the group elders/leaders!! There were 5 groups in total leaving from our hostel with 11 people in each group, so there were quite a few of us! Each of the 5 jeeps had a yellow tarpauling covering all of the equipement on teh roof so we could easily recognise each other on the beach highway!

The first job for us all to do was to run through all of the equipment we had to take with us and ensure that it was all there before placing it up onto the roof of our Toyota Landcruiser!! This was to be done in a certain way so that the weight was evenly balanced to avoid toppling the vehicle on the rough terrain! After we had done this Luke (one of Merve's right hand men) took us through the itinerary/route that he would suggest for us to take on our 3 days on the island. He then went through the handling/operation for the truck. It's all pretty simple, but the main difference is that you have a second gear stick which allows you to put the truck from 2WD into 4WD and then into "Super 4" should it be required (Super 4 is basically a very low gear ratio which allows one to drive in very soft sand and up very steep inclines with surprising ease!!). After we had done this, we were all set to go so Matt jumped in the driver's seat and we headed round to the mechanic's depot for one last check over the vehicles before heading off to Fraser Island.

On the barge across the water we all all jumped out of the trucks to see if we could catch a glimpse of a turtle or a dolphin or even a shark, alas we were disappointed and 7 minutes later we were back in the trucks ready to drive off the barge onto Fraser! Matt still driving we headed inland on a dirt track (as it was still high tide and not safe to drive on the beach yet) and after about and hour or so we came out of a small access road onto the beach. We were pleased to see that it was now low tide and we could drive at the recommended 60Kph up the beach to Eurong. This is where we could then drive inland again up through the rainforests of Fraser Island to the beautifully blue Lake Mackenzie, with it's crystal clear waters and sandy beach! The sand gave us the impression that the lake would be salty but the lakes on Fraser are fresh rain water (not fed by streams/creeks, the taste could have been mistaken for Evian bottled water) and surprisingly you can open your eyes under water and have swimming pool visibility without the stinging of chlorine!! It was slightly overcast but the sun shone through long enough for us to get some amazing photos, have a swim and sunbath a little. Then we headed back to the truck to prepare lunch. Today's meal was corned beef sandwiches with salad.

After lunch Matt jumped back in the driver's seat (due to the fact that everyone way pleased with the way he had handled the rough terrain up to the lake) and we headed back down to the beach. Here Andy took over the driving and we sped up the beach to the Maheno Wreck. This is the wreck of a ship (the Maheno if you hadn't guessed) that was washed up onto the shore of Fraser island in a cyclone in 1935. It has remained there ever since, rusting and decaying and is a tribute to the unspoilt beauty of Fraser Island. At the wreck we took pictures and met up with the other 4 truck that departed with us that morning. We suggested that we all camp at the Maheno campsite for the evening so that we could all get together, chat and eat our evening meal. We arrived at the campsite which was an area of vegetation just behind the fore-dune of the beach..... essentially we were camping on the beach! An hour before sundown we set up the camp and prepared the meal, which tonight was steak, salad, boiled potatoes and a potato salad. We then listened to music and had a couple of cold beers before walking round the other groups, finding out what they were doing the next day and getting to know a few more people.

26/03/08
Up at 5am!! This was so we could get everything packed up and move to our next destination before high tide at around 7.30am. In order to rouse the group, Matt put Pink Floyds Dark Side of the Moon over the stereo which could be heard over the camp as more and more people left there tents and the sun slowly made its way higher into the multilayered sky with the colours of the surf changing from minute to minute. This is one start to the day that rarely happens in ones lifetime and one that we shall not be forgetting in a hurray! One by one, we all set off up the beach for a 40 minute cruise to Indian head were we would spend most of the day until it was safe to drive back down the beack at around 3pm.

Upon arrival at Indian Head we got breakfast down form the roof and ate scrambled eggs on toast, cereal, fruit and had a glass fo orange juice before a tea/coffee. Naturally Rick just had a black coffee as breakfast really isn't his thing!! At 9:30am the sun was baking yet we battled on and washed our pots in nature's dishwasher (AKA the ocean as we had previously been told detergents could not be used as they could get into natural water systems and damage the delicate and unspoilt ecosystems of the island!!!), we soon packed everything up and headed off on a 40 minute walk round the bay to the Champagne Pools. So adequately named because as the waves crash over the rocks they fall into hollowed out pools and fizz - just like Champagne!! These were perfect to sit in and protect us from the savage ocean of which we were not allowed to swim in due to the dangers of Jellies, sharks and very strong rip tides. We spent a couple of hours on the small beach (Rick made himself a small fort out of sand, such a big kid!!). and in the pools enjoying the heavy spray of the ocean jumping over the razor sharp rocks. We also randomly met the two french girls that we on our boat trip 3 days earlier, who had come to Fraser from Hervey Bay rather than Rainbow beach like us. We cought up with them for deciding to head back to the truck to move on to the next visiting spot of the day.

We drove down the beach for around 40 minutes until we arrived at the beginning of the Lake Wabbi track. We parked up on the beach and began our 35 minute walk through the bush. Upon turning the last corner, we all went silent as we took in the sight before us. There was an Emerald green lake surounded by eucalypt forest and on the other side along the waters edge the magnificent Hammerstone sand blow. We stuck around for around an hour before heading back to the jeep to find somewhere to camp for the night. We headed back a different way over the sand blow and upon reaching its summit we were befronted by a mini Sahara desert, something which is not easy to describe in words. Especially with the amount of bush surrounding us it was challenging to take in the conflicting landscapes.
Matt and Rick headed the group and we soon began chatting about how we had AGAIN managed to land ourselves with such a cool group of people and how much of a good time we had been having, upon leaving the expanse of sand, we once again re-entered bush terrain and waited for the rest of our 'family' to turn up. After a couple of minutes, the tour guide we had previously seen entertaining some Asian tourists turned up and as we carried on walking, he began telling us about the various wildlife on the island, showing us a Golden Orb spider (of which he had been bitten by a few days earlier). He also talked to us about Kangaroos and Koalas which apparently still exist on Fraser Island but in very few numbers. He then exclaimed "ooo chocolate" and proceeded to pick a couple of white berries from a bush. These berries are known as Midyin Berries (prononuced Midge-in) and to our suprise, they did taste like chocolate.
As we arrived back on the beach we had a short walk back to where we had left the jeep, so the tour guide kindly offered us a ride in his large 4x4 tour bus equiped with Greyhound style seats and belts. We then moved a Kilometer up the beach to our camping ground for the night (Cornwells Camping Ground) where we met up with the other 4 groups. Once again there was a hive of activity as we set camp for the evening, and as the fiery ball weighed heavy in the sky, we enjoyed a cold (well earned) beer and began to prepare our evening meal. On the menu that evening was stir fried chicken with rice and salad, which was delicious and 11 of us easily finished the lot. Once everyone had finished eating in the groups, all 55 of us started to move around the camp and mingle. One of the best things about the whole trip was we could stay on the beach camping grounds with no other people on them apart from our group. This meant we could make as much noise as we wanted without worrying about other peoples sleeping patterns. As usual in social situations, Rick's iPod became the central attraction with various compliments and complaints about the bizarre diversity within. We partied late into the night safe in the knowledge that we only had a 7am start in the morning.
27/03/08
As planned we got up at 7am with various members of other groups slowly making an appearance and Matt and Ric proceeded to once again rouse our family members with a combination of handclapping, pot banging, and Blurs Song 2. This worked more effectively on some members of the group than others who were nursing catastrophic hangovers! We once again packed up camp and set off on the short drive down the beach to head inland before high tide. Once inland at Eurong, Rick took the wheel for the rather fulfilling off road track up to Lake Birrabeen. This was not technicall allowed due to the fact that Luke and Merve had warned us not to stray off the orange marked roads but we chanced it (the reason for this warning is that luke used to be inundated with telephone calls from people who were lost or stuck because of the hazardous terrain!). Rick successfully navigated the bumps, ditches and steep inclines and we arrived at the lake, much to Matt's surprise we didn't end up on our roof!!, and bumped into the tour guide (together with his group of Asian tourists) who ran into the lake with his snorkel and mask and shortly reappeared holding a small turtle!! We didn't stay long as various members of our group really wanted to go back and see Lake Mackenzie in the blazing heat of the sun for our last day. Naturally, as happy families do, we all agreed this would be best and set off back to Central Station to take a different (safer) track to Lake Mackenzie. Upon arrival at the Lake mackenzie car park we had breakfast and then strolled leisurely down to the lake. We spent a couple of hours here swimming, sunbathing and watching Dingo's steal food that people had stupidly brought with them, blatantly ignoring all of the warnings!! At 1pm we needed to be heading back due to the fact that low tide would be upon us by the time we got to the beach and we only had 2 hours to get back down to Hook Point for the barge to the mainland! We arrived at Hook Point at 3:02 to see the barge halfway across the channel with a distinctive yellow blur on the back. Not to be disheartened we took the opportunity to get some last minute group photo's by our jeep and we very pleased to see 2 more jeeps with Yellow tarps come round the corner meaning 3 out of the 5 jeeps had missed the first barge! We had to wait 8 whole minutes before the next barge could ferry us back to the mainland! Upon hitting the mainland we had to stop off at the petrol station to top up our jeeps ($82 worth of diesel) before heading back to the depot for the mechanics to check over our vehicles and to check all of the equipement was present and correct. Aside from a missing butter knife and a broken spade, we were all good! All that was left to do was clean everything, including the back of the jeep which by now closely resembled the beach at Lake Mackenzie, and then we could take the jeep back to the hostel. As we arrived back we were greeted by Merve again and he was delighted to hear that we had the most awesome time!! We checked back into the hostel, collected our bags, showered and then met everyone in the bar for a departing drink. Some of our group were on a week's holiday from Queensland Uni in Brisbane (Andy, Deena, Cheryl and Veronica) and were heading up to the Whitsundays that evening for a boating trip like the one we have just come from. Unfortunately it was another night of goodbye's and we wished them well on their travels and with the remainder of their university studies. That night we were in bed by 8:30pm due to the fact that after we'd eaten we both fell asleep in the bar!

28/03/08
Due to the fact that we were very tired from our trip we awoke at about 10am and planned so sort out our lives and plan for a number of things that were coming up. These included arranging a bus down to Byron Bay, accommodation there, accommodation for Sydney when Charlie arrives, a hire car for when we go back over to Perth for Gary and Jo's wedding and a bus from Byron Bay to Sydeny. This turned out to be a lot more complicated than we first thought but needless to say, it's all sorted now!! We relaxed in the hostel for the rest of the day as they put a film on in the bar and we ate burritos!

29/03/08
Today we had to check out of the hostel and walk to the hostel next door as they only had one bed left at the previous hostel. All is well, we bumped into two girls we met in Melbourne this morning (minus one of their party - Drew!!). We have an early start in the morning so it will be another chilled out night with a decent meal. We hope you enjoy this post as we lost it and this is the second time we'rve had to write it!! Grrr!

Here's some more photo links for your viewing pleasure!!

King's Park (Perth) and Adelaide

Road Trip along the Great Ocean Road

Melbourne and Neighbours Night!

Brisbane

Airlie Beach and Sailing Part 1

Sailing Part 2

Sailing Part 3

Rainbow beach and Fraser Island Part 1

Fraser Island Part 2

Fraser Island Part 3

Take care all,
Rick and Matt
xx

Hey all!!
Well what a great time we've had recently!! Really struggling to remember everything that we've done but here goes!!

10/03/08
We decided to treat ourselves to a full day on the beach. And we bumped into a little lady called Sarah Thornton and her boyfriend Shaun Munro (Sarah is one of Eddy's ex-girlfriends and Shaun is a guy that I was in the same form all through Grammar School!!!). Then Ben and Ivy came and met us at the beach and we just chilled out chatting about stuff and the evening ahead!!! At 6pm we all met at the Base Hostel (Amy, Shiv, Maggie, Ben, Ivy and Catherine) and walked down to the Elephant and Wheelbarrow where the Neighbours night took place. It was a really good night, although Rick was unimpressed at the way they paraded the celebs round like they were all high and mighty!! After meeting Karl Kennedy though, things soon changed!! There was a quiz and then Dr Karl Kennedy's band (Waiting Room) began to play. They did a number of cover songs and a couple of their own. We stayed through to the end but the majority of our group left early!

11/03/08
Relaxing day before flying to Brisbane the following day. We met up the girls on the beach as they were leaving that day for Sydney. In the evening we have a drink at the Bar with Ben and Ivy before heading back to our hostel for a good night's sleep!!

12/03/08
Early start, 5am, so that we could get to the bus depot and then get a coach to the airport. Got to the airport and flew to Brisbane. We got checked into the hostel and just chilled out for the rest of the day. Matt went to get his haircut, but that's about it! We were pretty tired!!!

13/03/08
Walked into Brisbane city for a look around and then made our way to the man-made beach in the city! There would appear to be very popular due to the fact that for the majority of the year there are a lot of jelly fish in the ocean so swimming is a little on the risky side! In the evening we had food at the bar and a couple of drinks and chatted to some of the residents.

14/03/08
Today the Irish in our hostel began preparing themselves for Paddy's Day (a little early we though) so by the time we'd got back from the beach they were already plastered!! It was quite amusing to watch and although we didn't take it to the extreme that they did, we had a couple of jugs of beer and tried to hold a conversation which soon became fruitless as the consumed yet more alcohol! Instead we decided to change tactics and got chatting to a girl from New Zealand called Jenelle.

15/03/08
Today was a day of forward planning! We sat with the agent at the hostel and attempted to arrange a boat trip for the Whitsunday Islands and also the 2 day tour on Fraser Island. This proved a little difficult as various things were fully booked up but in the end we were happy with our choice! Again we headed to the beach for a swim and then in the evening we decided to have a wander around Brisbane at night to see what it was like! There were Irish everywhere and a crazy guy spray painting pictures. The pictures were absolutely amazing and by no means cheap!!!

16/03/08
Today we had a wander around Brisbane city in the hope of finding some new shoes for the wedding that we will soon be attending in Perth. We were both successful on this front and very pleased with our purchases! We dropped our things off at the hostel and had a wander down to the beach to catch the last few rays of the day. In the evening we had a voucher for a cheap wood fired pizza and a jug of beer from a sports bar in town so we did that and then went home to bed!!

17/03/08
Paddy's Day! Not much to say really, we had to check out at 10am and then just chilled for 3 hours until we had to make our way to the Transit Center for our ultra exciting 19 hour coach trip up the East Coast to Airlie Beach!! There were a number of stops on the way but only about 4 that we could actually get off at for a toilet stop and some food if necessary.

18/03/08
We arrived in Airlie Beach at about 9am and we had to wait around again as we couldn't check into the hostel until half 11! Got some breakfast and then checked in. We got acquainted with our local surrounding and decided to spend the rest of the day at the man-made lagoon (yes another one!!!). This was quite a bizarre experience. The reason being is that although it was very warm, it was overcast with the sun breaking through every now and then. At some points it would be sunny, then cloudy, then sunny again and then it would rain! At some points it was raining whilst the sun was out! We got back and got showered and made friends with our dorm mates. They just happened to be four very hungover Irish girls who were recovering from a very heavy St. Patrick's Day! We met up with them for tea but the other 5 (yet again there were 9 of them all together in their group!!) couldn't face food! We had a pretty early night due to it being a very long day and we were pretty tired.

19/03/08
We spent the majority of the day down at the Lagoon as it was the first really day of sunshine for us in Airlie Beach. We relaxed in preparation for our early start tomorrow to sail out round the Whitsunday's for 3 days. We had a fantastic sandwich each from a little health deli that the Irish girls had recommended. You basically give them $8 and then you choose what bread you want (we think there were about 8 to choose from), and then choose from a huge list of ingredients and you can have as much on the sandwich as your stomach can take!! We got back (very full!) and met our new dorm buddies who had just come back from their sailing trip! They said it was ok but the weather had been a little rough. We're hoping that today's weather is going to hold out for us!! We've just had our tea and Matt is out getting supplies for tomorrow's trip (basically a lot of water and a couple of beers for the evening).
Upon his return we decided to go back to the room and pack. One of the guys in our room told us that at 9pm they were giving out free jugs of beer in the hostel bar. This turned out to be lies! So instead, Rick joined the limbo competition, won, and the prize was $20 to spend at the bar, so he bought 2 jugs and we shared them between the three of us. So the beer was free after all!!!

20/03/08
Ok!! Woke up early and checked out of the hostel and made our way down to the marina to meet up with the people that would be taking us on our 3 days cruising the Whitsundays! We got briefed on everything, picked up our stinger suits to protect us from unsuspecting jellies and then made our way (with one small backpack each, 10 litres of water and 29 cans of beer. If you're wondering why we only had 29 rather than 30, it's because one exploded in transit). We climbed aboard the Matador ("At 24.9m in length Matador is the largest International Offshore Racing Maxi ever built. Designed, developed and constructed at a cost of over US$20 million in 1991, Matador is constructed from carbon fibre, titanium and aluminium. In her prime, Matador competed in 52 races, 8 regattas and 2 Maxi world championships and was undefeated proving she is truly an awesome sailing machine"). First things first, they asked us to pass all the booze on board so they could get it in the eskies to get them cold ready for the evening! If you're thinking that we booked 3 days on a booze cruise then you are very much mistaken!! We we're expected to be hands on with raising the sail and helping out where possible. We were then sat down on the deck and introduced to the crew. Our Skipper was called Pete and he give us a run through of what would be happening over the next few days.

To give some perspective, there is usually a professional crew of 26 to handle the boat but on our voyage there were 4! We headed out across the Whitsunday passage to Baird Point (aka Fort Matador!!) just off Hook Island. When our of the harbour we switched to the natural power of the wind. This involved hoisting the main sail, Ben(the 1st mate / deck hand) asked for 5 male volunteers in order to lift this half tonne sail 32 meters in the air. Both Matt and Rick enthusiastically joined in. Basically this involved 5 lads pulling down on a rope as hard as possible, often using body weight alone when our arms got tired!

Where we were all given a free 20 minute scuba dive with the help of Shawn, a PADI certified instructor!! The dive was really good, visibility was ok but great fun!! We got 'lumbered' with these two French girls who were terrified but managed the full 20 minutes! These two girls brought make-up, bikinis, towels but no suncream or alcohol!! Silly girls! We provided them with both because we are English gentleman and Matt quite fancied one of them (or should we say either of them!!!) Anyway, we spent the afternoon moored up, diving, snorkeling and not only is the Matador the fastest boat in the Whitsundays but it's also the only boat with its very own diving board!! Rick enjoyed this very much!!! That evening we chatted with the French girls and watched the sunset and had tea provided but the wonderful Gemma in the kitchen. The meal was spaghetti bolognese and garlic bread. How she managed to work in the kitchen when sailing as the boat can literally tilt to 45 degree angles (possibly more) is beyond us!! Then we had a couple of drinks and chatted with some of the other "sailors". Everybody was pretty tired so we all climbed into our bunks at around 23:30. We ended up sharing a double bunk again situated right underneath the hatch so in the morning when the sun came up Matt could see the morning sky!!

21/03/08
Rick didn't sleep well due to a combination of too much sleep and 20 of the loudest snorers all crammed onto one boat! He ended up sat on the deck for an hour at half three in the morning listening to his ipod! We were all woken up by the sound of engines rumbling at half seven in the morning. To give you an idea of how loud it was, the engine used to power the Matador was previously used in a Sherman Tank during the 2nd World War!!! We had breakfast as the boat motored out of Baird Point before hoisting the main sail (again!!) and sailing round through the Nara Inlet to Tongue Bay where the crew took us in groups of 4 or 5 in the tender to the shore and then when we were all together we walked through the bush to the lookout point to see the famous Whitehaven Beach. After taking photo's we walked back through the bush and down to the beach we we all spent a couple of hours chilling out in the water, sunbathing. The water was gorgeous and the only way to describe the sand is to say one word - flour!! Rick and Matt and a couple of the lads we met sat in the water with the gentle waves lapping over our waists just chatting and telling stories about each others travels. I suppose there are worse ways to spend Good Friday!!! Then we made our way back to the boat and had lunch as we sailed round Whitsunday Island to Luncheon bay. The skipper told us that it was perfect wind for a fast but gentle sail with no crazy angles spilling food everywhere. So we could all eat and listen to music (Rick was very pleased to discover that he could plug his iPod into the sound system and by the end of the first day was affectionally known as DJ Cheese!). Once again the food was superb!! We had huge sausages (a couple of different varieties), pasta salad, salad and bread. At Luncheon Bay the certified divers did their free dive and the rest of us checked out the beautiful coral closer to the shore and again Rick spent quite a bit of time diving off the spring board with the other guys, the skipper (Pete) and the deckhand (Ben). After we'd eaten, the skipper went into the galley and brought up some raw chicken. He then proceeded to whistle very loudly and some White-Breasted Sea Eagles began circling. As he threw the chicken pieces into the water they would swoop down and snatch it out of the water! His next trick...to throw the chicken in the air and allow the eagle to catch it in mid flight!! We then set sail again to get us back to Fort Matador (Baird point) where we had a full roast beef dinner!! That evening the skipper treated us to some acoustic guitar (Rick's music was clearly not good enough for him) and we all had a good old sing-a-long!! We stayed up a little later than the previous night in a failed attempt to finish off all of the grog on board.

22/03/08
Again woken to the cool relaxing sound of a tank engine at 7:30! We had breakfast again and sailed leisurely over to Blue Pearl Bay which is situated on an Hayman Island which is home to the most expensive resort in Australia ($700 per night for the cheapest room with a minimum of 2 nights stay! If you really want you can spend $14000 per night!) Upon arrival at the Bay we could do an extra scuba dive if we wanted (a couple of people did but we didn't). We spend around 40 minutes snorkeling through the coral which was absolutely stunning!! We saw a huge array of different fish who got especially excited when Ben came over in the tender and started throwing pieces of bread at the snorkelers so the fish went crazy around us!! Literally brushing against our skin. The guys found this highly amusing as the girls shrieked with a mixture of fear and excitement. While snorkeling we came across a Hump Headed Maori Wrass which Ben was really pleased about!! There were two of these, the male reaching about a meter in length and the female slightly smaller. Upon getting back to the boat everyone was just chilling out on the deck in the glorious sunshine and Rick (once again) with Ben, the Skipper and a Dutch guy called Rik began a little competition seeing who could perform the best stunts off the spring board! Rick had to pull out of the comp at the end due to the fact that one of his tricks (an inverted somersault into a dive with a half twist) resulted in landing from about 3 metres onto the side of his head. Which subsequently resulted in a very sore eardrum, nausea and a slight inability to balance properly! And no he wasn't drunk, although the symptoms would suggest so!!

The skipper decided to give us a real treat by trying to get the most out of the journey back, the wind was very good and he hoisted the main sail to it's maximum and also put a bigger sail on the front rigging to improve performance. The sail back was fantastic, very fast and very wet (if you were a fool and sat at the front like Rick). We spent two hours sailing back all crammed onto the high side of the boat whilst the low side was often submerged below the water!! An incredible experience!! Both of us, for various reasons, had to go below deck which proved to be a real challenge whilst the boat was at full tilt!! As we arrived back at the harbour we all said our goodbyes and we all met at Beaches pub as we had a long table reserved for us all to chat and talk about the last 3 days we'd just experienced together. It's amazing how close 33 people of different sex, nationalities and culture can get in just 3 days when you're living in such close quarters! We all had a great night and (due to the fact that there were other boats also partying at Beaches) we were clearly the loudest and had the most fun!

Overall we were very lucky with the weather (considering that as we are writing this blog post it is raining! It's still warm though!! 28 degrees in fact and very humid!!!) and the group of people that we were on the boat with. Also, everyone was very impressed with the job that Gemma did as the host for the trip, with her cooking. We were only expecting very easy, convenient food for 33 people but she pulled out all the stops, and it was her first time as well!!

Upon our arrival back at the hostel (where we had stored our luggage for the 3 days that we were sailing) we had discovered that someone had broken into the container that was "securely" holding our belongings!!! Needless to say that Rick's pack got ransacked yet Matt's (due to his abundance of padlocks) had not been violated!! Nothing of any value has been taken as Rick took his passport and credit card etc sailing with him. However, it is a little annoying to feel that someone has been rummaging round your personal belongings!! Grrr!! Still we're in good spirits (we got a free meal voucher as "compensation") and a fantastic night with our fellow sailors at Beaches!!

23/03/08
Today we have spent a fortune on the internet since half 11 this morning (this now coming up to 5pm!) just to keep you people updated!! We hope you're happy! At half 5 we are jumping on another coach to take us all the way down to Rainbow Beach where we will soon depart for a 2 day excursion to Fraser Island.

24/03/08
We've just arrived at Rainbow Beach after spending the night on a coach from Airlie Beach and are awaiting to be checked in! This afternoon we have our 4x4 briefing and what to expect from the local wildlife and the island itself. This evening there is a free bus that takes us to Carlo Sandblow so that we can watch the sunset over the ocean! Cool!

My favourite song has just come on (Dance Magic by David Bowie, featured in the hit film Labyrinth), so I'm off for another brew (coffee not beer, as it's only 09:30! Oh and a cup o' tea for Matt)

Ciao for now!!

Matt and Rick
xx

Heys guys,

After we last left you, we ended up going out and meeting the Aussie girls who were out for one of their birthdays!! We met at a Karaoke Bar where you get your own room in which to sings and dance! Pretty cool! Then we had a wander to meet Kurt to have one last drink with him before we left the following day!!

01/03/02
After a later than intended night out with Kurt and the girls we managed to get up nice and early to pick up the campervan. We headed down to the station to catch the train out of Adelaide to the Suburbs to pick up the van. Once all of the paperwork was filled out we were ready to begin the journey, Matt was first to drive and once successfully navigated out of Adelaide we hit the open freeway. After about an hour we decided to pull into a small town in search of food. Once fully replenished we got back on the road!! We realised that we'd made a wrong turn and Rick said, it doesn't matter because4 just down this road is another turning that goes through the outback a little bit and then joins up with the coastal freeway further down!! We hopped on the outback road and it was just a dirt track. It was supposed to take roughly 40 minutes, but after an hour we really didn't know which way to turn at a junction so we took a guess (basically Rick got out his compass and we took the road that went in the more southernly direction...quite clever!!!). It turns out we probably should have gone the other way but the experience was good!! After having to stop at a Town Hall (in the middle of nowhere and no other buildings around) we were back on track!! We hit the freeway and travelled alll the way down to Mount gambier and then to the coastal town of Port McDonnell. We found a nice campsite, pitch the camper, had tea and then played poker with matchsticks!! Rick won!!

02/03/08
Another relatively early morning and we hit the road again at about 10am. We travelled over the boarder into the state of Victoria (having just been in Southern Australia) and hit the Great Ocean Road somewhere around Peterborough. we stopped off at a couple of places en route, including the 12 Apostles (formerly called the Sow and Piglets until someone decided that the 12 Apostles was a more impressive name!) We then carried on and decided to settle at Apollo Bay for the night! The site owner was closing up as we arrived and just told us to park up and pay in the morning!! That evening we cooked and then went into town for a little beer, made the necessary phone calls home and then went back to the van for some well earned sleep!!

03/03/08
On the road at 10:30 we set out to complete our Great Ocean Road trip and get into Melbourne to drop off the van (which we called Hermit by the way, aptly named because we travelled around with "our house on our backs!!"). Didn't make too many stops on the way for this part of the journey as we had to get the van back. Managed to get the van back for (roughly) the right time, and then the owner gave us a lift to the train station so we could find our hostel. Caught the train and then a tram from Melbourne City down to St Kilda where the hostel is! A quick word about the hostel...AWESOME!!! Its a 4 Star hostel with pretty much everything you need there. As a comparison, it's much like a university hall of residence, there are rooms upstairs, a bar downstairs with cheep drinks, computer access and a whole bunch of young backpackers!! Very impressed! That night there was a pool competition so Rick thought he'd take part and meet some people. He didn't win! We did meet some great people though! Then we went to sleep.

04/03/08
Woke up in the morning and decided to pop into the city to have a wander round and see what it's all about. The city is much bigger than Adelaide but slightly smaller than Sydney we think. Then we made our way back to the hostel and made friends with some people who were taking part in the quiz that was going on in the bar that night. Played the quiz but didn't win!! We did get a lot of questions right though!!

05/03/08
We have found out that Melbourne had a Motor Show on whilst we were visiting so we thought that today we would check it out!! Quite a few nice cars to ogle at but still way beyond our price range!! We did the whole show (which is smaller than the one we went to in Geneva last March) but still good! That evening we made our way back to the hostel, cooked some food and then went up to the bar to meet up with a couple of people from our dorm and have civilised conversation!! ;-)

06/03/08
Evening's entertainment...Ladies Night! So we had a chilled day on the beach to top up our tans which were starting to fade as they've not been properly touched up since Perth!! That evening we went down to the beach for a BBQ with the lads. The BBQ was the most efficient we've ever been to!! Around 20 minutes after we arrived, Anton turned up with a box full of 50 hamburgers from the local diner!! Genius!! We got chatting to a few of the lads around the hostel who had decided to borrow some of the girls clothes in order to gain access to the free champagne available to the girls at 21:00. Considering that some of them couldn't even be bothered to shave their faces, we were surprised to see them at 21:05 with champagne glasses!! Good work guys!!

07/03/08
Today was another day of relaxation talking with other people in the hostel about the night before. Pictures were exchanged and various funny stories!! We watched a film in the bar (School of Rock) and then went downstairs into the kitchen to cook food. We watched Love Actually and then went to sleep! Awww!

08/03/08
Shopping day! We went down to Chapel Street with the three English girls sharing our dorm to have a wander around some of the shops. Nobody bought anything and the girls seemed really disappointed (why do you women just torture yourselves like that!?). On the way back we poped into the WaterFest that's going on along the Yarra River. Mainly just childrens activities, a fairground, live music and a water skiing competition!! We sat and watched the skiiers for a but and then made our way back to the hostel for our Saturday night out. When we say out, we mean down to the hostel bar!

09/03/08
Today we woke up a little late but we had already decided to spend it on the beach!! In the morning we sorted out how we would get to Brisbane. Basically we're getting a flight up there and we have already booked a hostel in advance - which has it's own pool, sauna and jacuzzi!! This evening we have been out for a meal with one of the guys called Ben. Matt is having a beer with him and Rick is sat on his own writing to you lovely people.

Well we have to appologise for taking so long to get this issue out to you but I hope it's worth the wait!

Much love,

Rick and Mattxx

Ok it's been 7 days and we've kind of lost track but we'll hopefully not miss out too much in this post. We just can't believe it's been so long since we posted!

23/02/08
Up early in order to make our way down to the ferry port to get a boat to Rottnest Island. The boat set off for its 2 hour sail at 8:45. On the way down the river the boat stopped in Fremantle to pick up more passengers before heading out into open waters to get to Rottnest. Upon arrival we had a walk round to the lighthouse and then stopped for a bit of a sunbathe and a dip in the ice cold waters. In comparison to the bath-like temperatures of Thailand, it really wasn't pleasant!! But we braved it!! Then we set of for another hefty walk through the arid conditions (to put it in perspective the island is 11km across and 4 km wide so it's by no means a small island!!). The walk was long and hard but was really worth it and seeing lakes on the middle of the island was really bizzare! We then got back to the main settlement on the island near the ferry port and chilled out on a small beach before getting some food and waiting until the boat arrived to take us back to Perth. The river leading up from the sea to Perth is lined with extremely expensive houses and yacht marinas. Many of the yachts and houses are owned by Australia's richest people and celebrities. When we got back to Perth we went back to the hostel. Luke had invited us up to his hostel for a couple of drinks and then out to a bar. We ended up spending most of the night at the hostel garden chatting and before we knew it, it was really late and we decided to head back rather than go to a bar.

24/02/08
Today was a really lazy day, we had a bit of a lie in (except for the really annoying Chinese girl who insisted that half 5 in the morning was the best time to fold up all her plastic bags!!!) and then we just sat on the hostel balcony for a couple of hours watching the world go by. At 4pm we had arranged to meet up with Gary again for a drink in the local Irish bar. It was a really good afternoon chatting about the wedding and discussing the remainder of our trip with him. We were also joined by a couple of Irish lads called Alan and Kevin who were staying in our hostel (who'd have thought that we'd meet Irish lads in an Irish pub!!) That evening we sat out on the balcony again chatting with Alan and Kevin (and a few others) before heading to bed. Oh yeah we also had a kebab, which was superb in comparison the the really naff donner meat you get in the UK!!

25/02/08
Got up at a reasonable hour and prepared ourselves for departure to Adelaide the following day. We put some of our clothes in for a wash. We also booked our accommodation for staying in Adelaide and also our transportation to get us from Adelaide to Melbourne. We managed to arrange a campervan for 3 days which will give us plenty of time to travel down the Great Ocean Road before arriving in Melbourne on the 3rd March. Finished off the rest of the washing and also got in touch with Kurt (the Aussie guy we met on Phi Phi) as he offered to pick us up from Adelaide Airport and take us to our hotel. That evening we had a walk up to Northbridge to meet up with Luke again for one last time before we left Perth. Had an early night and slept well!

26/02/08
We weren't flying until 16:50 so we relaxed for most of the day. We had to check out of the hostel at 9am but they were happy for us to lounge around until we needed to leave for the airport. We re-packed our bags and then at 14:10 we headed to the bus stop to get the bus to the ariport. It was a 30 minute ride but we arrived in pleanty of time for the flight. We got checked in and then waited to be called for boarding. The flight was only 2 hours and 50 minutes but again we lost another 1 hour and 30 minutes due to time differences!! We arrived in Adelaide at 21:10 local time where Kurt was already waiting for us! It was good to see him again and we all had plenty of stories since we last chatted. That evening Kurt offered to show us round. There's been plenty going on in Adelaide over the last week or so, including the Clipsal 500 (a motor racing event), the Fringe Festival (similar to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival). Kurt told us that on the main street there were over 50,000 people and he'd never seen anything like it in Adelaide! We went up to the Fringe Festival for a look around. Lots of freak shows and big top tents with some really good acts on. We then headed back to the hostel, said goodnight to Kurt and arranged to meet him the following morning. Got into the room and there are only 3 of us in a dorm which can sleep 8!! The hostel is above a 'Pokies' which is essentially a gambling establishment with various slot machines. There's also a bar which is open the 6am (not that we're used this particular feature) and it's very well located on the main street in Adelaide.

27/02/08
We met up with Kurt and he took us for a drive to Henley Beach and then down to Glenelg (cool name for a place because if you get confused and spell it backwards then it's exactly the same, for the academics out there it is called a palindrome!!). At Henley Beach we got out and had some food at a nice pub. We had a steak sandwich each! Then at Glenelg we walked along the promenade into the marina where there are some really expensive boats/yachts docked. The back along the promenade to the car. He dropped us off at the hostel as he had to get home and ready for work. He said that he'd pick us up again at 17:15 and we could go with him. We killed time on the internet for a little bit before getting changed and ready to go out to the pub. The place where Kurt works is 15 minutes out of town and his father used to own it until recently. The place pretty much has everything except accommodation. There's a sportsbar, games room (the one with the slot machines in and a bar), a bistro, a drive-through bottleshop and a nice beer garden. We sat and had a beer in the sportsbar as Kurt was working and then we went outside. Kurt arrived with a jug of beer for us and then ran off again before we could give him money for it! Then we went back into the sports bar and played some pinball before tea. Kurt had a break at 20:30 so we reconvened in the bistro for a kangaroo steak! We had a side plate of salad and the steak (medium rare on a bed of Gnochi potatoes and pumpkin) was topped with an onion marmalade dressing. The whole thing was just perfect!! At the end of the meal we came to settle the bill and Kurt announced that it had "already been sorted". Then he ran off into the beer garden before we could express our displeasure at the fact that he wouldn't take any money off us. We finally gave up trying to give him money and joined him for one last drink in the games room before arranging for a taxi to take us back to the hostel. So we sat at the bar chatting and watching all these locals coming up to the bar with $10/20/50 notes and changing them into dollar coins so they could feed the machines in the hope of winning!! Needless to say they kept coming back every 10 minutes for more coins! One woman must have put $200 in the machines in less than an hour!! Anyway Matt ahd a bit of loose change in his pocket ($2) and Rick gave him his lucky dollar coin and he set off into the games room. Rick could see Matt from where he was sitting. All of a sudden a machine behind the bar started to beep loudly. Kurt (as Junior Manager that night) began to curse rather loudly at this and indicated that one of the machines must have broken. Rick literally thought to himself: "I bet it's Matt!!" Low and behold Kurt walks over to the very machine that Matt is standing next to looking rather sheepish!! All the locals began to gather and Matt starts to walk back to the bar with the biggest grin on his face. He says "I think I've won the minor jackpot but I'm not sure because one of the screens says jackpot and the other says error!!" Anyway half a pint and a 15 minute anxious wait later, Kurt returns and hands over $348 to Matt and doesn't say a word. Rick strongly belives that if Kurt had opened his mouth, then we wouldn't be able to post exactly what he had said for censoring reasons!! Happy as Larry Matt offered to buy another midi (just over half a pint) and then booked another taxi home. It has to be said that to Matt's credit he did hand over one third of the winnings to Rick due to the fact that he had placed a $1 investment into the cause. So to quickly sum up the evening:

1) Free jug of beer
2) 2 free gorgeous kangaroo steaks
3) Matt managed to turn $3 of loose change into a small profit of $348!!!

Overall quite a successful evening and we hope that we will be able to show Kurt the same level of hospitality when he comes to visit in the UK! Mum's get the good bedding out!!! Anyway we got back to hostel and had an extremely philosophical conversation with a slightly misguided and heavily inebriated Aussie bloke who insisted that throwing rubbish on the floor was a good thing for society in that it will cause the Government to take action! Oh yeah and that feminism is a myth and they are going to be the death of mankind!! Needless to say he wasn't married and the barstaff refused to serve him, a role model to kids - We think not!!!

28/02/08
Woke up and decided to do a little bit of shopping. Rick ended up buying a new pair of headphones for his iPod (a sceptical Rick heeded Matt's insisting to buy some higher quality inner-ear ones, but was soon converted when he heard a bit of Prodigy through them!! WOW!!!). We also bought a car kit for our iPods to that we can listen to our own music en route to Melbourne on Saturday. That afternoon we watched a couple of films before heading to the supermarket to buy a beef lasagne for tea and some pasta and sauce for tomorrow's tea. After eating we went and met 2 of the 9 Aussie girls that we met previously on Koh Phi Phi. They recommended a show that we should go and see called the Tom Tom Club up at the Fringe Festival. The show started at 22:00 and was absolutely fantastic!! It was a group of 8 guys, 5 were acrobats, 1 a beat-boxer (look it up on the internet if you want but it's basically a guy who can create amazing sounds and beats with his mouth and a microphone - imagine Officer Jones from the Police Academy films), a DJ and a guy on the drums!! Again it was a really great show and the audience really got into it!! After the show we chatted some more and arranged to meet them tomorrow night for a few drinks in town before we leave. Then we headed back to the hostel to bed.

29/02/08
Woke up in the morning with the intention of going to the beach at Glenelg. However, we needed to book accommodation for Melbourne and update this blog so we decided to give it a miss. As a compromise we agreed to arrange accommodation in Melbourne that was close to the beach but with good transport links into the city centre. We've booked a really funky looking place which is very modern with pretty lights and some very good reviews!! It's a little more expensive but we're worth it!!! Later on we're meeting Kurt and the girls for a drink before getting a relatively early night. We have to pick the campervan up at 10:00 in the morning so we need to be sensible!!

We also heard about the earth tremor that you guys had in the UK, sounds pretty cool but we didn't feel it here in Adelaide (strangely enough!!)

Hope everything is good back home and keep those comments coming in!!

Matt and Rick signing off (for now)!!
xx