On the way we passed through a town called Rockhampton which is a town obsessed by Bulls, There were giant bull statues everywhere. The locals have a thing about stealing the Bull's balls from the statues so all the bull's balls are attached to the ground with poles! We stopped for lunch in at a picturesque beach where we went for a little walk out onto the mudflats and managed to sink a fair way into the mud, covering our feet and having to wash before we got back onto the bus. We also crossed the Tropic of Capricorn again, like we did up the centre.
The coach driver was a bit crazy but good fun, the bus was overheating at one point but he just kept on driving! To be fair though it was still going, we were all nice and cool and there was nothing he could have done had we stopped anyway!
We were a bit dubious about the accomodation when we got there but it turned out to be pretty comfy. We checked in and met for a roast beef dinner and to take part in the evening entertainments of tug of wars, bull riding and whip cracking. Steph lasted all of 3 seconds on the bull, and I did marginally better. The whip cracking was a lot harder than it looked but we both managed to get it working in the end. Steph cuddled a baby kangaroo what was being looked after by the owners. We sat with the locals who were all downing the beers like it was water and then went to bed whilst some of the others played drinking games.
Saturday 12th December - We awoke this morning to a beans on toast breakfast all cooked over an open fire. This morning we took part in a rodeo and some people did some clay pigeon shooting. The rodeo was great fun, we had to lasoo a goat before it ran out the ring, drag it to the floor and pretend to brand it. neither of us managed to get the goat but we had a good laugh trying. After the rodeo we took part in a goat muster and rounded up goats on horseback which was also good fun, we all did a good job of keeping the goats under control.
We got back on the bus around lunchtime and drove to Hervey Bay, where Ian (Steph's brother) used to live, where we would go from to get to Fraser Island tomorrow. Upon arriving at Beaches Hostel we checked into another sauna ao jumped in the shower and headed straight out for happy hour in the nice airconditioned bar. We got a bit carried away with the cheap cider that when we decided to go for food at 9pm every restaurant in town was shut so we made do with a few bits from a little chinese takeaway on the esplanade.
Sunday 13th December - Fraser Island to follow in separate entry
Monday 14th December -Fraser Island to follow in separate entry
Tuesday 15th December -Fraser and To Rainbow Beach to follow in separate entry
Wednesday 16th December - Got up and checked out of our sweat box and got breakfast from the bakery across the road. Today we had a few hour bus trip to Noosa. Noosa is a small town of 50,000 people, most of them very rich. There were lovely waterways with houses backing onto them, all with large boats moared up. If we had had more time here we could have dome jet-skiing, sailing, kayaking, surfing etc. We took a wander around the town, had a look at the beach and decided that we would treat ourselves to a nice meal out as were were pretty sick of tasteless backpacker junk food. We had a lovely meal, and crashed out back at the hostel, luckily waking up about an hour later to call home. We were very tired tonight, but still had another early start in the morning.
Thursday 17th December - The main reason for getting the bus to Noosa was that there is a free shuttle bus from Noosa to Australia Zoo (home of the late Steve Irwin, Croc Hunter, who died three years ago). We had an awesome plan to get the shuttle to the zoo then the train to Brisbane so we didnt have to waste a day waiting for the OZ bus and getting go Brisbane a day late. This also bought us an extra day to make it to Surfers Paradise where we would have not gone to originally. Today was Zoo day
The zoo was really good, funnily enough though the main attractions like the croc show were a bit of a let down and it was just the overall feel of the place and the animals themselves that made it a good day. Highlights were seeing elephants playing in the water with their keepers, Tigers playing in a water sprinkler, seeing Giant Tortoises and holding and seeing many many koalas. The animals were all really well looked after, most of them were rescue animals and the enclosures were massive, just how a zoo should be. Steph managed to injure her toe in exactly the same was as me and Robert did on fraser island, there are now three of us walking around with injured left big toes!
We rushed off to get the train about 3.30pm and got into Brisbane about 5pm. We took a guess at what station in Brisbane to get off at and we did a pretty good job as the hostel was just across the road. walking into the hostel we saw about 15 friends we had met up the coast so tonight was going to be a good night! We went out for food and then drinks in town.. Town was unfortunately pretty expensive but before we knew it it was 1.30am and we were heading home.
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