Day 229 - Back To Sydney

After a reasonable night's sleep for once, I had a breakfast of tom yum noodles & toast with promite (nutritious) and got the bus to the airport. There was a bloke on the bus who's heading to Thailand, and asked me a few questions about the place - this seems to be a common theme of the last few days, I've met loads of people going there who ask me the best places to go (Steve was asking me all about Thailand last night, and telling me how worried he was about accidentally encountering a Ladyboy) - my reply is generally just about anywhere (avoiding Pattaya and Samui of course), I really wish I was going back there, I miss it enormously. The flight was pretty dull, although we did fly over the Great Barrier Reef for a bit, whihc made for some cool views. Sydney was warm and cloudless, I rushed to Em's and it feels pretty awesome to be back here. I headed off to buy some Sanuks (shoes I had seen in Cairns but the shop had been shut) and realised the shop was close to Rob's, so I walked there and we hung out for a bit. We went for dinner at a cool little Thai place, and on the drive Rob and I had a chat about meeting people - I was saying how good it was to be back around mates, as opposed to meeting new people all the time and having to decide whether to be friendly and forward and try and make friends, or whether you just can't be arsed that day and elect to spend it alone. We went to a 21st party at Rose Bay RSL, which had the theme "Lights, Camera, Action". This mostly seemed to consist of girls dressing in either Moulin Rouge corsets etc, or very elegant red carpet styles - of the blokes, there was one '50s gangster and one guy in a tux, but that was about it. There were a few people I remember from before, including Dan who has offered to take me surfing at Bondi early Monday morning, which'll be awesome if it happens. I also met a chap called Yule (who I thought had come dressed as Woody Allen - nope, that was just his style) with whom Rob and I had an astonishingly frank and somewhat obscene conversation, sure to appall almost anyone who overheard it. Bizarrely, after this he and I had a lengthy chat about self-sufficiency and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, during which he told me of his dreams to settle down for his last few decades on a farm in the country, somewhat incongruously. Oh, also all the drinks were free, put on the birthday girl's tab - I felt a bit cheap for a while, then realised that my few beers would have a negligible effect on the bill for this stranger I would never see again. Rob gave me a lift home by about half 12, where I found that Em had set up a bed for me (ahh) and I got to sleep in a room without a load of strangers for the first time in a month.

Day 223-228 - Alone In Cairns

Day 223 (Sunday 25th) - The Answer Seems To Be, Not Much.

Bored, and regretting buying my flight already and thereby committing myself to a another week here, I decide to do something to kill the evening - I went to cinema on my own for the first time, I think. I watched Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, which was good for the first half, but then degenerated into a complete load of nonsense, unfortunately.

Day 224 (Monday 26th) - Not A Lot

To be honest, I can't even remember what I got up to today - I think I walked to the Esplanade, hung out in the sun until it started pissing down, waited for it to stop and become sunny again, and repeat. I left the hostel about three times and had about twenty minutes of sun (and a few rainbows) each time. I entered the Killer Pool competition with a guy from my room, and met some Swedes later on, and ended up getting a little tipsy and having a good laugh with them. The main thing that happened today, however, was that I finished Robert A. Heinlein's Time Enough For Love, which I had been reading since Perth. It was truly awesome, I felt dumbstruck at the end, and had to sit, slightly open mouthed, on the sofa for a while, thinking about what I had just read. Next up is a slightly intellectual read - Dawkins's The God Delusion, which I got at Denpasar airport ages ago.

Day 225 (Tuesday 27th) - 21

Not much happened today - I wandered around the city, and while on the Internet I found out that Charlie, Ellie, Teeny, Steve and Hailey from the boat were all in Cairns, so I met up with them in Gilligan's (an incredible place, although not one in which I would like to stay - it claims to be a Backpacker's Hotel, and includes a massive pool, bar, two clubs, and occupies a whole city block) and headed to the Cinema. Charlie, Steve and myself went to see 21, while the girls went to see Made Of Honour. The film was awesome, all about card counting and beating the system. After joking about it for a while, Charlie Steve and I went to the Dome Casino to throw some money away. I only had $30 with me, which I lost fairly quickly on Roulette, while Steve broke even at Blackjack. Charlie, on the other hand, managed to lose about $300 on roulette, having gone up and down loads - apparently he had won $450 on the Pokies earlier, and consequently didn't really see it as his money. This seems somewhat foolish, I would consider it mine the second it got into my wallet.

Day 226 (Wednesday 28th) - Cairns - Cape Tribulation

Last night I tried to sleep for the few hours I had available, but I was thwarted by a noisy drunken Irish girl, who was talking in an incredibly loud and high-pitched fashion. Consequently I slept pretty much all the way to the Cape, apart from a little wander about Mossman Gorge. The guide was pretty dull, droning on about various facts in a thoroughly unengaging way. When I got there I realised that maybe I had made an error - the various trips and activities you can do up there are pretty expensive, and one of the reasons I went up there was to spend less money. I headed to the bottle shop, 1.5km up the road, to buy a few cheapish beers. I met some girls from Warrington, and a dutch girl, with whom I played some cards until 11 or so - the only alternative to this is going to the bar and spending $6 a beer, which I opted not to do.

Day 227 (Thursday 29th) - Bored At The Cape

Woken by the sun through the window (always nice), I headed to the beach with the guys from Warrington, where we had some awesome discussions - it turns out they had studied The God Delusion in their philosophy classes, so we talked about loads of the stuff raised by it. It got fairly windy down there, so when the others had to get their bus back to Cairns I went back to the room and read for ages, then slept pretty early - actually very early, about 9 o'clock.

Day 228 (Friday 30th) - Back To Cairns

Today was (thankfully) my last day at Cape Tribulation. After a pleasant morning of wandering, shirtless, down the road in the 30 degree heat, it was back to PK's Jungle Village to get the bus south. The bus journey included a trip to the Cape beach (where I had already been twice - never mind) and a Crocodile spotting boat trip. This was a successful trip, we saw a couple of 3m females lounging on the banks, and a snake in the trees, as well as some Kingfishers and other wildlife. On the bus I met a couple of slightly drunk Americans from Orange County - Ben and Courtney, who were pretty cool and a laugh (both at them and with them). After I checked back in to Calypso, I went and met Steve in town for a drink, which turned into a few. We were tempted to PJ O'Brians pub by some girls, who said "Where are you guys going? You should come with us!". When we got in there, they didn't speak to us again and we realised our heads weren't really in a party mood, so we retired back to Steve's van for a while, until a security guard told us to move along, as his boss was there so he'd get in trouble - Steve and Hailey have been staying in the carpark of the Cairns Central shopping centre for a few days now. Also, it seems that Steve and Charlie had been going to the Casino every night since I left - Steve was about $150 up, whereas Charlie had lost about $900, then returned and left Australia $2500 up. Not bad.

Day 222 - Diving And Yet Another Goodbye

Last night all we did was sit in the hostel bar and watch a surf DVD, as we were all far too knackered from the night before and the adrenalin of the Bungy. Also, we had to be up at half 6 to go diving - it was a rather rubbish and cloudy day as we headed off to the marina, and got on board the M.V. Sunkist. We were greeted by a Danish-Israeli chap called David, who said I had an awesome name and should definitely play guitar. Throughout our trip he paid the three of us more attention than anyone else - he informed me that "there aren't enough handshakes in the world today, Mr. Rose", and called me Rose all day. He also asked me "which one of these fine ladies is your girlfriend?", and told me I looked really familiar - eventually he figured out that I look like the heroin dealer from Pulp Fiction.

TJ and Haddy had their orientation for their intro dive - Haddy was freaking out about it for some reason - and after a very long journey out, during which I felt awful, we suited up and hopped in. We swam through some coral-lined tunnels, saw a poisonous Lionfish, played with a huge sea cucumber, and had a pretty pleasant dive. Warren the Divemaster was touching the corals a bit more than was necessary, playing with the soft corals and generally doing stuff that Andrew (the boss of Adventure Club Diving on Koh Phi Phi) would have been outraged about. We had lunch and went back in for the second dive almost immediately, which can't be too safe. I went on a guided dive this time, as the girls couldn't come with because they were flying within 24 hours. The dive was OK, saw some cool fish and corals, but the best bit was in the 15 minute snorkel I had after the dive - I swam out to some snorkellers who I thought were TJ and Haddy, but were in fact some Canadians. I was swimming inches above the coral, and spotted a sea turtle sculling along the bottom. I alerted said Canadians who splashed over and were very grateful indeed. It was now time to return to shore - apart from some pen-related tomfoolery, we slept most of the way. Someone had recently smashed one of the panels in front of the seats on the sundeck, so we had to sit with our feet on a bodyboard placed over the hole, to avoid getting soaked.

As it was the girls' last night in Australia we went out for a fancy Aussie meal at Dundee's on the waterfront. We had decent red wine, Kangaroo steaks, Crocodile skewers, Emu sausage and prime Aussie beef, all of which was really delicious. It was a really nice meal, the most sophisticated (& expensive) one I've had since leaving England. Unfortunately, we then moved on to what could be considered to be the antithesis of out dinner - a night at the Woolshed. This involved the usual boozing and shots (the girls love shots), some truly awful pool playing, and a wierd insight into the life of attractive girls. Having passed somehow into the position of amusing eunuch, they are now relaxed enough to not worry about keeping up any sort of appearances. Consequently, I saw the way that guys were with them (once they established I wasn't with either of them), the constant come-ons they received, the lascivious replies, etc. etc. This seemed to work mostly to their advantage, although they did also constantly have to deflect unwanted advances - fairly skillfully, I might add. The music was altogether pretty awful, which bothered Haddy more than the rest of us, and resulted in a minor kerfuffle concerning going to another club or not, which was a bit awkward - having never travelled with anyone for more than three weeks or so, I have never really got annoyed with or annoyed anyone the way that close friends can.

Anyway, we got a cab home and this morning I got up to wish them farewell, as they fly on to Singapore. It's been an awesome week or so I've spent with them, they're some of the liveliest, most hyperactive and generally fun people I have met so far on this trip, and I'll miss them loads - until I meet them in London, of course. Now I'm on my own again, and will inevitably have that despondent in-betweeny day before I meet anyone else - I probably shouldn't have rushed up here so much, or opted to stay for so long. Oh well, I'm off to explore town for a bit, and see what this place has to offer.

Day 220-21 - Back To Cairns

Day 220 (Thursday 22nd) - Back To The Woolshed

I got up, had a delicious Promite sandwich and caught the ferry over to Townsville in time for the 0900 bus departure, for my last day on the Oz bus, all the way through to Cairns. The journey wasn't too exciting - we stopped in Cardwell at a BP station where the toilets were labelled MANGOES and NO MANGOES, which was the most interesting thing about the town. The highlight of the journey was stopping at the Innisfail croc farm - they farm crocodiles for their meat and skin, and after some snake and baby saltwater croc petting we got to see some of their breeding stock - enormous beasts up to 5.1 metres, most of whom were removed from the wild as they were deemed to be problem crocs. They were fed by the keepers, and we got to get much closer to them than at Australia Zoo, for far less money. We rolled into Cairns around 6, arranged for a table at the Woolshed (where I spent most evenings last time I was in Cairns) for about 8, and then I was dropped off at Calypso Backpackers, where I stayed last time I was here. It hasn't changed much at all, and still has a nice feel about it. I wandered up to the kitchen to stwo my food, and who should I see but Haddy and TJ! They are here until Sunday, when they fly on to Singapore. Within about 5 minutes I was persuaded to go on a snorkelling/diving trip on the outer reef on Saturday, and Bungy Jumping was mentioned too. They came with me to the Woolshed, where we arrived a good half hour late, and had some awesome cheap steaks and a few drinks - the place seemed a lot smaller than I remember it being 5 years ago, but that might just be me making it up. We had a laugh, danced on some tables, chatted to some of TJs mates from school and I was in bed about 3am. During the course of our conversation, I agreed to come Bungy Jumping with them in the morning, a decision I may regret...

Day 221 (Friday 23rd) - Bungy!

I awoke hideously early, after only 5 hours of sleep, and got up and phoned Clare - I had a vague memory of setting up my voicemail and having a brief chat with her around 3 in the morning, for some reason. I was informed that I had told her that the dates she had come up with for New York were fine (which they are), and that I was very tired and needed to go. In our longer conversation she told me all about going to see Derren Brown, asked questions about how much money to have and to bring, and told me that Mum had said she didn't want us staying in hostels in New York, as they're scary. Piffle, I thought, then I remembered Banana Bungalows in LA, which had more than its fair share of oddballs and down-and-outs living there. Anyway, after breakfast we got the bus to the AJ Hackett Bungy tower and signed up - Haddy and I went first, and TJ decided to watch for a bit before making her mind up. When we got up there I had the cord strapped to my ankles (they use an ordinary bath towel for padding, which seemed somehow odd), shuffled to the edge, and promptly became terrified. The tower is 50m high, quite a long way for a vertical drop. I looked down, then up, then panicked, then jumped - or rather dove, as the bloke had told me that if I just stepped off I would be in a whole heap of trouble. I managed to avoid and expletives as I fell, and was dunked head and shoulders deep into the water at the bottom. After a couple of bounces I was caught by the guys on the raft and taken to shore, where I filmed Haddy doing hers - very gracefully I might add.

Having sen us, TJ decided she could do it, so she and Haddy went up to wait for her turn. I could see from the bottom that TJ was absolutely terrified. This became more evident when she shuffled to the edge and clung white-knuckled to the railing while the bloke whispered assurances in her ear - she started the countdown three times before eventually flinging herself over the edge, letting out an incredibly high-pitched scream which was only stopped by her immersion in the water. On the bounce back up the scream turned to cries of "for fuck's sake!" and so on. She was really shaken when she got off the raft, but glad to have done it. We had a look at the DVDs and photos that we all purchased, which are just about worth the money - as Haddy said, when else are you ever going to get a video of you Bungy jumping in Cairns? (Although this technique loses some of it's persuasive power when she has used it to persuade you to do a few things a day for the last week or so).

Day 219 - Bugger, I screwed it up.

So, I woke up this morning at 0700, 0705 & 0715, turned my alarm off all three times, woke at 0810, packed and ran out of the room and got downstairs at 0820. I had to be up the road for 0740 to catch the bus, so I was quite pissed off. I saw there was a greyhound going north at 0905, so I booked it ($65, bugger), and went to the bus stop. Once there, I saw TJ and Haddy, who seemed remarkably chipper after last night - ahh, to be young again (I'm talking to Will on FB chat right now, having a conversation about feeling old at 23/24).



The bus journey was unremarkable, met someone called Rhiannon who used to work for NOVA in Tokyo, and looks almost exactly like Emily Smith, which is odd. Anyway, watched Night At The Museum on the bus, sat next to a bloke who'd sold up back in Quebec and had used the proceeds to travel for 20 months so far, a year still to come - impressive. Upon my arrival on Magnetic Island I checked into my hostel, and walked into my room to see Marco on one of the beds. He told me that the bus had a problem and didn't in fact leave until 0825 or so this morning, so I could have made it. And I realised it was wednesday, not thursday, so I could have stayed in Airlie for one more night, no worries, and still made it for a night on Magnetic Island and gone to Cairns on friday. Bugger, today has been, all in all, a dead loss. I'm off for an explore and a nap, I've had enough of today.

Day 215-218 - The Whitsundays

Day 215 (Saturday 17th) - Hanging Out

Once we were on the boat we were shown to our quarters (I was in the 6 bed room, with Marco, a couple called Will & Laura, and two friends calls Bea and Kathryn - the last four all English), then we left the harbour and headed out to sea. I had a long chat with Bea about geeky things - she's a web developer - and then played some cards with Kathryn and a couple of English gap year girls from Tunbridge Wells called Harriet/Haddy and Lucy/TJ, who seem like a lot of fun. We didn't really make it too late, only to about half 11 I think, before we collapsed into bed. The boat is full, 32 passengers in all, including a few youngish couples and a few older ones (German and English), as well as a group of German girls. I think this is going to be pretty chilled out, and I sort of regret buying a cheap bottle of Bourbon, and smuggling it aboard in an apple juice bottle.

Day 216 (Sunday 18th) - Getting Acquainted

A word about our crew - we have Captain Marcus, a bloke with a very droney voice who seems to be having a pretty good time all the time, Botswain Adrian/Ado, who seem like an alright bloke and is in charge of the other crew, Host (read cook) Shelly, who does all the cooking (which was awesome by the way, we had satay chicken, roast beef, BBQ sausages, awesome lunches and an incredible array of impromptu snacks, including nachos, fresh fruit and many other delights), Tim the Deckhand, who is also in charge of the bar and generally helps out, Aaron/Azza - I'm not sure of his title but he's below Ado and above Timmy, and is bronzed, blonde and very self-confident to the point of arrogance, but is also pretty funny. There is also Sarah, a hot blonde Canadian volunteer, who turned out to be pretty quiet but nice enough. The girls were bitching about her later, much to will and my bewilderment.

Up early for breakfast, we discovered there is a Bedbug epidemic aboard ship. I have a few bites, various people claimed to have seen them, and TJ is covered in them. I had sprayed my bed with the stuff Forrest recommended, and sprayed myself with insect repellent, all to no avail. Haddy and I found we were allowed in the bow net while the ship was moving, which we took full advantage of. I inducted her into the ways of the Ben Bruce, and got a fine one in the net, as well as one from Marco as well. Our stop for the morning was Whitehaven Beach, which has incredibly pure silica sand (although it wasn't as impressive as the Esperance beaches, in my opinion). Stinger suits were donned, and I went for a bit of a swim then played some frisbee with the girls and Steve for a bit. After lunch the sails were hoisted and we went for our first sail, albeit at a slow pace. This was pretty cool, just cruising round the islands, sunning ourselves on the roof of the bar, chatting nonsense and having a laugh. I met Laura and Will properly at this point, they are a couple from Essex (19 & 23 respectively) and are both about to start Uni in London in september. will is really funny, in a dry quick-fire, one-liner kind of way. Laura's really friendly and nice, as well as being gorgeous. They are a good laugh, although Will keeps comparing the way I talk and laugh to Ricky Gervais. Not such a bad thing I suppose. We sailed until sunset, then retired to the bar for a few drinks and card games, which was a lot of fun. I think we lasted until about 11 or so - this is becoming a theme, early rising and early crashing out.

Day 217 (Monday 19th) - Snorkelling, Swinging and Drinking

We were up and breakfasted pretty early, then headed to a little beach in Luncheon Bay to do some snorkelling - it was pretty cool, saw the standard tropical fish and so on, but no turtles, rays or sharks or anything cool. We then climbed the rocks surrounding Luncheon Bay for a while, from where there were some pretty awesome views. After lunch we headed to another snorkel spot which was about the same, but out at sea a bit with more corals. I honestly can't really remember what we did, but I know I got an underwater Ben Bruce from Hayley (with Steve's legs flailing in the corner). We sunbathed most of the afternoon, anchored for sunset and rope swinging, and had an awesome roast dinner followed by a few rounds of Ring Of Fire. Azza joined us for this - apart from the odd bit of anchor hauling and sail hoisting, all Azza seems to do is make jokes and grab bits of girls - which he was doing a lot of during the rope swinging - and get paid for it. Awesome job. The games were so much fun that TJ and my stomach muscles were in a lot of pain on tuesday. The genius rule of "you must flap your arms every time you laugh" caused more arm flapping every time it was followed, in a kind of hilarious vicious circle. We learnt a lot about each other in the obligatory 'I Have Never' round, and I dressed as Will to help the "call everyone by the name of the person on their left" rule, which was kind of wierd. Laura and TJ lost the two rounds and so had to drink the bowl of contribs, which they did with impressively little fuss - also, brilliantly, TJ Ben Bruced after both of them. Champion. The shortness of these entries belies the immense amount of fun we were having - constant laughs, pretty much, for three days solid.

Day 218 (Tuesday 20th) - Back To The Mainland

Hayley had the idea of getting up for sunrise, so we were all up before 6 today - we forgot that as there was an island to the east of us, sunrise would in fact just be us watching the sun come over the hill, while it was already light. This didn't seem to dissuade anyone though, and we all sat along the edge in jumpers and blankets, with hot chocolate and the like. This was followed by a very early breakfast, a briefing and a bushwalk from Sawmill Beach to Dugong Beach (I forget which island this was on). At the latter we made a 15 person pyramid, topped by Will wearing nothing but his pants - when he was asked to join in, he immediately stripped and ran to the top, for some reason. On the walk back (a kilometre or so through the bush) we saw a Gould's Goanna wandering through the undergrowth, then we saw a bigger one (at least a metre) when we got back to the other side. We played frisbee for a while and when we got back to the boat people were already ropeswinging - this was to be our last opportunity to do so. Backflips were attempted, and failed on all occasions. Lunch was served at 11ish, then the boat was readied for sailing - we were going to sail all the way back, which would take most of the afternoon. It turned into a fantastically hot day, almost swelteringly so in fact. I lay on the deck with Haddy, TJ, Laura and Will, and we counted bites - TJ had 125 visible bites just on her back and legs, I have 80 or so (they got bored of the counting, so Laura made an educated guess). At one point the girls were whispering about something Will said - I listened in, and found out that he had been saying I looked like Hugh Fearnley-Sodding-Whittingstall. When I accused him of this he denied all knowledge, claiming that he had said Johnny Depp, and it was all Laura's fault. The bar tabs were added up, and mine came to an impressive $88.50 - 23 beers and a few cokes, which were used to consume some of the bourbon I smuggled aboard - Ring Of Fire is a dangerous game. I'm not too sure how we filled the hours, but it was a lot of fun doing so (usually here I would write a load about how awesome these guys are and how sorry I'll be, and how travelling is made hard by these fleeting friendships made all the stronger by their short spans, but I can't be bothered as it'll get me down and I'm meant to be going out tonight, so let's pretend I wrote that here). We are all going out - by all I mean Me, Marco, Laura, Will, Hayley, Steve, Haddy, TJ, Azza and bloody annoying Amy - for dinner and drinks tonight, as a farewell or whatever.

I haven't mentioned Steve or Hayley at all, I just realised - they're a Canadian couple from Alberta, who are pretty cool - Hayley's lovely, that's the only adjective I can think of. Very concerned about my welfare and whether or not I had enough sun screen etc. Steve's a laugh as well, sometimes a wee bit slow on the uptake, but funny as a result.

Oh, I should mention that there hasn't been a cloud in the sky since I got on that boat - perfect weather the whole time.

Day 211-15 - Rainbow Beach- Airlie Beach

(I am writing these entries on the 23rd, so please forgive their brevity - it's been a busy week, much has happened and much forgotten too.)

Day 211 (Tuesday 13th) - Quiet Day, Stupid Night

Today was a day of admin and stuff, I sorted out my flights down to Sydney and beyond - to Sydney on the 31st, Melbourne on the 3rd of June, Christchurch on the 10th, LA on the 26th. I think I'm going to have to skip Jamaica and Barbados too (bugger!) as it's time to rush... After sorting all this out I lay by the pool with Seppi & Pablo, had a pretty good day and Seppi cooked us a vegetable soup for dinner. We entered the Quiz at the hostel (with Brian) and came second by two points, as we screwed up the music round. We got a few takeaway beers ($1 cheaper) and sat by the pool (10m away) to drink them. We were joined by Rich and Dave, who work there, who were practising their firespinning, which was a nice spectacle as we chatted. Pablo and I took it upon ourselves to dispose of the leftover bag of goon from Fraser Island, which we took down to the beach and shared with a load of people around a campfire. We swiftly lost each other, talked nonsense to strangers, and stumbled home.

Day 212 (Wednesday 14th) - Rainbow Beach - Hervey Bay

I woke up with 5 minutes to spare before checkout, feeling like death. We slunk around until 3, when I said a sad goodbye to Seppi and Pablo and got my bus to Hervey Bay. I'll miss Pablo, he was a really cool bloke. Anyway, at Hervey Bay I had all you can eat Pizza for $10, had a beer and watched Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, which was awesome.

Day 213 (Thursday 15th) - Hervey Bay - Kroombit

A very early start today, as the bus picked us up before 7. We seemed to drive for ever, with a few stops along the way, before arriving at the Kroombit Cattle Station around 1530. We saddled up on our horses up (I had Ledger), and spent the next couple of hours mustering goats, while the sun set over the outback. we then took part in a goat rodeo, which involved teams of three catching, flipping and fake branding goats. We then had an awesome roast dinner and a few beers, were taught to crack a whip (resulting in many sore arms the following day), then it was time for the Mechanical bull. Lots of people were really crap at this, I only managed two seconds, but a few people were naturals and stayed on for 30 seconds or so. Seline, a girl who worked there, was incredible - she rode the wrong end of it without a handle, got to her feet and surfed on it, did 360s and all sorts of awesome stuff. In exchange for a case of beer, a chap called Will volunteered to do it naked - this was a rather horrific spectacle, as he is a large, blonde, inexplicably shaven rugby player. Noone else went on the bull after him.

We played a few drinking games around the fire, and then some of these made it back to the room, before sleeping at about half two.

Day 214 (Friday 16th) - Kroombit to Airlie Beach

Eugh, today we were up at half six to allow some people to do some clay pigeon shooting which we hadn't been able to do yesterday. We drove for ages, swapped drivers, and made loads of seemingly unnecessary stops. Due to our lateness - a knock on effect from Hayley doing her pick-ups in the wrong order in Hervey Bay, apparently - we had to skip outback lawn bowls, which I had been looking forward to. The girl sitting across from me is really beginning to bug me - she is a teacher and has a wierd way of talking to you like you are a child, while coming across as being on about 12 herself. Also, she has that teacher's arrogance, an incredibly large faith in the truth of her own opinions and so on. We arrived at Airlie Beach late,and for some reason Forrest, our driver, chose to get into a tumble dryer for a minute and a half four our amusement. This was actually pretty impressive, if a little bizarre. I had possibly the best shower I have had in Australia, washing the cattle station dirt off me, then met a load of people from the bus for dinner & beers at Morocco's. We drank here for a bit, went to Beaches for cheap snakebites, then back to Morocco's where we caught the end of the wet T-shirt competition. This was at the final stage, just two girls wearing just bikini bottoms having jugs of water poured over them while gyrating around the stage/staff. This all felt a bit wierd to be honest, so I left shortly after it was over (we had to see who won, of course - the English girl beat the Aussie).

Day 215 (Saturday 17th) - A Frustrating Day

I packed and checked in for my boat trip, and was issued with a stinger suit - the rumours I had heard about the stinger season being over were clearly false. I spent the day reading by the lagoon, (which was surrounded by hot girls) until sunset, then I take a bus to my boat at seven tonight. Today has just seemed really full of hassle - packing, repacking, luggage storage, forgetting everything, can't find any blah blah blah. I can't wait to get on that boat.

Day 207-210 - Fraser Island

Day 207 (Friday 9th) - A Day At The End Of The Rainbow continued...

Ok, my previous despondent attitude swiftly passed - I met most of my group at the briefing, they are Ollie and Ellen from England (Ollie has a Master's in Physics from Warwick, and graduated the same year as my friend Chris Ridler, I am determined to prove that they know each other, even if he isn't. Ellen is a small blonde girl about to go to law school, who has a surprising liking for rock and metal, I am to find out over the next few days), Jo and JK from South Korea, and Brian the Irishman. The briefing involved watching two videos, one on Fraser Island specifically and one on 4WD driving, mainly involving how not to get stuck in the sand and how to avoid wild Dingoes. Matteo, Manuel and Stephania from Italy (all on the same internship thingy in Melbourne) turned up later, just in time for our shopping trip. We were given a shopping list on which to base our shop, and in the end we followed it pretty precisely. In the end we spent $17 each on food for three days, which isn't bad. While we were shopping the other two members of our group turned up, Pablo and Seppi from Germany, who had met a week or so ago in Byron Bay. We got back, played some pool and ping-pong, most of us had dinner together, and then we sorted out the booze order - we ended up with 90 beers and 16 litres of wine between the 11 of us. I think this'll be a good trip.

Day 208 (Saturday 10th) - Late Start

We were all meant to be packed and out of the hostel early, to be at the 4x4 hire place by 7:45. For some reason we ended up being late, a fact that Bluey, the chap at the garage, made sure we were fully aware of. He gave us a quick run down of what we had to do, where we had to go, and what would lose us our $1000 deposit - most things would do this, it seems. Eventually we were underway, getting the barge across to the Island, and immediately screwing up - instead of getting the inland track through to our first stop, we followed the other vehicles and went tearing along the beach, with only 45 minutes before high tide meant we could no longer drive on the beach (driving through salt water: $1000 fine). Due to one unusually strong wave we ended up driving through salt water, and spraying it all over the car. I'm sure it'll rinse off before we get to the mainland though, no worries.

Ellen put herself in charge of music, for the entire journey in fact, and knocked up an awesome playlist as we went - some 180 songs were on there by the time we went to bed, and pleasingly rock-heavy. We drove to Lake Birrabeen for a swim - it was odd swimming in a freshwater lake with sandy beaches and crystal water, after only swimming in the sea for months. Odd but awesome. We stopped at Central Station (nothing but a picnic ground) for lunch, then did a 3km walk via Wonggoolba Creek to Basin Lake, a small oval lake with even clearer, fresher water than at Birrabeen. I tested out the waterproofness of my new camera, with reasonable success, then we mostly lay down, dozed and sunbathed - apparently I was snoring, to my shame. We were back at the Central Station campground by 4ish, and despite the advice of the video we seemed to have no booking. After driving round for a while pondering this we decided it didn't matter, and managed to get the tents up, dinner on and beers open in rapid succession. The Italians knocked up and awesome pasta dinner, before drinking games ensued. We started with the ever-dangerous Ring Of Fire, then a bit of Hi-Lo and Horse Racing (one I had never encountered before, and an awesome one too). All this made for stunningly efficient wastedness, with constant exclamations along the lines of "Sod off, it's much later than half seven!" and so on. A few people from next door came over too, although not much is remembered about them. Being the hardcore folk that we are, I think we were all fast asleep by half past 10.

Day 209 (Sunday 11th) - Wet Start

I awoke to find my sleeping bag soaked, as Pablo, Seppi and I had failed to do up our tent when we went to bed and it had started to rain torrentially. There were puddles in there. Also we found that we had demolished 86 of the beers last night, as well as 6 litres of goon, resulting in hangovers across the board. All this meant delays, so we didn't get underway until quite late as noone wanted to pack up while it was still raining. Eventually got off to Lake Mackenzie, with sporadic rain along the way. Even though it was raining, it was still incredible - huge, with crystal clear fresh water, and incredible sandy beaches fringing the whole thing. Brian and I ran straight in, as it was warmer in the water than out. Eventually we persuaded everyone else in, and we started playing Frisbee with the group from next door at the campsite - a few of them came up and chatted to me, referring to conversations we had had the previous night, none of which I really recalled, which was awkward. Another Frisbee and a rugby ball were produced, and all three were thrown at once - inevitably this resulted in some kind of contact sport evolving, led primarily by the Italians.

We headed to Eurong, the main 'town' on the island for lunch - the shopping list we had been given was somewhat inadequate, as we were already entirely out of bread and cheese after two meals. We had to wait for the tide to go out, then headed up to Eli creek, where we succeeded in getting bogged in the sand - this was fairly easily sorted out, but just worrying enough to be exciting. Next stop was the wreck of the S.S. Mereno , a former luxury cruise lined that ran aground here in 1935 and is now a huge mass of rust. Time was getting on, so we drove up the beach intending to get as far north as we could before setting up camp on the beach. We drove for ages, getting more and more concerned by the many No Camping signs we saw, until at almost 5 o'clock (it gets dark before 6, so we were rapidly running out of daylight) we found a site and swerved in sharpish. There was a minor altercation about tarp placement between team Matt and team Brian - Pablo and I had one idea, whereas Brian had quite another, and a wierd sort of not-argument occurred, with Brian and I trying to seem nonchalant when really we were both getting annoyed about the situation. a compromise was reached, and we quickly set about the business of dinner - on Charlie from the hostel's advice, we had bought a load of mince and eggs instead of burgers, and I started mixing these together by hand in a bowl. This was immensely satisfying and a little gross at the same time, and resulted in an awesome feed. There were no drinking games this time, just cups of goon at everyone's own pace. I went down to the beach with a few people, mainly Pablo & Matteo, where we watched the stars and drank the last four beers. I saw quite a few shooting stars, which was awesome, and had a chat with Pablo about group dynamics. He was saying how everyone always goes in a certain pattern on group trips like this, all awkwardness quickly passes, then everyone finds their place and everything gets done a whole lot quicker and easier - referred to the "bad vibes" situation with me and Brian earlier - apparently I am some sort of leader (Pablo thought I worked at the hostel when he first met me, as I was asking him for money for the food, and also organising the booze) and Brian was labelled as "the Don", as everyone seems to go to him or me with questions about what we're doing next, assuming a plan has been made. While all this was going on, a lone Dingo was spotted roaming between us and the tents. We raised the alarm and ran over, and immediately disobeyed the instructions given to us by the video (stay still, fold your arms, wait for it to leave) and Bluey (scare it off quickly). Instead we stealthily approached, cameras in hand, and snapped a few photos of it before it wandered off. He came back a few times that night and snuffled around, which was pretty cool - he would just appear between two of the tents, only a couple of metres away, then disappear again for a while.

Day 210 (Monday 12th) - Early Start

Today we were up in time to see dawn over the ocean, which was Stephania's idea - we looked east an saw an awesome daybreak, looked west and there was a rainbow forming over the top of the dunes - an awesome start to our last day on Fraser. We packed quickly and headed up to Indian head, where apparently one can occasionally see sharks in the water - we saw no such thing, but it was an awesome spot anyway. Ollie and I got a touch lost on the return to the car, then we went back down the beach with Seppi driving. The video had advised us to stop as each creek, get out and walk across it, as they can be deeper than you think and it's easy to get stuck. Seppi's approach was more one of Seppi vs. Creek. He hardly slowed at all, and seldom informed us when there was one coming. We would only find out as we bounced around the back of the car, jarring our spines and smashing into one another. To be honest, this was all a hell of a lot of fun, so I didn't object too much. The best bit was that the whole time all we could see was Seppi's face in the rear-view mirror, wearing aviators and an ever-so-slight contented smirk.

We stopped at The Pinnacles and Red Canyon, both of which are awesome sand formations, bright yellow and deep red respectively. By 9 we had made it to Dundubara campsite, where we decided that, due to time and provisions running low, we would BBQ all our remaining sausages and have brunch here, thereby meaning we didn't need to make any more stops apart from to see cool stuff. We were meant to stop at Lake Wabby, the deepest lake on the island, which has a sand dune encroaching into it which you can run down straight into the water, but unfortunately due to tide times we couldn't really manage it, so instead we decided to skip it and drive to Lake Boomanjin, which is a wierd tea-like colour, due to organic matter being leached out as it decays. It was really wierd swimming in it, as it was hard to shake the idea that it was a bit grubby, even though it was actually really clean and clear, just a bit brown. The Frisbee came out again, and an even more violent spate of contact Frisbee swiftly began, with everyone - even the somewhat reserved Koreans - joining in. Time got the better of us again, and Stephania drove us down the beach, wary of the ever-encroaching tide (we were already half an hour past our safety margin on the tides - fine for driving on the beach outside given times: $1000). We found the inland track to the barge landing with minutes to spare - the surf stopped only two or three metres short of where we were driving. The main track turned out to be the most horrible on the island - hard packed sand and gravel, really bumpy and generally unpleasant, either as a driver or passenger. After an hour of this horrible vibration, we ended up at the barge an hour before the last possible one went, about which we were pretty pleased. We got the thing back to the hostel, returned it to Bluey (he asked if we'd named it, we told him "The Incredible Rock Slut" was our chosen name, and he rejected it for being too long. Bastard) and managed to avoid any $1000 fines for anything, which was a relief.

We decided that it was easier and more fun to have dinner together again, which turned out to be a massive undertaking - 7 of us went to the supermarket, got supplies (Pablo and I took charge this time, and it worked out at only $4, not bad for the amount of food we had) and then came back and started cooking. We ended up using four of the 6 gas rings in the place, with Matteo's job being to immediately commandeer each one with a pan of pasta as it became free. An enormous amount of mince, onions, peppers, garlic, chilies and tomatoes went in, and with the tomato sauce too we probably had well in excess of 4 kilos of ragu, as well as a similar amount of pasta - not bad for 11 people. Oh, and Seppi knocked up a salad with all our remaining vegetables, cheese and ham as well. Astonishingly, we finished the lot (which pleased me, as Brian and I had had a difference of opinions in the supermarket about how much to get - he thought I was getting was too much), and even the Italians said it was good and had second & third helpings. We spent the rest of the evening playing pool and chatting, eventually having to move out by the pool as the bar closed - when this happened Pablo and I generously went and bought 18 beers for everyone, of which I think 4 or 5 got drunk. Oh well, there's always tomorrow night - I think everyone except Pablo, Seppi, Brian and I will have left by then, which is a pity. Oh well, we still have enough for a quiz team - Tuesday night is quiz night at Fraser's.

Day 206-7 - Loneliness & Thoughts On Hostels

Day 206 (Thursday 8th) - Lonely and Bizarre Dreams

Last night I sat in the bar, alone, failed to meet anyone, watched the manager's band (who were pretty good, three guitars and the chef on Didjeridoo for the last song) and then went to bed fairly early - this was troublesome, as my room is as close to the bar as can be, and therefore was extremely noisy until lateish - this resulted in me having some truly wierd dreams, one of which involved being back in Byron Bay, having a birthday party for Rob Franklin for which I had hired dancers to entertain him, one of whom was Peter Garrett from Midnight Oil. All very 

Day 207 (Friday 9th) - A Day At The End Of The Rainbow

I was awoken far earlier than I had planned by music coming from the bar again, and found I had gone to sleep fully clothed. I had a bit of time before I could manage to get out of bed, so  I devoted this time to figuring out why I didn't meet anyone yesterday , but why I met loads of people in Mooloolaba. Consequently I think I have figured out what makes a good hostel as opposed to a bad one - the presence of a bar. I have found it harder to meet people in hostels that have a bar  as opposed to those with TV rooms and kitchen areas. Here people are just hanging out, open to chatting in a relaxed atmosphere. Bars tend (and I know I sound like an old man here) to be rowdier and less conducive to a chat without shouting. Also, joining someone on a sofa facing a TV, or on a bench in a kitchen, seems less difficult than joining someone at a table at a bar. Mooloolaba was easy as there was a kitchen/TV area on each floor, so you could slump and have a chat. The Arts Factory was easy as everyone hung around outside down by the lake on the benches, always ready for a chat. This place however has none of this - the bar area runs into the kitchen and games room, as does its atmosphere, I feel. All these places are really busy in the evening, with everyone already in little groups - another reason for this may well be that most people pass through Rainbow on their way to or from Fraser Island, where by necessity they are crowded into little groups who become fairly close over the three days they spend in their vehicle. I start mine tomorrow, and meet my group at 4 this afternoon - I'm sure my loneliness will pass by then. Oh, also there's no surfing here really, I would have needed to go on a trip (leaving at 0730 this morning) to take advantage of it. Bugger.

Day 202-206 - Byron to Rainbow Beach

Day 202 (Sunday 4th) - I Hate Brisbane

The rest of yesterday's journey was pretty dull - got on the bus, watched some Rome on my iPod, and rolled into Brisbane around midnight. I then went to the Palace Embassy where I was staying, which turned out to be basically in a club. It is above the Embassy Pub, which was so incredibly loud that I couldn't sleep for ages.

Day 203 (Monday 5th) - Happy 22nd Birthday Marie!

I was up at 0530, in order to leave Brisbane at 0630, finally on the Oz Experience bus - it turns out it was the Adventure Tours bus that went past the bus stop while I was waiting yesterday. We went via the Glasshouse mountains with our guide who is allegedly called Frat, who gave us a brief history of the area according to Aboriginal creation stories. We then went on through to Mooloolaba,  where I missed the Australia Zoo bus despite being assured I would make it by the lady on the phone from Oz Experience. Instead I went for an explore, walking all the way up to Maroochydore, and as well as notincing loads of nice beaches I saw an increible number of fast food outlets, and also loads of exercising people everywhere, and more people standing on their longboards paddling with kayaking oars. I arrived at the camera shop after a two hour walk to find it wasn't even open today, so I wandered back (which took just as long) and had a rather meagre dinner of avocados & ketchup, then went downstairs to find some guys with a PS2 playing Guitar Hero. I had a go and was crap, then went and played poker with them. I was glad when I lost, as Matt the manager was taking it really seriously and generally creating a slightly unpleasant atmosphere.

Day 204 (Tuesday 6th) - Australia Zoo

I was up and straight off to get the bus to Australia Zoo, full of much excitement. When I got there (equipped with a disposable camera) the first things I saw were Goannas and Komodo Dragons, followed by some enormous Saltwater Crocs. I headed to the Crocoseum for the morning show, which involved Snakes, Macaws, various colourful birds, and of course a massive Croc called Murray, who was fed in a very dangerous manner which involved holding bits of meat out the leaping back and dropping them into his snapping, lunging jaws. Also I petted some Kangaroos, saw some Echidna, Elephants, Tigers and a Wombat on a lead. Throughout the zoo one was constantly made aware that this was the Irwin's zoo, as there were constant pictures, statues and videos of Terri, Robert and Bindi (who had won a Logie award for her TV show the previous weekend. She said it was "going straight to the pool room, mate", which is a quote from The Castle - impressive for a 9 year old). Nothing wrong with this though, all in all I had a pretty good day, and was knackered by the end of it.

When I arrived back in Mooloolaba I managed to make it to the Sunshine Plaze while it was still open, and got myself a waterproof and shockproof Olympus camera, which should serve me well over the next few wet and sandy weeks. I met a Kiwi chap called Rob back at the hostel, and after a bit of calculating we decided it would be cheaper for us to go halves on a bottle of Bourbon and some coke than to buy a few beers each. This proved to be a somewhat bad decision, as after chatting some nonsense with some hot German twins we went out to a bar called Friday's, about which I can remember nothing whatsoever. Really, nothing. We quickly became separated and Rob was kicked out by the Police (as was everybody else, he hadn't been particularly bad) and I found my way home somehow. No more Bourbon for me, just beers would be wise I think.

Day 205 (Wednesday 7th) - Surfari

Rob and I awoke early enough to get breakfast, and then grabbed some boards and headed up to Maroochydore in his van to go for a surf. I was certainly still drunk, until I hit the water when the bad feelings subsided to be replaced by other bad feelings associated with being pummeled by waves. I only caught a few in the 2 or 3 hours we were out there, before retiring to the beach with a Domino's. We bumped into a few guys from the hostel, who were playing Aerobie on the beach. We quickly joined in and played for ages, until it was just Rob and I left playing. Sunset rolled around so we went back and Rob and I napped, as we had realised we had had a maximum of 5 hours sleep and needed a wee bit of rejuvenation. We headed out to try and buy a few beers for the evening, and ended up driving around for half an hour or so as all the bottle shops were inexplicably closed, before going to the bowls club across the road from the Hostel and picking up some takeaways. Everyone downstairs was playing poker, so we went up to our floor where the guys from the beach were playing Ring Of Fire, a far more entertaining card game. We played a round of this and a few other drinking games until our small supply of beer ran out, and everyone gradually dropped off to sleep until I found myself watching Seconds From Disaster with a girl called Jess asleep on my lap, so I decided it was time to call it a night.

Day 206 (Thursday 8th) - Mooloolaba-Rainbow Beach

Today started earlyish, as we (Irish Anita and I) were being picked up at half 9. This turned out to be more like 10, and when the driver arrived I was down as being picked up from somewhere else, didn't have my ticket (I was never issued one) and generally caused a lot of cafuffle. When we eventually got underway the trip to Rainbow beach was fairly uneventful - we stopped in Noosa for a little while, so I went and lay on the beach, and then we went straight to Rainbow Beach. The girl behind me on the bus was having a discussion with an American guy and a Canadian girl, which mainly consisted of her expounding ridiculous narrow-minded and borderline xenophobic viewpoints on various topics, mostly based on patent falsehoods. I couldn't be arsed to correct her though, as I think the other two people were humouring her rather than agreeing with or being persuaded by her. Rainbow beach seems nice, I have booked my 3 day Fraser Island Self-Drive Safari (by self I mean some of the other passengers, by the way) for Saturday, and I'm also booked onto a massive 10 sail tall ship for sailing around the Whitsunday Islands. The only problem is that the sodding Oz Experience bus (definitely a bad and expensive idea, one which I immediately regretted after the Byron debarcle) is booked pretty much solid for the dates I want to go - I am on the waiting list to leave on Wednesday, getting to Airlie Beach on Friday and starting my sailing on Saturday - fingers crossed. The trip should be pretty awesome, the ship is 106 years old and looks incredible.

Day 200-202 - Lost Camera, Mardi Grass & Getting Stood Up

Day 200 (Friday 2nd) - Accidents Happen

Woohoo! 200 days! 100 days ago I was heading to RCA in Bangkok with no idea what I was doing. I'm fairly sure I didn't really get up to much today - sat around the Arts factory, hung out with Ben down at the beach (my ribs are too bruised to surf for a day or two), then came back and met the Teepee girls, who had been to Mardi Grass today. Pran came back giggling her head off, absolutely mashed off the Nimbin special cookies. We hung out by the hammocks for a while with a few others, drinking and chatting, and after a while the suggestion was made that maybe we should head into town for the night, which I accepted as I hadn't been out in town at all so far. This turned out to be a bit of a bad idea - Pran and her friend Liz couldn't come as they were rather incapable by this stage, so it ended up being just me, Jason & Anna, and Pran's American mate Sarah, who had been giving me the eye in a none too subtle fashion for the past hour or so. She is alright, and fine in her own way, but there was literally no chemistry between us - you know when people just click? In my opinion we did exactly the opposite. She, however, did not share this opinion. She started saying stuff like "I thought you didn't like me" and so on - not wanting to say that she was almost entirely moot to me (something I have never said about a person before, I hope she never reads this) I just mumbled denials and confirmations as seemed appropriate. Somehow (and I'll never figure this out) I ended up dancing on a table along with 90% of the rest of the bar, and was swiftly face-raped by Sarah. Short of screaming and running there was little I could do to avoid it without causing dire offence. We headed back to the Arts Factory together (via some chips) where I stood outside the Teepee and tried to think of reasons why I couldn't come in and join her - all of these were swiftly dealt with by Sarah, so in the end I simply turned around, said goodnight nice to meet you and all, and walked straight to my room without looking back at all. Oh, and the next morning I hid behind a vending machine when I saw her walking by on her way to town. Classy and not at all cowardly.

Day 201 (Saturday 3rd) - Mardi Grass

A disaster awaited me when I awoke today - my camera has absolutely disappeared. I lost it either in the Teepee or somewhere in between my room and Cheeky Monkeys. I have reported it to anyone who might be interested, and hopefully I can claim it on insurance and buy a fresh one in Brisbane, but I don't hold out too much hope for finding it. Anyway, as a result a speedy purchase of a disposable camera was necessary before I could board the 10am Grasshopper bus from Byron to Nimbin, on which I slept most of the way. The town was nicely decked out with all sorts of Cannabis paraphernalia, along with a large Police presence as well. I paid $20 to head into the Peace Park to witness the Hemp Olympics - events included the Bong Throw & Yell (chucking a bong as far as possible while yelling a slogan of your choice), the Growers Carry (lugging chook shit and water around an obstacle course), and the high point, the Joint Rolling Competition. This had four categories - Speed Rolling, Blind Rolling, Rolling under Adverse Conditions and the Artistic Roll. The last one was the most impressive, as the contestants produced a little boat with anchor, a petrol pump, & a stick man holding a flag - all of which were smokable too. Oh, there was the Kombi Konvoy, a huge procession of VW campers rolling through town - I can't remember how many, but it was a lot. Also there was the world's biggest smoke-up, where as many people as possible all lit up (legal herbal joints were being handed out for those wanting to stay on the right side of the law) at 4:20 in protest at the current state of the drug laws in Australia and the world. I had a bit more of a wander round before getting the bus back at about 5 - this turned out to be far too early, as things were just getting started in town. I ended up getting some food and going to the cinema again, to see No Country For Old Men, which turned out to be really intense. There was no music in the entire film, and it involved an immense number of shootings. I came out of it a bit shocked, not really knowing what to do with myself as I was wrenched from the gritty and violent world of Texas in 1980 and returned to this nice comfy Hippy idyll.

Day 202 (Sunday 4th) - Happy Birthday Clare! (also I have been ditched By Oz Experience)

So I got up, checked out, headed to town with Jason, Anna & Joe, and went to the Sunday Market, filled with all the hemp clothing and rainbow-coloured nonsense a Hippy could desire. I settled on a flannel shirt to keep me warm like a true Aussie, and a Burrito. We headed to the beach for one last session of sun, before I had to leave to wait for the bus. Here's a breakdown of my day since:

1430: Ring Oz Experience and confirm that I'm booked in, and also check where the bus leaves from.

1515: Still no bus, it is now 15 minutes late. Concerned, I double check where it leaves from, and call them up to check - they say they can't get through to the driver, but traffic problems can occur and they'll get back to me.

1600: Still no bus. Various Greyhounds and Byron2Brisbane shuttles are leaving with depressing regularity.

1630: Lisa from Oz Experience calls me - apparently there were two pickups from Byron today, but the other guy walked to the Holiday Village and got picked up there, and I wasn't on the driver's manifest. Noone knows why this is, so after a lot of holding Lisa says she'll buy me a ticket on the next Greyhound to Brisbane.

1700: I get a fax sent down which is my ticket on the 2045 bus, and Lisa advises me that I can't get up to Rainbow beach until Saturday at the earliest, as all the buses are fully booked except one leaving Brisbane at 0630 tomorrow morning, which can take me as far as Noosa, from where I can get to Australia Zoo easily (I opt to hop off at Mooloolaba, as I have been told it's a nice place - I know nothing about it though). Also she sorts me out with free accomodation tonight, as she was kind enough to warn me that most places in Brisbane are full tonight. Phew.

1730: Sit down and start typing this. Hassle.

Day 196-199 - Byron Bay

Day 196 (Monday 28th) - To Ballina! Then Byron!

Back on the road again today - Dave left at obscene o'clock to get his flight back to Melbourne - he's flying in then going straight to work at 9 am - sounds horrible. Rob and I said goodbye to the girls and got the 0755 ferry across to circular quay. It's an awesome journey, Rob said it puts him in a much better mood than all his colleagues who get the train or drive. I got the train to the airport, and flew to Ballina/Byron. The flight was really short, and I fell asleep almost instantly - sleep is one thing I've been missing the last few days. I was dropped at the Arts Factory, where I have been wanting to stay since I wandered past 5 years ago. It is as good as I had hoped - an enormous load of buildings, teepees and shacks, all decorated in various styles and giving a pleasingly bohemian feel. It really reminds me of a permanent Glastonbury, with the amount of hammocks, Didgeridoos and hippy paraphernalia dotted around, (as well as the number of hippies, of course). There are daily yoga & meditation classes, live music all over the place, and a generally laid-back and wonderful atmosphere. Anyway, all I succeeded in doing was wandering around town getting a bit lost, coming back, having a few drinks with the Canadian girls from my room and then collapsing into bed by 10, where I slept for a good 11 hours - much needed after a weekend that lasted from wednesday-sunday.

Day 197 (Tuesday 29th) - Nimbin

Last night I booked a day trip to Nimbin - if you haven't heard of the place click on the link, I think Wikipedia gives a pretty good synopsis. Jim's alternative tours, the one everyone told me to go on, was fully booked so I had to go on the Grasshopper bus. This was cool, we had a driver called Steady who had good taste in classic rock, and the trip had a few extras - we went to a waterfall where a couple of people had a dive off some rocks, then we had a BBQ and rainforest walk at Rocky Creek Dam, before heading into Nimbin proper. I paid a visit to the Soundrooms*, entry to which is gained by a complicated sustem of ropes and pulleys - genuinely, you pull one rope to ring the bell, then wait for a click and pull another one, which causes the greeen canvas door to swing open. Subsequently I managed to lose everyone else from the group and went for a little wander, to the Museum and just up and down the street really. The trip home was a little bizarre, Steady asked if we wanted his chillout mix, which he warned us had been called depressing by some. People requested cheese instead, which started off with wake me up before you go-go and got steadily more ridiculous. At one point we had the Spice Girls followed by Shania sodding Twain. Just horrible, and not at all what was needed. A friendly Canadon whose name I have entirely forgotten told me all about the best places to surf in Byron.

Myself and the girls from my room went to thew Lounge Cinema to see Be Kind Rewind when I got back. This was awesome, both the cinema and the film. The cinema doesn't have seats, it has fake cowskin loungers for the first few rows and sofas for the rest - it's definitely the comfiest I have ever been in a cinema. The film was great too, really nicely shot and cleverly done, as well as being a pretty sweet story. Afterwards I watched a little of the talent show that was supposedly going on in the games room. This was the last two songs of Cockatoo Paul (more of him later) and a Didge show from a girl called Vialynn, who made the most unlikely and incredible sounds, and was really impressive. I then hung out with Matt, Mike & Ben from my room, and ended up sitting around outside the games room listening to a few guys from the campsite play a few songs on guitar, the most memorable of which being a rendition of Where Is My Goon, the words to which everyone picked up fairly quickly. For those not in the know by the way, goon is cheap boxed wine, of the 4 litres for A$10 variety. Before too long we were moved along by staff, which just meant that the guys with guitars went to the campsite and everyone else came inside, where there was a blazing log fire. It's freezing at night here, I have been sleeping with all my clothes on and a sleeping bag, and I still wake up cold.

*or something like that, had the word sound in the name anyway.

Day 198 (Wednesday 30th) - Surfing & The Teepee

Ben and I took two girls from our room - English girls who were on the Nimbin trip, possibly called Jenna and Carly - down to the beach for a surf. We hired some rubbish plastic boards and went down to The Wreck. This is a stretch of beach so named because of the shipwreck that lies just below the water - the propellor shaft pokes out of the water to remind you where not to surf. It was an ok day, I didn't really catch that many and spent a lot of time rolling around on the bottom and cursing. The problem was that the waves, when they were there at all, came suddenly and violently, as huge walls of water that Ben and myself were ill-equipped to deal with. We bumped into the friendly Canadian from yesterday, who gave the girls a brief lesson before we went in. With his help, the girls managed to stand up a few times, and were pretty pleased with the whole day - good preparation for the surf camp they're going on en route to Sydney.

We came back and went to the Buddha Bar for Cockatoo Paul's live show. He plays a drumkit, guitar and didgeridoo - the latter very well. His songs are pretty catchy too, easy to remember and sing along to, and mainly centred around travelling. It would have been pretty good if it weren't for his repeated attempts at comedy - this week's theme being IKEA. After him, there was a pretty impressive fireshow. The actual feats performed were not too impressive, any Thai beach fireshow would be better, it was the people performing that were impressive. There were two or three generations of the same family, with the youngest not more than 12. She was pretty good at fire poi, and was probably the highlight of the show. After the show I went back to the big Teepee with Big Joe from my room and a Canadian/Norwegian couple, Jason and Anna, who live in there. They have a pot-bellied stove in there which the French guys in there had got up to a roaring heat - the back of the stove was glowing bright red from the heat. We had some music on, were drinking and chatting for a while when one of the staff came in and told us to shut up. Apparently some people were trying to sleep (even though everyone in the Teepee was involved in the merriment). We were asked to leave if we didn't live there, and in a baffling display of blame taking Joe claimed he lived there, and that the music was his or some such nonsense. All very chivalrous but entirely unnecessary. As we fled I realised I had left an almost untouched box of goon in the Teepee, which I don't think I'll see again.

Day 199 (Thursday 1st) - Surfing Again, & The Teepee Again

Joe, Jason, Anna and I went for a surf today. We headed to The Passes, way out by Cape Byron. This is the place that Canadian guy told me about, where the waves break perpendicular to the beach, and continue to break for a few hundred metres. It proved nearly impossible to get to the spot where all this was going on though, as the current was incredibly strong, and we had opted to paddle 200 m or so instead of walking 500 along the beach. Fools. There were loads of older guys on Longboards, walking up and down them and catching the waves for ages - another thing I saw was that there were loads of people standing up on their boards and paddling with oars. This looked really odd, and meant that they could gain extra speed while they were riding the waves, so they could go for way further than normal surfers. We moved from The Passes to Clarke's, where the waves weren't so long but were far closer to the beach. I caught a few, after swapping my little board for one of the bigger plastic ones (made by Bic, bizarrely). Two of these were the best surfing I have ever done. I managed to turn and ride along the wave as it broke, instead of just heading for the beach and zig-zagging a bit. Also I caught one perfectly, and managed to walk along to the end of the board and back, making me feel very cool indeed.

After a little shopping excursion and an explore I came back and made a few changes. I changed the start date of my Oz Experience bus, and Joe and I got the last two beds in the place for tomorrow and Saturday night, as we are both now staying for Nimbin Mardi Grass. I'm moving to the Wagon, a kind of Romany Gypsy canvas affair, while Joe is moving into the Bus, which is a double decker bus converted into dorms. We met two girls from the Teepee, Prem (from Greenwich) & Liz (an Australian backpacking round Australia, the first I've met I think), and were planning to go to the Railway Bar and watch some bands, but after some discussion we decided that was far too far away and we'd just go to the Pub Quiz at the Buddha Bar instead. This we did, and we formed two teams with the guys I surfed with and a few others. We put a few jugs of beer on it too, to make it more interesting. 40 questions, a prize draw and a load of crap jokes from Cockatoo Paul (the compere, unfortunately) later, my team won it! Our prize was all the entry money (A$2 per person) from the whole quiz - this worked out at about A$25 each, as well as the free beer from the other team. We went back to the Teepee afterwards, for the warmth, and yet again got told to be quiet at about midnight. By an odd chain of events I ended up sharing a single bed with Big Joe, in a kind of "I don't think this is wierd, do you?" game of chicken. This lasted for a very long time, as I didn't end up going to my bed until about 4, when the fire had died down a bit.