The tip of OZ (well, it is for us)!

Well... from Byron Bay we headed to Lennox Heads to have a surfing lesson in the rain - Fletch was the best, being able to stand up lots of times. But the weather was so bad even our instructor left us to it after an hour to battle the crashing waves alone! The rain didnt end here though - went to the Gold Coast to stay with Rup's sis and got stuck in their 1 in 100 years flood (end of the road was under a foot of water so we couldnt get out!). Rup had a memorable bday winning no money at the casino and drinking lots at the surf clubs and then sicking it up - nice! Left him there after that with his sis and we headed on up to Brisbane. An express tour of the city, watched the live 8 concert on the southbank on a big screen and then went to stay with some of dave's 'non-relatives' in caboolture. hit the australia zoo here which was wicked but no steve irwin in sight!

Next stop was Noosa for a walk round the national park then to Fraser Island. A classic adventure on the island in our 4x4 Bandicoot green bus with our tour host 'digeridoo day' or '2 day steve!' who was a funny guy to say the least! He talked non-stop about the island and his favourite saying was '...as we like to say in australia'! he was great though - an excellent tour. people on the bus was really friendly too, although some segregation did go on between the english speaking and the non-english speaking europeans. fraser island is amazing - swam in the lakes, saw whales, a dingo and turtles, did some 'low level flying (as Steve-o liked to call it)' along 75 mile beach and went on a night drive to watch the rugby at the pub, which was an adventure in itself! nearly fell off a metre high sand cliff on 2 occasions, emergency stopping just intime to save us! Steve even managed to drive away with the backdoor staircase of the bus down when we were leaving the pub - so funny!

Up the coast further we stopped at 1770 for a night (a nice but very quiet place, though the hostel was pretty pumping) then rejoined Rup again in Mackay to go to Airlie Beach to depart on our next adventure - sailing around the Whitsundays. A fantastic few days. The first day was sunny, but as we found out freezing on deck as the winds were high. Got to do some great sailing, cruising along with everyone shivering and clinging onto the high side as the yacht tipped up at a very steep angle. Had our skipper Dave, the boat hand Matt (who was a pretty good chef - cooking us up a treat 3 times a day) and the dive instructor Mattie. We all got to do some diving which was excellent. So many fish and we even got to feed them with bread. Saw more whales closer this time.

The second day was overcast and had a few showers. Went for a walk to Whitehaven beach which was gorgeous (one of the nicest places in oz i think) despite the weather. Luckily the last day was glorious sunshine so we got some fab snorkelling done and went for a quick sunbathe on Langford Island before having to motor the boat most of the way home as there was next to no wind. Everyone on the boat (all 15 people) were so nice and we all go on really well. Met everyone for a night out in Airlie when we got back which was fun.

From there we stopped in Townsville and did a jetski tour around magnetic island. A beautiful island and the jetskiing was so much fun. even saw some dolphins and koalas on our walk through the bush. Had a quick stop at Mission Beach and now we're in Port Douglas. Celebrated dave's bday yesterday - a nice meal out followed by a bar crawl. We're up far as we are going in oz now (except maybe to the daintree today). Back down to cairns to try sell the car (looking unlikely as its failed is safety cert!) and then out to western australia.