After 8 hours opf movies and airoplane food Caitlin and I landed in Bribane and were met at arrivals by my Mum! Mum had flown out a few days before hand for a holiday and to meet me out here! We were all staying with our family friends, Kate & Pauls, who kindly put us up for a few nights. That afternoon we went straight to the beach and got taken out for a fish lunch by Mum and Kate. The next morning, after we had cought up on sleep, I went to go and see Meg, Kates horse. I took her out for a ride around the tracks and out to the cross country fields. It felt great to be back in the saddle, especially on such an enthusiastic and gorgeous horse! That evening we went out for dinner with Mum to go and see Dougal and Margret and their 2 girls ( Dougal is Mum's cousin who also lives in Brisbane).
The next day, Friday, Mum took the car and with Caitlin and I drove up to Rainbow Beach for the weekend. On the way up we stopped for lunch at the 'G'day G'day cafe' and went to vist an Opal gallery. Austalia is home to the Opal, a nationally recognised stone that is also the birthstone of October (me!).
Rainbow Beach is little more than a cluster of shops, a post office and a caravan park perched on top of the cliffs above the beach. We went down to the beach for a walk and to see the layered sandy cliffs that give the beach it's name. Back at the hostel we watched Neighbours with beer and buritos!
Fraser Island
The following day we were going to Fraser Island for an overnight trip. Fraser Island takes it's name form a captin whos shipped was wrecked there in 1836. Unlike some of the crew, fraser managed to survive the 2 month wait to the rescue with Aborigonal help. The three of us got collected by Cassidy, our driver for the trip, in a 4x4 who took us to the barge crossing onto the island. The island itself is all sand: no soil, no clay, only 2 or 3 rocky out crops - hence the 4x4! On the island we drove up the 75 mile beach of the east coast and headed to the central staion in the centre of the island for a picnic lunch by the silent creek.
Afterwards we were taken to Lake Birrabeen, a short bumpy ride away. there is over 100 lakes on the island; all created byrain wat run off. Which is just as well as the sea is a definite no go: there are lethal undertow currents, dangerous jellyfish and the odd man eating shark! Lake Birrabeen was beautiful, despite being a little chilly but that didn't stop us from going for a swim!
During our time on Fraser we also saw the Pinacle rockformations, Maheno Shipwreck that was covered in crabs, went on a walk to Lake Wabby, the dissapearing lake, which will soon be covered up by the moving sand dunes and caught sight of Dingoes, the wild dogs that inhabit the island and have been known to kill.
Back on the mainland we spent out last night away at Noosa Heads ina quirky, hippy hostel. We were up the next morning for sunbathing at Sunshine Beach and then had lunch at Coolum Beach while we watched the surfers before heading back to Brisbane. On the way home we were feeling childish as we drove along to the 'Best of the Bettles' and stopped off at the strawberry fields for a pick you own session. The rest of out time in Brisbane we spent in the city centre looking around the shops and bimbiling along the Southbank. On our last night we had a BBQ with Mum, Kate and Paul: a huge ozzy feast resulting in meat sweats!
The Bruce Highway
On the way out of Brisbane Mum, Caitlin and I collected a camper van to start the next part of our journey. Mum was behind the wheel and our plan was to stick to the Bruce Highway, a road staying parralel to the coast all the way from Brisbane all the way up to Cairns. Each night we would stop at a different campsite to stay over. The first dew days we were on the move for long periods of time to cover the long distance we had ahead of us, sometime I would wake up and the van was alreadyon the road and had been driving for a couple of hours!
Sunrise: an early start that was worth getting up for!
Along the way we noticed the landscape change from lush, green, rolling hills to drier flatter land and the temperature became warmer. We also kept our eyes out for the famous ozzy wildlife and saw a couple of Emu's, a kangeroo and my favorite which was the Rainbow Lorikeet who came to join us for dinner at one of the campsites.
Rainbow Lorikeet
One afternoon we stoped early to make a trip to the Whit Sunday Islands. The 74 Whit Sunday Island are probably the best know islands of Queensland. The group was named after Captin Cook after he sailed through them in 1770. We got dropped off by a boat to enjoy lunch over looking the neighbouring islands and watching the yatchs sail past. Later we followed the nature trail up and over the top of the island through the forest and got to see a family of walabees relaxing in a clearing before we headed to the beach for the frest of the day.
The Tully River and Paronella Park
Nearing the end of our journey upnorth we decided that for the day we would swap the driving for adrenaline! All three of us signed our lives away to Raging Thunder... we were going white water rafting on the Tully River! Tully is the wettest place in Australia getting over 4000mm of rain a year > making it the beat place in Australia to white water raft. Mum Caitlin and I teamed up with 3 American boys: Cameron- an enthusiastic young one from Alaska, Mike- the cool kid in black from LA and Brian- also from LA and who couldn't keep his eyes off Caitlin for the entire day. It was boys against girls, all refereed by our instructor Alan- the original oozy from Tasmania. We spent the whole day tackling grade 4 rapids,over 0 of them to go down! I don't know who named each rapid but some of them were quite funny (including the stories that went with them) for example The Birth Canal, The Double D Cup and The 2 Incher! As well as the rafting we stopped at point along the river to so water slides down falls, rock jumping into plunge pools and swimming down The Lava Flow rapid, also known as the drowning simulation!
At the end of the day I felt absolutely shattered, battered, bruised and 100% EXTREME!
That night, our last night in the van, we stayed at Paronella Park. Paronella Park is an unusual place that was the dream of a child, Jose Paronella. Jose was a Spaniard who came to Australia, after working as a farmer for 10 years, he bought a block of land and started building a house, a castle, a grand staircase down to the river and Lovers Lane Tunnel - all by hand! many of the buildings are ruins due to flooding over the years, Cyclone Larry in 2006 and of course time, but large parts still remain and we were able to explore the castle and the grounds after dark on the night that we stayed and walk the suspension bridge across the water falls in the morning after.
Cairns
Mum Caitlin and I were going out on the Great Barrier Reef :) It was a fantastic day out on the reef. Mum and Caitlin snorkeled on the surface while i was scuba diving in the deep. I was very lucky and went to some great dive sights and got to dive 3 times. Underwater I saw many of the spectacular corals and as well as the abundance of beautiful fish I caught sight of a couple of White Tip Reef Sharks, more seas turtles and lots of stingrays too!
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On board I opened some of the cards and presents that Mum had bought out with her and got some beautiful massages and gifts from back home and before we got back to the harbour the whole boat sang Happy Birthday to me - not embarrassing at all!
Back on dry land we had huge juicy steaks for dinner and then we all got dressed up for The City. The vodka started flowing (pretty fast) and a couple of the boys we had met while rafting showed up too. I think we spent the rest of the night on the dance floor but I can't remember much more than that!
Along the way we noticed the landscape change from lush, green, rolling hills to drier flatter land and the temperature became warmer. We also kept our eyes out for the famous ozzy wildlife and saw a couple of Emu's, a kangeroo and my favorite which was the Rainbow Lorikeet who came to join us for dinner at one of the campsites.
Rainbow Lorikeet
One afternoon we stoped early to make a trip to the Whit Sunday Islands. The 74 Whit Sunday Island are probably the best know islands of Queensland. The group was named after Captin Cook after he sailed through them in 1770. We got dropped off by a boat to enjoy lunch over looking the neighbouring islands and watching the yatchs sail past. Later we followed the nature trail up and over the top of the island through the forest and got to see a family of walabees relaxing in a clearing before we headed to the beach for the frest of the day.
The Tully River and Paronella Park
Nearing the end of our journey upnorth we decided that for the day we would swap the driving for adrenaline! All three of us signed our lives away to Raging Thunder... we were going white water rafting on the Tully River! Tully is the wettest place in Australia getting over 4000mm of rain a year > making it the beat place in Australia to white water raft. Mum Caitlin and I teamed up with 3 American boys: Cameron- an enthusiastic young one from Alaska, Mike- the cool kid in black from LA and Brian- also from LA and who couldn't keep his eyes off Caitlin for the entire day. It was boys against girls, all refereed by our instructor Alan- the original oozy from Tasmania. We spent the whole day tackling grade 4 rapids,over 0 of them to go down! I don't know who named each rapid but some of them were quite funny (including the stories that went with them) for example The Birth Canal, The Double D Cup and The 2 Incher! As well as the rafting we stopped at point along the river to so water slides down falls, rock jumping into plunge pools and swimming down The Lava Flow rapid, also known as the drowning simulation!
At the end of the day I felt absolutely shattered, battered, bruised and 100% EXTREME!
That night, our last night in the van, we stayed at Paronella Park. Paronella Park is an unusual place that was the dream of a child, Jose Paronella. Jose was a Spaniard who came to Australia, after working as a farmer for 10 years, he bought a block of land and started building a house, a castle, a grand staircase down to the river and Lovers Lane Tunnel - all by hand! many of the buildings are ruins due to flooding over the years, Cyclone Larry in 2006 and of course time, but large parts still remain and we were able to explore the castle and the grounds after dark on the night that we stayed and walk the suspension bridge across the water falls in the morning after.
Cairns
We have reached Cairns, after driving over 1,600 km to get to our final destination in the camper van. And the first thing that Mum wants to do is hire a car again! So the next day we get into out new rental, a little red Ford Fiesta, and head to Port Douglas. It is a short pleasant drive away up the coast and the blue sea is rarely out of sight as we wind up and over the headlands. 
Port Douglas is a small sea side town with some great shops! We got lunch at the surf shack and then went down to the beach to lie in the sun. When the beach shaded over we went back to the car - via the shop to make sure we hadn't missed anything, and of course we had! Back in Cairns, that evening the 3 of us went to check out the Cairns Night Market. It wasn't to different to the ones we had seen in Asia apart from a much improved hygiene standard and also extortionate prices!
October 13th: My Birthday! Port Douglas is a small sea side town with some great shops! We got lunch at the surf shack and then went down to the beach to lie in the sun. When the beach shaded over we went back to the car - via the shop to make sure we hadn't missed anything, and of course we had! Back in Cairns, that evening the 3 of us went to check out the Cairns Night Market. It wasn't to different to the ones we had seen in Asia apart from a much improved hygiene standard and also extortionate prices! Mum Caitlin and I were going out on the Great Barrier Reef :) It was a fantastic day out on the reef. Mum and Caitlin snorkeled on the surface while i was scuba diving in the deep. I was very lucky and went to some great dive sights and got to dive 3 times. Underwater I saw many of the spectacular corals and as well as the abundance of beautiful fish I caught sight of a couple of White Tip Reef Sharks, more seas turtles and lots of stingrays too!On board I opened some of the cards and presents that Mum had bought out with her and got some beautiful massages and gifts from back home and before we got back to the harbour the whole boat sang Happy Birthday to me - not embarrassing at all!
Back on dry land we had huge juicy steaks for dinner and then we all got dressed up for The City. The vodka started flowing (pretty fast) and a couple of the boys we had met while rafting showed up too. I think we spent the rest of the night on the dance floor but I can't remember much more than that!
The highlight of my day was still to come! After the race and all the celebrations were over everybody made their way to the main stage 
