The One Where.... They Step Into The Map!!

Next stop - Coffs Harbour.

A little coastal town (you would never have guessed it was on the coast by the name would you? Nah didn't think so) about 4 hours south of Byron Bay.
A very quick pit stop here, one night and one day, simply to break up the journey to Sydney. We are very glad to have stopped off here though. We got our first surf lesson in! Saw bottle nose dolphins again! And enjoyed the sunsets from the harbour and Mutton bird Island. It was sooooo so cold though. And so the cold begins! We could tell it was going to get a whole lot colder from here on out!

Ok quick, read on...it's Sydney time!!

SYDNEY
Well hello again! Did you make a cup of tea before coming here? We did...:( actually no we are still on the same stupid bus from Queenstown to Kaikoura New Zealand....so you better get reading to meet us there!

As soon as we arrived in Sydney (an overnight bus down to save money on accommodation!) we checked our bags into the storage place and transformed from sleepy poms to over exciting, rather annoying English tourists who have arrived in Sydney for the first time! Well come on......you would have done the same! :D

First stop was................... Yep! You guessed it! Well close. Not the opera house...but Circular Quay which is the perfect place to get those postcard photos of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and iconic Opera House! It was quite surreal being there. After seeing these Australia icons back home in magazines, on television, posters, cd albums! Films,  whatever..... neither of us could quite believe we were there!
By the time we had taken a stroll around the outside of the Opera House (in the gorgeous sunshine by the way! Still cold though) being a typical tourist we got a well needed coffee at Portabello cafe opposite.
This first day in Sydney was incredibly tiring. We didn't stop walking and seeing places all day long. Next stop was The Rocks. This is the site of Sydney's first European settlement. Exciting stuff. On our way there we got a great view of the Sydney Harbour bridge at a different angle. So lots of artsy photos were taken as you have probably already seen.
Then we were off again, this time to Darling Harbour but not before we snuck up to the terrace of Sydney YHA hostel for some spectacular views out across the Quay and bridge and opera house.
Daring harbour, once industrial docklands is now a purpose built waterfront, tourist development lining cockle bay. All we did here was take a stroll across the bridge and get a yummy ice cream despite the cold!
That was pretty much the end of our first day in Sydney, Australia....woo!

Whilst in Sydney we stayed with friends of Nickys family back home, so it was lovely to get tips of places to go and things to see, from locals! We had a great time with the family!

The rest of the days in Sydney we filled up with a couple of trips to Paddington district, for the famous Max Brenner Hot Chocolates! Whilst in this area we also strolled through Centennial Park which is actually Sydney's largest park at 220 hectares! We also walked past the SCG which is Sydney Cricket Ground and the Allianz Rugby League Stadium.
We of course took a visit to Manly beach, so got the ferry from Circular Quay to Manly. We just went walking here (for a change) and didn't actually go in the water  as it was so so cold. We timed the ferry trip back perfectly to coincide with the sun setting, so once again got some fabulous artsy photos. This time of Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House with a beautiful sunset back drop.
As we went to Manly, we obviously took a trip to famous Bondi Beach. Not much to do here unless surfing is on the agenda. Still pretty cool watching the surfers and the waves though. The waves were possibly even bigger than those in Byron Bay!

For all you Masterchef Australia fans, you will be able to appreciate this next visit we took! Billy Kwong's Restaurant! Billy is actually the brother of Kylie Kwong - renowned chef who has made numerous appearances on the show. Billy and Kylie both own and cook in this restaurant. Very exciting to see Kylie Kwong. She wasn't in the kitchen when we went in the restaurant, but we did see her as we walked past the restaurant the previous day! The food was absolutely incredible, we both shared a starter and a main, luckily considering the portions were huge! The atmosphere was fantastic, it definitely was a great experience to visit a world class restaurant!

Possibly the most exciting trip during our time in Sydney was a day trip to the Blue Mountains. We got the train up to Katoomba where the famous Echo Point lookout over the Three Sisters. Spectacular views yet again.

We went for a walk to visit the other lookouts as well. Spectacular.

That pretty much sums up our time in Sydney, and starts our adventure in New Zealand!

The Real Byron Bay

So, we are still alive.
Yet again, we appear to have become quite slack with keeping you all up to date! You may have seen the dare devil stunt photos on Facebook recently, so be assured, we are still alive and well!

So where did we leave you guys hanging? Byron bay? No? We didn't even get that far?! Oh dear.

Ok so Byron bay and the first weekend there was actually Nickys birthday! Yes! Really! We left you that long ago! Sorry :(
That weekend was an absolute blast. Byron bay is hmm, some would say hippy town, others surfer town, and even others would call it (close your eyes parents and grandparents) the Amsterdam of Australia! No no, we were in the surfer Byron bay! Honest!!

This is going to be almost bullet point kind of blog, and I know it's our own fault, but trying to write this blog on a kiwi experience bus....in New Zealand obviously, and not even Australia....makes us want to get to the awesome kiwi bits as quick as possible! But seriously, we absolutely loved Byron Bay, and we're very sad to leave after just one week there!

So yes sorry, Byron:
Sun sets over Mount Warning sitting on the beach, listening to waves crashing against the rocks, the light house on the other side sending shadows over the ocean, people strolling past with their evening ice creams......did you see it? Good imaginations? Good, because it was gorgeous!!

A couple of runs up to the light house were by no means easy! The steps were insanely steep, but it was all worth it yet again for the fabulous views and more so to say we have been to the most easterly point in Australia! Yay!

Body boarding in the immensely strong current. No seriously, it was actually quite dodgy! But not all the time! We got some pretty good waves in, and when body boarding got a bit boring (because it does when you actually get to do it so often in a gorgeous country....and not down bexhill beach..ehem) we did some wave diving! So cool! Oh and body surfing too!:)
Sooooooo really we were beach bums for the weekend....but no surfboards to hand :( sad times I know!
One of the best bits about the weekend was the Byron Bay Market! We were very lucky to be here for it as they are only there once a month. It was by far the best market either of us has ever been to! It honestly took about 2 hours to walk around the whole of the stalls! Brilliant.
Nicky had a good birthday. As mentioned, it was a run in the morning followed by...well...exactly what we just described.... cool ay?
Oh and ofcourse there was an evening meal at Byron Fresh Cafe, when haz so kindly gave the guys an orange cake thingie gluten free to stick a candle in to surprise Nicky. Aww isn't that nice? Oh but Nicky brought it so wasn't really that much of a surprise. Ok, the candle bit was! Jeez!

Ok, so that was the weekend. Nice and chilled!
But have no fear! It wasn't time to leave Byron Bay just yet!
We managed to arrange staying with a lovely family (Georgie, Ephraim and Omar) in their fabulous house just another couple of streets down from the hostel we were staying at for the weekend.
This was part of the whole WWOOFing stuff. So Accomodation and food was all free, alongside great conversations, borrowing of bikes and body boards (oh yes, those things again!) all for just a few hours work each day in their vegetable garden. We did weeding and planting of seedlings! And I tidied up tomato plants mum! You would have been so proud! All those times I managed to avoid helping out weeding in the garden at Cooden Drive and here I was doing it voluntarily! Nicky on the other hand was quite useless at the whole thing , and stuck to watering the seedlings and erm, filling up water bottles? Oh maybe hammering the posts in too?
     Ermm.. Excuse me I did more than just those thugs you gave me credit for...cut me some slack! I don't have the patience for all that fiddly stuff.
     Ok sorry, Nicky swept up afterwards too. :) wait, no I think that was me still!

We also got to go to Georgie and Ephraims Finger Lime Farm. Ever heard of a Finger Lime? No? We hadn't either!
They are the most random fruit! You cut them open (they look like elongated normal limes) and inside are all these tiny pods - like caviar! They are so citrusy and pop in your mouth. Brilliant in absolutely any food dish, be it curry or on ice cream...or even in your water bottle for flavour!

On the farm, we just did some more weeding, pruning and mulching. General tidy up of the lime trees (normal ones) and ofcourse picking hundreds of them too! And dont forget being terrorised by the HUGE golden orb spiders!!

After work on these days, we enjoyed wondering through the town, looking in all the quirky little stores, eating scrummy ice creams, sitting on the beach, watching the surf, and actually body boarding for a change...

To finish off the week we thought a change of scenery was in order! Howz about wobbegongs, manta rays, dolphins and leopard sharks? Sounds pretty sweet doesn't it? Well, it was awesome! We went for two dives at Julian Rocks just off the coast. Not quite the same as the Great Barrier Reef, but then we didn't see leopard sharks there...or manta rays...or dolphins for that matter!! It was a fantastic dive site, and we were very lucky to see what we did, and really happy to get another couple of dives in!

We had a great evening at possibly one of the best pubs ever! Awesome atmosphere at this place - The Rails. Live music every night and people from all walks of life, young, old, hippy, surfer, all mixing dancing and chatting. Brilliant.

See now why we didn't want to leave Byron Bay?! :) good times indeed.

Byron Bay Bananas

What a load of bananas!? Dried ones....chocolate ones....frozen ones...ones in smoothies...crickey!

We have experienced our first wwoofing job, and its been great fun! Alongside the packaging of all these bananas, we have had time to motor along the Tweed River in a canoe, terrorise some local pelicans, go for a quick run along Kirra beach (gorgeous views!!), and cook some nice dinners.
We do however feel we won't be eating bananas again for a few weeks! Sick of the bloody things! Haha.

Funny moments:
* Terrorising the pelicans when we got stuck on their little island on the Tweed River in the canoe
* Finding a tupperware box in the fridge containing old stuff growing a hell of a lot of new stuff....
* Discovering that cereal will grow new stuff too.....when left in a cupboard for gawd knows how long....
* Having to duck out of the way of banana leaves and cobwebs when haring through the banana plantation standing on the back of a yute

Good times:
* Canoe on Tweed River and seeing loads of hawks, a falcon, pelicans and plenty of fish!
* Walking Scout, the resident boarder collie
* Cooking some nice dinners....in the now clean kitchen!
* The amazing views at Byron Bay Bananas banana plantation

"In this city... There's an open road and I'm travelling down"

Well,that week was quite a long one ay!!?....
We both can't quite believe that time has flown by so quickly during our time in Brisbane!
So unfortunately, as we have both been incredibly slack with updating this here blog, we are going to have to simply sum up the last 2 and a bit months as best we can!

So....Aussie Farmers Direct!
Bit of a roller coaster of a job! Some days you could meet horrible people behind every single door, scrape 4 sales, and generally feel a bit rubbish by the end of the day. Other days you could meet lovely people, get offered ginger beer, coke, food etc, and make plenty of money!
We were both pretty good at the job, making good money. But the main reason we stayed in Brisbane for such a long time, was because of the people we met! There were a totally awesome bunch of people who worked for Aussie farmers. We have both enjoyed meeting new people, and making new friendships. Shtanny!! (standard....you all better get use to this word as we will both be using it as response to ....pretty much everything when we are back home!).
Nicky spent about a month of our time in the Brisbane region actually not in Brisbane but rather down the Gold Coast, with some old friends and of course making new ones. Regular visits to the beach were in order, especially when the unit she was staying in was only a stones throw away!! A trip to Dream World (equivalent to Thorpe Park back home guys) was pretty shweet!! (yes we said sHweet not sweet...make sure you pronounce this non-word correctly). Highlight of the day was definitely going on Tower of Terror ride...blasting you backwards out of a 206m tunnel at a rapid speed of 161km/h in 7 seconds flat...(Howz that door knocking haz?) and then soaring up 100m into the atmosphere before plummeting back to earth!! Can you tell that we are adrenaline junkies yet!!? Haha

In the mean time, Haz was still knocking at those grumpy people's front doors....desperately trying to sell them some damn milk and bread!! Haha. Haz has made a fair few solid friendships from the Aussie Farmer crew, and we now both look forward to meeting up with them further along our travels in Australia and New Zealand, and back in sunny England..... Wales.... Scotland... Ireland.... Europe.... where ever they all come from!! Unfortunately no beach trips for Haz, but there have been some good times.....BBQs by the lagoon, cinema, sunning in south bank, walks (including storey bridge....kangaroo point....fortitude valley...etc) runs along the Brisbane river, pizza nights, movie nights, cups of tea nights!, drinking nights, shopping days/ mornings in the city, coffees, smoothies, best milkshake ever at Royal Copenhagen, Stephen K Amos comedian at the QPAC, south bank markets, and hot chocolate at the world famous Max Brenner Chocolate shop........ what can I say ..... it's been bloody brilliant!!

The rest of our time in Brisbane (and Nicky in the Gold Coast) was split between the general hanging out with mates in our different accommodation, in the gym, going for runs in the early morning sun - gorgeous! St Paddy's day was celebrated in a true Irish fashion .... Down the pub! Just another good night to remember out of the many!!
Oh almost forgot! Bed bugs do actually exist! Haz and some mates had the unfortunate experience of meeting the little buggers in......hmmm...well.....not the best hostel in the world that's for damn sure!! Thankfully only stayed there for a few nights! By far the best hostel in Brisbane (or the best hostel experiences at least!) was at Woodduck. Aussie Farmer lot pretty much took over the largest dorm in the place for a few weeks, and generally had a blast with some awesome company. :).

Back at the end of February/early March, we went down to Holywell (close by to Surfer's Paradise) for a lovely weekend with family friends of Haz's - The Melloys :). (Btw we stayed on their boat!!! So awesome!). We had a visit to Surfers Paradise, trip up the Q1 (Queensland Number 1) tower (tallest building in Australia and Southern Hemisphere) for some pretty shweet views out over Surfers and Mount Warning. It was lovely to finally meet Karen and her family and spend some quality time with them all.
Needless to say we both went back there again, however it wasn't until we left Brisbane (26th April). It was once again a great visit, and awesome stop off on our way down the East Coast. This time, we went bowling for Bethany's 12th birthday, consumed a lot of pizza, ice cream and cheese cake, a lot of sorting out, a trip to Lamington National Park - O'Reillys Rainforest retreat, and best of all a totally awesome day trip to Sea World. The highlight had to be the 'Imagine' Dolphin show, so much so we actually went to see it twice!

Now, we are in New South Wales! We are no longer in Queensland! We have arrived in Tweed Heads to start our WWOOFing work (willing workers on organic farms). First port of call, like we said, is in Tweed Heads. We are packaging chocolate coated dried bananas!! (very tasty btw :)) We are only here for 3 days though, and then we head down to Byron Bay on Friday! Nicky is looking forward to spending her birthday in a different country! So hopefully the weather will hold out for us so we can enjoy the beach and the hippy life of Byron Bay! :)

"...We sell fresh, 100% Australian produce, so your milk, eggs, bread, straight to your door...absolutely free delivery..."

We are here in sunny Brisbane and have been for near enough 2 weeks. Where we are staying at the moment we have a great view out over the city, shame we havent really been able to enjoy it though!
The first week was literally spent sat in front of a computer sending cv's out to every company imaginable! Who knew it would be so hard to find a job in the city!? And if you did why didnt you tell us!? So along with sitting in front of a screen for hours, we also walked throughout the city, handing in our cv's to every shop we passed also!!  Certainly cant say we didnt try! I think when Nick was turning up for a job interview without knowing the company name....and without knowing what the job position was....we decided perhaps we should stop with the cv handouts!! (She even came out of the job interview still not knowing what she had been interviewed for!!!...however she did so well she got a second interview!! And consequently forgot to turn up to it...oh dear...).
Well anyway, beginning of the week just gone we finally got an interview and knew things were looking up....mainly because we knew a.) the employers name, b.) the company's name, and c.) the job position applied for....we were on for a winner with this one!! Hopefully! :) To cut a long story short, we are now both sales reps for a company called Aussie Farmers. So we will see how it goes next week to determine whether we'll stick with it or not!

So with a job finally under our belt, first night at the hostel we made some new friends and the 4 of us proceeded to win the pub quiz!! oh yes, team 4play... aren't we clever! The funny thing was our teammates had come second to last the previous week...blowing our own trumpet ya know!!

Apart from that, and starting a new job (which comes with a heavy social life!), a kick about in the park, few runs, coffee's and smoothies here and there, pretty much sums up our time in Brisbane so far!

The upcoming week (it's Sunday today) will determine how long we are going to stay in Brisbane before making our way down the Gold Coast. We plan to do some WWOOFing (Willing Workers On Organic Farms) before reaching Sydney, and of course SURFING!!!! So like we said, this following week will determine quite a lot! Wish us luck.... door to door selling isn't the greatest, but we look forward to those cups of tea, ice blocks or ginger beer from the nice folks behind the doors (hopefully!!).... or "go away, i'm not interested" from the others!... they're always a fun bunch to handle! In return we are overly sarcastic when we say (on advice from our boss) "well you have a FANTASTIC evening!!"... and jog on!!

We both enter the week a bit unsure and apprehensive of our mindsets at the end of the week, and what lies ahead...wish us luck! Still smiling though!

Stay tuned... :)

Nick & Haz

14,000 ft Up.....then we jumped....!

Hervey Bay / Fraser Island & Mooloolaba / Australia Zoo

Well...we arrived in retirement town...Hervey Bay. Lovely accommodation but quite far away from the main shops and cafes. We wanted to check out the area obviously, so after chatting to a lovely local lady who kindly pointed us to the right bus, we headed back to the main area, this time without all the luggage. After a lovely free lunch we started walking back....unaware at this stage exactly how far away we were from accommodation. After approximately 2 hours in the scorching heat (no we didn't get sunburnt mum!) we stepped up the pace and ran after a bus to the next bus stop!

 And succeeded!

A fun filled packed day on Fraser Island followed this exhausting day.

Fraser island ('K'gari' (meaning paradise)) is the largest sand island in the world and one of the few islands where the rainforest actually grows in the sand! What? Wow! How? Well nick, let me tell you ....it's all to do with the minerals the sand provides the vegetation with. Sand is notoriously low in nutrients essential to plant growth. The plants growing on Fraser Island can obtain their nutrients (other than nitrogen) from only two sources - rain and sand.

The sand is coated with mineral compounds (i.e. iron and aluminium oxides). Near to the shore the air contains nutrients from sea spray which are then deposited on the sand. Fungi in the sand make these nutrients available to the plants, which then supply various organic compounds to the fungi (symbiotic relationship). Nick is amazed people...we hope you are too!

So driving along the island was pretty cool. With all that sand and no proper roads it was quite a bumpy ride in the ol' 4WD bus...entertaining to see the bus driver bouncing around on his suspended seat whilst we were being jolted left right and centre! Nick really wanted to take the wheel just so she could have a go in the suspension chair!! Big kid!! haha. We headed for 75 mile beach first (a natural highway) and watched a small plane landing. Driving along the coastline was pretty awesome, wouldnt be able to do that in the UK...too many silly pebbles and rocks! We headed to two of the gorgeous crystal clear freshwater creeks (Eli Creek and Wanggoolba Creek) and had a bit of a paddle. Next up was the Pinnacles (amazing different colour sand formations) and the Maheno Shipwreck, once a cruise ship built in Scotland in 1904 and was the world’s first ever triple screw steamer, weighing a massive 5323 tonnes. Then used as a hospital ship in WW1. Sold to the Japenese shipping company, on route back to Japan, the Maheno was hit by an unseasonal cyclone off the coast of Fraser. With unsuccessful attempts to refloat, it was abandoned (partly due to crews fears of the Aboriginals) and now remains as a famous landmark on 75-mile beach (getting your fix of interesting facts reading this blog aren't you!!?). 

The highlight of our trip was Lake McKenzie, a pristine freshwater lake. Probably being the most visited feature on K'gari, it is a 'perched' lake meaning it contains only rainwater, no ground water. Lake McKenzie is not fed by streams and does not flow to the ocean. The sand (pure white silica just like that of Whitehaven Beach) and organic matter form a impervious layer, preventing the water from draining away.

 

Back on mainland Hervey Bay, and we decided to leave it once more, this time going 14,000ft....UP! Quite literally up in the sky to subsequently jump out of a plane, freefall for approximately 1 minute before slowly gliding back to the mainland once more! :) We got to see Fraser Island and Hervey Bay in all it's glory birdseye view. Once the parachute was released it wasn't hard to forget that our lives were dependent upon a piece of material not getting a hole in it! It was so peaceful and tranquil up there, with such spectacular views. Before we knew it, we were coming in to land on the beach, but not before having a go at steering the shute :).

Next up was a morning dolphin tour on board Blue Dolphin Catamaran. Unfortunately there was not much activity out on the water, due to the amount of recent rainfall in the area, and run-off from the Mary River.....result: heavily suspended sediment water -  very brown water! We did however enjoy a nice morning tea and cakes/fruit followed by a ride on the drag net! See facebook for photos! :D All was not wasted, Haz got some very useful information from Peter our Skipper, regarding Sea World (Australia) where he worked for 15 years! With addition to marine biology related job ideas which will be thoroughly researched....you can be assured of that!

After having a couple of funfilled adventures, our last day was spent chilling out by the pool, followed by a nice free meal at Smokey Joes using a 2 for 1 voucher....? And free cocktails again using a 2 for 1 voucher....? We don't think Australians know what 2 for 1 means! :) we weren't complaining though!!

Greyhound to Mooloolaba...our typical backpacking trip truly begins! No more nice apartments for us!! Here we come ....4 bed dorms.....shared shower rooms....kitchens with no pots.... pans.... ovens.... cutlery......plates.....hmmm? Woo hoo! :D Never mind, we enjoyed walking along Mooloolaba beach and chilling in a cafe catching up on emails. And of course Australia Zoo. Very exciting.

Australia Zoo - Established as a wildlife park by the Irwins back in 1970 (The Beerwah Reptile Park) when it was originally only 2 acres. Taken over by Steve and Terri Irwin  in 1992, they renamed it as Australia Zoo, and is now a 100 acre entertainment mecca with ovewr 1200 animals (not just reptiles!) . All money raised from filming and merchandise is put back into conservation efforts.

We saw some awesome things including The Crocoseum! The Crocoseum is the fulfillment of one of Steve Irwin's lifelong dreams. Steve wanted to provide the visitors to Australia Zoo with the opportunity to see crocodiles in clear water ponds. We had a great display of free-flight birds, snakes, and the main show - Saltwater Crocodile Graham! One of 15 Saltwater Crocodiles at Australia Zoo all caught by Steve Irwin!

Freshwater crocodiles and American Alligators are also presant at the zoo.

Guess what...? ...we saw even more koalas and took even more photos! - never going to get bored of them!

We had a great time going to South East Asia where we went to Elephantasia and got the chance to hand feed Sabu (and Siam and Bimbo) some of their favourite fruit. :)

We also enjoyed a fantastic presentation held at the Sumatran Tiger display. We were introduced to Bashii and his sister Maneki. The keepers showed us how they interact with the tigers, training them to perform certain behaviours so as to allow them to easily check their teeth and health daily. After a short walk we arrived in Africa- the latest development of the Zoo. It was part of Steve's dream to build an African Safari Park, where animals can roam free in open plains, and where the public can watch these animals interact as they would in the wild. So far stage one of the African Savannah is complete, with Giraffes, Southern White Rhinos (including a bady rhino) and Zebras. Later stages will include a Cheetah run....that would be awesome to see!

In addition to all of this, we managed to get up close and personal with some Red Roos. They were so used to all the people wondering through, that we managed to get right next to a couple for a close up pic! Pretty awesome.

There were many more animals we saw along the way including the Tasmanian Devils (not really like our loveable Taz), camels, wombats, red pandas and plenty of lizards (additional to those already in displays!).

All in all a great trip to Aussie Zoo and of course Hervey Bay. 

Love Haz and Nick x x  

Breakfast with Koalas.... Jealous much!!?

Only back in Mackay for a couple of days and already we were off again on a mini adventure. This time we took a mini road trip with the other Pom and a random Aussie we found....only joking! and with a new Aussie mate Sam. Destination Airlie Beach; the hub of backpacker life. Hardly a Aussie accent around! Especially in Paddy's Shenanigans. All in all not a whole load to do when the weather isn't its finest! BUT Cedar Creek Falls, drinking sesh, night out, giant jenga and connect 4, and ofcourse that wet dog car smell helped the time go by! :)

 However once the boys departed the sun came out (sorry boys) and we made the most of the sun by going Ocean Rafting around the Whitsunday Islands and a short visit to Whitehaven Beach!

Ocean rafting trip rather than a sail boat is a hundred times more fun! :D Three trips rolled into one basically! And what a fantastic area to walk, snorkel, relax, and soak up the rays in. First stop was a bush walk up to Hill Inlet Lookout Point! You would not believe the spectacular views of Whitehaven Beach, Whitsunday Island and the shifting sands of Hill Inlet! Absolutely stunning with the added bonus of seeing baby sharks swimming about, alongside lagoon rays from the lookout high above.

Highlight of this part of our trip just has to be Whitehaven Beach - The most photographed beach in Australia, Queensland's most beautiful beach, and the world's most ecofriendly beach. With the sand being 98.9% pure silica, it's not hard to see why we didn't want to leave!! The noise the sand made when we stepped on it is difficult to describe...squeaky, kind of like when you rub a wet finger over a rubber tyre!?? Not that we all do that too often, but you may get the jist of it! Any hoo.. We took the opportunity to clean our silver jewellery in the sand and exfoliate! Haha

After our short stay at Airlie Beach, we took a ferry across the Coral sea to the prestigious Hamilton Island! Oh my days...the views from our balcony, our home for 5 nights was AMAZING!
Staying in an apartment was a tad different to a backpacker hostel...no foreigners sharing our kitchen space or digging to the very bottom of your backpack looking for that one top you must wear!! We certainly won't experience luxury like this again for the rest of our trip!
We won't go through day by day what we did, as it was pretty much the same...chilling out with the gorgeous views, playing cards, reading, snorkelling, kayaking, Haz spotting a turtle...again, and lots of photo taking! We had a blast!

Highlight of our trip on Hamilton Island was most definitely having breakfast with Koalas and of course having a cuddle and photo with one too! Hehe :D soooo cute! They didn't feel how we had expected them too....rather than smooth soft fur, it was very spongy Afro-type fur! I think it's easy to say what we took most photos of during our stay on the island!! Pics to follow very soon! Keep an eye out on Facebook! :)
We are very sad to leave the island and Koalas behind! :( but....we have plenty more to look forward to!
Great trip! :D

Haz & Nick X