Beef n Reef, Rockhampton . . . link here

Crazy man Dave is dressed in the usual safari khaki shorts and top, a battered old crocodile dundee stylie hat and barefoot with the most gangrenous toes I've ever seen!!! He's a real happy chappy though.

We headed to a cattle farm which is about 800 acres to explore not quite knowing what too expect from the day, but reading the comments book, which is the walls on the inside of his clapped out van, I was a little aprehensive to say the least as it raved about bugs galore!

We jumped out the van, onced Dave opened the door for us as it didn't work from the inside!! and went for a little explore. The first thing on the agenda was an ant colony which Dave jumped on to make them angry, and stood there to get a pair of bush socks, which means that the ants all crawled so thickly all over his legs that it looked like he was wearing a pair of socks!!! It was crazy, but apparently the back packer record for this was over 6mins! Sod that!!! And Steve-O from jackass manged about 6 seconds before he ran off!

We wandered along and spotted a few more kangaroos (alive for a change!) and had a look for some snakes in among the trees with no luck. Our next find however was a red back spider! Dave has been bitten a few times but still decided to give it a poke! It was more of an orangey colour because it was pregnant but very placid. There was a male too, which was tiny and white, so obviously the females are far superior . . . . . .(please leave all comments belove I would love o hear them guys!)

We found a few more spiders and somehow I was managed to be convinced that it would be a good idea to let a golden orch run across my hand! EUGH!!!! I HATE SPIDERS!!!! It was quite a placid spider too which was quite nice and not nearly as scary as I thought. the next one we found was all big and hairy though so there was no way it was going near me!!!!

We headed of to the other side of the creek for some lunch and a swim. the edge of the creek was covered in mud that had teatree oil in it to, so me and another girl smothered ourselves in it and sat by the camp fire through lunch and let it dry. People pay a fortune for this kind of treatment so we had a nice freebie! It went rock hard and was really wierd though and cracked everytime we moved but it was good fun to try and pick it all off.

We headed off for dessertin the form of lime ants! I took one by the head and it has a little green blob on its butt, so, I did what I was told and licked it!!!! It was hilarious, like a short sharp burst of lime on my tongue but it was actually really tasty so had to give it another go!!

There were of course cattle on the farm which come from Indian origin and have a huge flap of skin under their necks which apparently keep them cool. We saw the stud of the farm and went to take his picture just as he started peeing, so we waited . . . and waited . . . . and waited!! i kid you not atleast 5 minutes it took this thing to empty its bladder!!!! (Got impatient and took my pic mid pee though!)

The final animal we found was a huntsman spider!!! These things are huge and scary!!!

Dave tried to coax it down from the tree but it was protecting its eggs and went nuts! It jumped onto his head and ran all over his shirt and scared the crap out of us!! He asked one of us to grab it and when I looked around there were 4 girls and we'd all stepped back, no way we were going anywhere near it!!!!

He finally managed to grab it of his side and he told us it was only as small one!!! I mustered up the courage to hold it and then he asked who wanted it on their face! Silence all around!!!!

I have no idea what the hell came over me, anything for a picture I guess but I decided to sacrifice myself so long as he caught it before it went in my hair. I was shitting my pants!!!! My heart was beating so fast it was crazy and my only instruction was to keep my mouth closed.

As I looked down all I could see were these huge fangs and longs legs heading up my face! EUGH!!! I was sp creeped out but have to admit it wasn't that bad and let him do it 4 times to get a decent shot on the camera.

Perhaps my phobia of spiders is cured although I bet I still leg it and scream next time I see one in the bathroom at home.

To finish the day the kangaroos came out and we watched a beautiful sunset. It was the last thing in the world I expected to be doing that day but pretty amazing and it felt like the true outback Australia.

Steve-O, Chris and Dave from Jackass and the wildboys went on the tour about 3yrs ago and they wouldn't go anywhere near the snakes. Apparently the video is somewhere on his website onUTube?

Bundaberg . . turtle hatchlings by moonlight!!

We hit Bundy at around 4:30pm and were heading on a turtle tour as the lonely planet suggested but we were there slightly early so indulged in a rum and cooke or 2 as thats the other thing this place is famous for!!
I kind of expected the turlte thing to be over in a few hours but oh no!!!! Don't rush nature and all that!!!!

We sat through a presentation and basically it was a waiting game. At midnight we finally got our call up and managed to get to see some turtles hatching rather than the eggs being laid which was great! They popped up through a hole in the ground and there was loads of them! Usually around 130 are hatched throught the one spot but we caught it mid way and saw about 50 or so. It wa so cute to watch too!! They got popped in a mini enclose and we set up a little track all the way down to the sea with a load of torch's to light the way. They all scurried down and of course there was one little runt of the litter that took twice as long to get to the sea and then couldn't catch a wave but eventually it was off into the deep blue yonder!! Apparently they disappear for 17 years and nobody knows where they go, so I may have to pop back and welcome them home in 17years time!!!

So we managed to hit the road for our next destination at 2am . . . and a massive kangaroo too!! Enough said!!!!

Australia Zoo (Brisbane). . .link here

We went around this zoo in about 2 hours as the trains took forever and then they'd changed the timetable so we missed Bindi doing her croc show!!!, however we caught a different one so all was not lost I guess!!!

I cuddled a Koala named Jaffa, (force) fed some kangaroos, stroked a wombat named Minnie and almost stepped on some small birds as I was dashing through to pick up my pictures!! Bit of a rushed day but we got to see all the Aussie stuff and we'll leave the elephants and tigers until our safari in SA!!!

Camels in Oz???

I didn't realise that Oz has camels but apparently so, so I decided to pretend to be in Egypt and partake! My camel was called Bingo and he was as old as my mam!!! ;-)

Me and some french kid were on the same camel and he wouldn't stand up at first which was typical, so they guys joked that we were to heavy!!! so when he eventually got off his ar5e (typical bloke!) we went for a little walk along the beach.

When we got to the other end the guide gave us some facts about camels, how they have 3 stomachs, the hump is made of fat, they can drink the most amount of wter in the shortest amount of time etc etc. All along my camel decided that it was bored and was shifting its weight from leg to leg, which is all fine and well but each time he did so I'd slowly be edging closer and closer to the edge and felt like I may fall off at any second or else he was gonna collapse in a heap!!! I had a very graceful dismount compared to the french kid who didn't understand to lean back and almost somersaulted over Bingo's head and think we may have traumatised the poor camel for life!!!!

Merry Crimbo

Christmas was very different from the norm this year. Christmas Eve was spent travelling up the coast and then on the beach playing touch rugby with my 2nd, or 3rd, not really sure, cousins. On Xmas day I woke up in my relatives house, who I've only just met on this trip. It was nice and warm (although a bit cloudy, got to admit!) and 11 hours ahead of your time!!

We had a great day though. Very much a time of getting to know the family and to see my great Uncle Vinny who I remember from when I was 6. Apparently I look just like my Grandma when she was younger so she must have been stunning!!! ;-)

We had a cold xmas dinner, turkey, ham, salads and the best part was huge tiger prawns and oysters. Thankfully they're not too fay from mussels so I didn't find them bad!!

The funniest moment of the day was when i was playing darts with Robbie (11yrs old) and he asked if my mam used to be the Columbian champion rather than Cumbrian!!!

Now its time to prepare for New Year and celebrate big stylie!!!

Sydney Opera House

Having landed in Sydney very excited and having taken full advantage of Quanta's complimentary drinks (just for you Dad!), Helen and I decided that we deserved a treat> A visit to the Opera House to see a show should keep us out of mischief! 'Christmas at the House' was on and the host was Simon Burke, with a whole range of christmas carols and yulrtide tales!!!

The Concert Hall was smaller than I expected, which was good as everyone had a great view, and, we even got discounted tickets as we're under 30. First time this has ever happened!!!

The show bagan and the performers came out one at a time, the ladies in beautiful long gowns and sparkly jewellery and the men all suited and booted. They made singing look sop easy and they sounded amazing.

We had to stand a few times and sing along, and I had a flash back to the school choir, standing with Helen singing away, tuneful as ever!!!

They performed a brilliant version of the Twelve Days of Christmas, where tenor, David Hobson, a big tall gangly guy pretended to lay eggs and the choir kept interupting.

The two main guys sang a song together and I was thinking to myself how they looked like real city slickers when they sprang an Aussie xmas carol on us called 6 white booma's. Its about a little joey that goes for a ride on Santa's sleigh. Next thing the two city slickers are jumping around the stage pretending to be kangaroo's!!! Hilarious!

It'll be great next Christmas when I hear all the usual tunes and will be reminded that I was in Oz listening to world class performers. The only place in the world where members of the orchetra have curly mullets and opera singers pretend to be kangaroo's, and as you step outside the view of the Opera House is still even better!!!