Merry Christmas!! (Australia part 3?)

Right Guys here I am again - its been a while - quite a bit has been happening.

I ll start where I left off.  We left Airlie and headed to Rainbow beach which was a 12 hour overnight trip on a bus - not the most comfortable.  Anyhoo we got in and booked in to our hostel and then got a phone call from Joe and Laulau saying they were on their way so we met them off the bus and checked them in and as we were heading to get some lunch got a phone call from the parents saying they had arrived too!  proper little family reunion - the only one missing was Philly (but dont worry we will be reunited as a complete family unit as of xmas eve!!) so we had a lovely couple of days catching up. 

then Kate joe lau and I were all in the same group for Fraser Island 4x4 self drive camping. Fraser is the worlds largest sand island and part national park so it is truly beautiful. we had 3 german girls and 3 irish guys in our group and by god the boys could drink!  The german girls were very quiet - but hardly surprising with us 4 and the 3 irish lads creating havoc!! We had a wicked time - we checked out the freshwater creek  which you could float down all the way to the sea and tehn went up to Indian Head for sunset to try and see the sharks feeding but they werent obliging - however we did see a turtle and the view was awesome. - we camped on the beach on the first night and got stuck into the copious amounts of alcohol and everything took a little longer in the morning to deal with as we had to take down the tents and pack up camp. So we took a leisurely drive to Lake Wabby which you have to walk through miles of jungle to get to and then is surrounded by sand dunes which was amazingly refreshing as everyone was starting to get a bit wiffy! then we headed to Lake Mackensie which I could have stayed at for the full 3 days. The water was the whole spectrum of blues and turquoise and the sand was brilliant white.  We stayed in a campsite near mackensie on the 2 nd night so we could spend the 3 morning there before heading back to the hostel.  however getting to the campsite proved an adventure - i was driving and it decided to rain - i dont mean piddling sort of rain i mean a torrential down pour which i couldnt see half a metre in front of the 4x4 and the windscreen started leaking and the windscreeen wipers worked sporadically - so all in all i was ready for a beer once we got to the campsite!

After leaving Fraser we returned to Rainbow beach for a night before heading to Noosa - Anna you were right - i did love and we should have had more time there but its just going sooo quickly! Joe and Lau came with us and we all stayed in Dolphins Hostel in Sunshine beach which  was so chilled and relaxing - the first day we pretty much just vegged and slept.  the next day we went to Steve Irwins Australia Zoo which was great - got to see croc shows and birds of prey and snakes (and stroke one!) and tiger cubs - we patted koalas and fed kangeroos and there was a kids petting zoo with piglets, lambs, calves, goats etc which i loved (maybe i should consider a career change - a farmers life for me!) All in all a brill day and rounded it off with treating ourselves to dinner at Jaspers, a piano bar in Noosa Heads supping Gin and Tonics and tucking into rib eye whilst being seranaded by a chap on the old ivory keys pretending we could afford it! Bliss.

We spent the day checking out the shops and trying to body board without losing bikini bottoms - no mean feat let me tell you - theres definitely a skill to it!  joe and lau left that eve to head to Airlie Beach as they were going on the Anaconda III the next eve. So kate and I joined in on the hostel bbq and were planning an early night as we were leaving for Brisbane the next day.  I dont know why we plan these things cos early nights never pan out - ended up staying up all night again - well if you cant do these things on holiday when can you do them!!

Kates friend Craig came to pick us up the next day and took us to stay with him and his wife Tania for a few days in Brissy.  theyve just had a baby who was 5 weeks premature and is the tiniest little thing!  boy could it scream though! Craig and Tania took us sightseeing and we went out in chinatown for dinner and Craig and his friends took us up to Queen Mary Falls on their motorbikes for the day which was awesome.  I spent the morning on the back of a Ducati 900 85BHP and the afternoon on a Honda 954 148BHP zipping up to 210Kmph - that almost wrenched my jaw apart!  We returned to a bbq the true ozzie style - meat and beer!

And now here we are in Byron Bay only for one night as we have another 13 hour trip down to Sydney in time for xmas festivities!

So guys this will prob be my last instalment before crimbo so good cheer and heartfelt warmth to the lot of ya.  Have an awesome day - i ll be missing out on the Hogs on xmas eve but im sure you ll cope! YOu know where i am if you miss me - ive always got the phone on.

Lots of christmas love

x

Jen