Up - to - Date!

Day 27

Crocodile pie! It's a little bit like a chickeny fish, quite bland with a flaky texture, but the pie filling sauce was very nice, and I can now say I have eaten croc and roo! All I need to eat now is emu, then I have tried the Aussie Trio.
Anyway, lunch was a croc pie because we stopped off at Fredo's pies on the bus journey to Coffs Harbour, our next stop. Coffs is a nice looking little town, and our accomodation is a small hotel/motel called the Hoey Moey and is literally less than a minute from the beautiful beach! It's evening by the time we check in so we head to the beach with two Canadians; Carly and Sam, to play frisbee and let Shaun try out his new returning boomerang (courtesy of me and B for his xmas/newyear/birthday).

Day 28

Today the four us of move to a 3 bed room (well one double and a single) – the manager seems happy for us to cram as many people in a room as we feel comfortable with which is handy as we're all getting poorer by the day! However, the room move means we have time to kill as we have to wait for cleaning, so we go to the plaza to check out the shops...

Shaun and Mark buy fishing rods...

Lol.

Me and charlie had a nap (the sun wears you out) whilst waiting for the boys to 'catch our dinner'. Luckily we didn't actually believe they'd catch anything, or we would have gone hungry! B did manage to lose to sets of tackle though!

Day 29

Wake up early, ready for an exciting day, and spend the morning trying to scrub the rust stains off Bs new Tshirt because he left it to 'dry' (after getting SOAKED fishing) on the shower curtain rail, which was, unsurprisingly, (considering the general cheapness of our room) rusty! It actually went quite well... and then Shaun leaves his white rash vest on the clothes rail and that gets rusty too! Whoever thought it was a good idea to buy a white rashy though!?
Then, Charlie gets in the shower, and starts screaming! There was a HUGE spider in there! We reckon it was only a huntsman, but it took ages to catch and take away! And it required the modification of the bottom of a juice bottle to catch as it was too big to fit in a mug like a normal spider! Mark and Shaun had fun spider hunting though!
Anyway, once we eventually sort out the boys we head off to try and find the jetty. On the way B stops for fish and chips at a fishery, where three pelicans are being fed scraps by the fishermen. It was very cool, for such big birds they are very agile in the air, and also quite good at catching too! One swooped down at high speed to snatch a big bit of salmon off the floor! They were absolutely massive, and completely dwarved the Gulls they were hanging around with (which, to be fair, are, weirdly, smaller than English Gulls.) It is also surprising to see how malleable their beaks and gullets are, its completely different seeing things in real life to on T.V!
Later the boys go fishing again, and I decide to watch (the beach really is rather nice here!). Just as I get bored and start to think about going in, Shaun runs over with a ray! Watching him attempt to bash it to death with a rock was making me feel a little sick – the poor little ray – so I went to talk to B, and he catches a fish too! B's looks edible (unlike the ray, which is now oozing but apparently still alive – Inbetweeners moment!) but also prooves difficult to kill. Meanwhile Shaun has stabbed his ray three times in the head to try and kill it, and its still flapping its finny bits, and then it gives birth to a tiny baby ray!! Shaun is such a mean murderer! However the ray had completely swallowed his massive hook, so I guess it would have never survived the traumatic incident anyway.

Day 30

River bay! This area is a nice patch of grass and sand (with the usual free bbq and water fountain and toilet facilities which are so useful :D) next to the mouth of a river. It apx 10 mins from the hoey and the water is calm and clear and perfect for snorkeling and swimming, so we have a very chilled out day.
Walking back from dinner me and mark find Shaun and Charlie being harassed by a group of drunken aussie girls who are trying to persuade them to go out. Me and B prove more persuadable when one of them offers to pay for us entirely – who'd turn down a free night out??
Turns out the night out wasn't so much of an event – drunk girl gets refused entry at the first bar, and then gets bored of the second place after apx 10mins, so we go back to drink on the beach... which is undeniable beautiful at night (clear sky means thousands of fantastic stars!) but not all that interesting. That being said, they were all really nice girls (and they paid for a lot of alcohol for us and a married couple they had also persuaded to join them) and it was nice to get out and be sociable!

Day 31

Snorkel time :D Not that much to see as we were only in the river bay, but fun all the same! Also whilst waiting for Shaun to buy a snorkel, mask and fins (which I have no idea how he managed to fit into his already breaking backpack) me and B saw the friendliest blue tongue. He was eating the remains of a peach the lady sat next to us had given him, and once he'd finished he slithered over to see us, poking his little tongue in and out – we got some fantastic pics! Then some kids scared him away, they were like 'do lizards bite?aaaah!' (which is silly as blue tongues obviously don't bite!).
Another chilled evening, as the sun really does drain your energy – we watched slum dog 'mill-on-air', I'd forgotten how fantastic that film really is!

Day 32

Wake up at 5 to watch the sunrise, and take a lot of pretty pictures :D then I start feeling all funny – I think I got too hot yesterday, so I sleep it off while Shaun and Charlie go to snorkel around a mini island, which is meant to have the best snorkeling in the area. Mark waits with me in the room, and then later we go to the same place (after 3pm the sun is loads more manageable). It very cool, with rays and little brightly coloured fishies, and thousands of tiny jellyfish (they don't sting, although it is annoying when you get your hand stuck in one!). We did have to stop earlier than I would have liked though as B got really cold! He needs to get a wetsuit!

Day 33

Off to surf camp today, so we check out at 10 and decide to walk to see the famous BIG banana (which is big enough to walk through, but B found disappointing because it wasn't as big as his imagination – read his blog for his philosophical thoughts on size expectations lol). It's very very hot (it is midday) so B is the only one who feels like walking the banana trail – and we're all glad we didn't go when he comes back disappointed again as its partially closed. He then persuades us (with good promises of air con) to go to the art gallery which is, oddly, situated in the same building as the banana stuff. The air con is good, but the art is fantastic! We all liked it, although I seemed to prefer different paintings to the others lol. Anyway check out Jeffrey Baker, he's good.
Waiting for the bus is the most tedious thing I have ever done... took 41/2 hrs! Anyway we eventually get to surf camp, and guess who's there – our friendly Canadians from Coffs!
Sam and Carly persuade us to drink (all of) our vodka, so we have a good evening chatting with everyone, playing on the beach and playing games etc. Or rather I did, B got drunk, passed out, had to be rescued from a hosing down by the management by some of the girls in our dorm, and then threw up all over the toilets! And that, boys and girls, is why you should learn your drinking limits!

Day 34

Surfing lesson! Good fun, and I stood up twice! Thirsty work though, and after a while being bashed by the waves wears you out somewhat! We did get an all you can eat lunch though with lots of tasty tasty salad – yum!
Apres luncheon we're back on the bus to byron bay, where you can get a meal for $5! (which was actually rather nice!)

Day 35

Our hostel provides free bike (and board) hire, so we hop on some canary yellow bikes and cycle along the coast to the most easterly point of Oz. Its is beautiful, although has a lot of steps, so we walked quite a lot of the way! The views were stunning, the sea unbelievably clear and a fantastic pale turquoise. Just past Easterly Point we also get to see sea turtles – from afar obviously as we're at the top of a cliff, but I got a fantastic photo of an absolutely massive loggerhead, he rather thoughtfully raised his head and front flippers out of the water at the same time so I could photo him perfectly!
When we get back we head to Byron bay dive centre to book a dive/snorkl trip for Charlies birthday on friday, and on the way back get sidetracked into tribal travel, where we book quite a few activities up the coast – the first being a canoe tour of the tea tree rivers (river of mirrors) in Noosa national park, which sounds amazing!

Day 36

Today we make use of the free board hire (even though me and B are checking out to go camping instead). I get a body board not a surf board because I'm not stupid and realise that these boards will be a world away from the teaching boards we were on in surf camp (and I'm right, no one manages to stand up and they're difficult to manage). Its a fun morning anyway!
Later me and B decide it's probably a good idea to get some cooking implements for our camping expedition, and that pretty much occupies our whole evening!

Day 37

DIVING! Tres tres coooool! We saw wobbegong sharks, a HUGE turtle, loads of little fishies of all colours everywhere, some angelfish which were nearly a foot long, whole families of rats, scary black spiky sea urchin things, coral.... it was amazing! We also saw a blue grouper called Monty who has lived near Julians rock for over ten years and lets the dive guide tickle his lips! The only part I am sad about is that I spent quite a lot of time trying to take pictures as opposed to concentrating on the environment! I will definitely be diving as much as I can!
It is also Charlies Bday (Happy Birthday Charlie!) so the dive centre give her a free Tshirt – how nice of them!
Anyway the evening is spent having a BBQ in Charlies honour and getting slightly 'googled' (which is what they call it when you drink too much goon!) Lucy and Em, you would love it here, it's goon central! Then on the way back to camp me and B have a chat with the supermarket man about biscuits – they don't know what digestives or penguins are here!

Day 38

Today!! Most of today has been spent writing this for you lovely guys, so you better appreciate it! Obviously we went to the beach for a bit – but it's cloudy and muggy today so not as fun as it could have been! May go again later when it cools down a bit; there's a nice picnic bench overlooking the beach at the top of the camp site so B and I might go to chill out there for a while (the kitchen is the coldest place though, so we may stay here... time will tell)

Love you all! xxxx



Ps Goon is really cheap aussie 'wine'. It's so un-wine-like the boxes don't even label themselves as wine (although they obviously don't label themselves goon either lol). Anyway its lethal and cheap!