Day Two at Kroombit Cattle Station...

So day two on the cattle ranch... and with it brought many more happy memories and hysterical laughter! I know from home it is hard to imagine all of the things we are doing so I thought I would give you a little insight into our accomodation to start with. These are the lovely cabins we stayed in, cute don't you think?

The ever so slightly cramped rooms and squeaky bunk beds leave a lot to be desired but the effect is good and it was reasonably clean so that was ok. Bet it makes you wish you were sleeping with us eh!

Then this was where we ate our meals, al fresco.

And our chef... oh so many photos I want to share but they take so long to upload!

It was very traditional and I find it so hard to imagine living like this permanently. So, onto our first activity of the day and that was a "gentle hike" up to the top of a mountain to learn the didgeridoo. Easy, you might think, blowing into a tube but not quite so! But we had fun trying. The heat was pretty tough though.

We then strolled back down the hill to practice the art of chopping your fellow traveller's heads off! Well at least that is what Debs thought the idea was of using the boomerang - she was dangerous with that thing and although only about 10% of boomerangs are actually designed to come back, unfortunately hers did, with a vengeance! I didn't get a shot of her though as I was too busy ducking, so here is Julie instead.
After an early lunch it was out for a spot of horseriding to do a goat muster! That was really good fun. I had the cutest old horse, Freckles, and yes I did ask for an old horse so that it wasn't capable of galloping off with me into the sunset!!! That was brilliant, we had to shout 'eh, up! up! up!' at the goats as we rounded them all up into their pen.

This was for the purpose of our goat rodeo to follow which was just hilarious! I can't tell you how funny these things are to do, just shouting the above was funny enough. Anyway, the idea was to pair up (I went with Michelle as the others wouldn't go with me!) and one had to chase the goat and one has to brand it with an imitation hot iron. Well my goat was a fast little wotsit and also decided to take a running leap at the fence and pelt backwards so it took me about 50 seconds just to catch it!!! The others were laughing so much at me running around the ring. I eventually caught it and you had to drag it back to the centre by its horns, then your partner runs to grab the poker meanwhile I am grabbing two legs, crossing them over and heaving this goat onto it's back! I managed it and even said sorry to the goat afterwards as I felt really bad ;o(

So after our goat rodeo, feeling pretty exhausted from our muster, rodeo and horse riding we were thinking yea, we are ready to go back now and have a bit of a chill. But oh no! More was to come! We then went onto clay pigeon shooting. Now I've never done this before in my life, or imagined I would ever do it, but I managed to hit one on my fifth and final shot! It was great fun, I loved it. Stace also found a hidden talent for it too.

The last part of the action day was to hold hands and share the love. Apparently! But luckily some of us pulled out as we as started to realise all was not what it seemed. Julie was still game and took part in some crazy electrified sensation that was passed around the group! Fair play to her. Then Kate had a go too. Me, well my hair is frizzy enough so I stayed out of that one. How funny is this photo of Julie???

The evening only brought more entertainment with the bucking bronto! We were the only bus here this night so we were more inclined to make a fool of ourselves. Some of the girls managed a couple more than the night before and Katie didn't repeat her fall - but here are the photos as promised of the night before as they were just too funny to miss off. I even stayed on for 12 or 13 bucks this time - not sure what is happening to me out here, I'm finding hidden talents I didn't know I had!!!

On our way out of this crazy town the next morning we got to play lawn bowls, what on earth was that about?!? Felt like we had reached retirement age slightly early but it was quite intriguing as I have never done it before. Won't bore you with photos of that though as I'm sure you get the idea. Then it was off for a long drive to Carnarvon Gorge National Park. We are loving the bus! Well the people anyway, we have such funny fellow travellers - German, Italian, English, Canadian, French and Finish - and all very amusing.

Sorry you'll have to wait for my sailing update but we had the best time! It was so much fun we are thinking of becoming sailors! Don't forget to check out the other two blogs for more versions of the funny stories, http://www.thegirlsareaway.blogspot.com/ and http://www.burnettisbackpacking.blogspot.com/.

Jenx

Kroombit Cattle Station - Day One

Well soooo much to tell about these couple of days that we spent at Kroombit Cattle Station, it was such an amusing couple of days I can't really explain it to do it justice! It is a working cattle farm so it was really good to be a part of something authentic rather than just put on for tourists, although there is of course an element of that still.

We arrived on Friday night to find out that Friday night is.... cross dressing party night! I'm not sure what we thought about that idea first of all but we were given a couple of big boxes of clothes to dig into, and everyone got into the spirit of it! We laughed so much, it was just hilarious.

We had dinner cooked on their camp fire of soup and then roasted meat with vegetables etc, that was nice. Then they have their little make-shift bar which was just funny to have drinks with.

This second one is Jen and Heather, two Canadian girls on our bus. And Michael, our German friend, who is just absolutely hilarious and great fun to have on the bus.

We were given the chance to learn how to 'crack the whip' which is alot harder than it looks. You can throw it up and down to hit the floor quite easily but to make it crack is not so easy to do! We all had a good go though and got ourselves on the arm a couple of times, and I managed to make it almost crack once haha. The goggles slightly ruin the look though, don' t you think?

You haven't heard the best though - the funniest part of the night was by far the mechanical bull!!! We could not stop laughing, so much til our stomachs hurt. We have video'd some of our attempts at getting on and riding this bull and you will have to see them when we are home as they are just hysterical. We keep watching them on the bus and laughing out loud!

Katie was by far the most entertaining of the night! Being used to riding horses, and seeing how everyone else was struggling even get on the bull, she lunged herself up onto it but was perhaps a little over ambitious in her judgement, flopped right over the other side, hung there for about five seconds trying to decide mid air whether she could claw her dignity back and oopps - no! There she goes, straight over the other side onto the landing mat! I was almost wetting myself with laughter and she couldn't get up for her giggling. (*photos will follow). I think we have a video of that, you must see it if you want a giggle. I think Deb managed to stay on til her second buck, the others all came off on the first buck and I somehow managed to stay on til my fifth buck! It was so funny as everyone just wets themselves laughing at you but it was so entertaining.

The rest of the stories will follow on... we are off sailing around the Whitsunday islands now for three days (though it is actually raining right now!)

xx

Sea Kayaking at Rainbow Beach

On the morning that we returned from Fraser Island we went sea kayaking - we were due to go before Fraser Island but had to split our group into two and as it was raining, we volunteered to wait! We were glad we did too as it was lovely and sunny on our morning, even if it did mean up at 6am for it!

We were supposed to be spotting dolphins too but as it is near the end of the right time of year we didn't see any, though kayaking was great fun so it didn't matter. We paddled right out and then drifted for a while looking, then got off at a little sand island for a bit. Paddling was fine - Stace and I shared a boat, but getting out wasn't quite so easy... as we went up onto the sand bank I started to get out and a big wave came along and knocked me sideways straight into the sea! Up to my waist anyway. Kate and Deb thought it was hilarious and so did I, but then as we were finishing kayaking their boat turned sideways and completely knocked them out into the sea and turned their boat upside down! We did laugh. As we are with most of the things we are doing - we are all having a great time!

After kayaking we set off on our long bus ride (they get so boring we just sleep and listen to our ipods!) and we stopped at a small little town for lunch. That's one of the great things about these tours is that they take you via places you wouldn't usually see - I mean, this town looks like it is something out of a time warp doesn't it?

Oh no!

Oh no! Deb lost her anorak. But haha that wasn't what I meant. We are off to a cattle farm today - yee ha! How funny, but oh no as we just found out we probably wont have internet for five days!!! What are a group of girls to do. Hopefully we will have phone signal to text at least! Just when we took a wicked picture of the fittest surf dude ever this morning too, our guide for sea kayaking. That was fun - will post soon - well in about five days so will be a long one!

I love all your comments too so keep them up, they are great reading. Sue G I am guessing that last one was from you, Stace said she was doing well updating it this last week too haha. I am just used to updating it as I did it at home for my craft work anyway. Hol Stace is next to me and is good too!

And we have amazing sunshine today too - just in time for kayaking, yea! Dad - lots of love.

Jenxxxxx

A bumpy ride

So we headed off onto Fraser Island for a two day four wheel drive around the island - the world's largest sand island apparently for those that care! No phone signal or internet haha, we coped just about. It is a lovely island but sadly apart from the first morning we just had rain, rain, rain - what's that about?!? We didn't pay to come here for rain, we could of stayed at home for that! But we had a lovely sunny morning by a lake so that was gorgeous.

We got a ferry over to the island then we drove along the coast for the first day, stopping at different points. Lots of jelly fish everywhere! You aren't allowed to swim in the ocean here as there are sharks, so just in the lakes. It was such a bumpy ride for the two days, it felt like the bus was going to tip over half of the time!

We stopped at Lake Wabby which was just stunning, and about a 40 min trek in from the coast. It was so nice to have the sun at this point and go for a good swim in the warm water. Lots of the guys were mucking away running right from the top of the sand dunes, pelting into the water. Crazy!

But stunning. Then we did a walk up 'Indian Head' which also had stunning views, though it was raining by now. We stopped at some other various points too. Our accomodation for the night was really quite nice actually. Some of the girls saw a dingo (like wild dogs) on their way to bed (we had different rooms) and remembering what the instructor said about standing still, staring them in the eye and staying calm, Deb and Kate bolted for the bedroom like lightning! good job they got there before the dingo decided he was interested in chasing them!

Our next stop was a walk through Eli Creek, in the rain, did I already mention that it was raining?!? Us five with our waterproof jackets on was not the sort of look we were aiming for haha.

Wet? Bothered. We walked through the creek anyway and it was good fun, it wasn't that cold actually and we had quite a laugh, until someone said snake and Katie wanted to bolt!!! Oh, then Derek, or Derk, (we aren't quite sure!) the German guy in our group dropped his camera directly into the water - ouch!! Julie and I just stared at each other in disbelief. I think I would have cried if that was me.

We slept well that night and after lots of nice buffet foods and more rain, rain, rain, we started a little walk through the rainforest (bit like the jungle in Thailand Nic - you would have loved it!!).

I think we are making our own amusement though and we have lots of funny characters on our bus. Not our guide though, I think the girls are going to smack him one any day soon! On our walk we stopped to try the fresh drinking water, it was very sweet actually. No I'm not blowing a kiss here or washing my face - I am actually trying to drink while the girls got a picture haha!

Next stop was an early lunch as it was raining, er, we really weren't hungry at 11am! But still, then onto the most beautiful lake, Wanggoolba. It was such a shame it wasn't sunny as it was beautiful even in the rain. Some of the group went for a swim anyway but it was a bit too cold for me. Stunning colours of the water though.

Then eventually we returned back to where we stayed the other night, on the coast of Rainbow Beach. We have been taking such funny and random photos but they are usually on everyone else's cameras so wont post too many. You can probably see half of them on facebook though. Tomorrow we are off at 6am for sea kayaking - should be amusing. In the rain most likely! Then we move off from here. Oh and we saw a dolphin today - well, the fin anyway!

I'm having a great time and it is so different being away with most of the girls on a long trip like this. Though I was very sad to hear that Great Uncle Alf passed away the other day. He had been very poorly but it is really sad, especially that I was not at home. But we had spent a lot of good time together so that is what counts.

More photos and stories to come soon, lots of love to everyone and I will reply to my email soon too.

Jenx

Just a quick one as don't have much to report really. We have moved on up to Rainbow Beach, we are staying here right now...

Here

We were supposed to go kayaking but the weather has been terrible for the last couple of days, raining alot, and there was a mix up with our booking so half went today, and the other half can go Friday. Needless to say, we weren't slow in volunteering to go Friday as we thought we might get better weather haha! So nothing to report really, having a chilled night playing pool and a few drinks in the bar here. Tomorrow we are off to Fraser Island for a two day four wheel drive tour, should be fun - hopefully the sun will come out or we are going to come back as milk bottles the way we are going!

Riding the waves

As promised, here is the photo that we got of us climbing Sydney harbour bridge. It already seems a long time ago and it is just a photo of a photo so sorry it is blurry, although we aren't looking too hot so we kinda like the fact you can't see it properly haha!

It was a long day Sunday sitting on our bus all day, with a funny driver named Simo. I think he forgets that he had already told us things though and is repeating everything at least five times. Enough already!!! But it was straight up to Arrawarra for us to Surf Camp, possibly one of my favourite, funniest moments of the trip so far. Can you imagine us five trying to surf?!? And distracted by lots of blonde surfers with nice bodies haha.

But before we surfed, we had the actual camp to entertain us. We arrived and had these hilarious little "log cabins' - well oh my goodness, we have not giggled so much in ages looking at the beds and working out who would sleep where, I mean, were all these beds made just for mice?!?! Seeing Julie try to clamber up this little ladder onto the top top bunk had me in hysterics, and them too. Ever seen a triple bunk before? This was the practice run before any alcohol!


Then we were called for our camp dinner which was yummy fahitas, maybe they knew we were coming! The sky was really lovely at dinner time too (this one's for you Dave Poole!).


And then we had a sit round the camp fire getting to know our bus. The fire then moved to the beach and we sat there for a long time, while one of the surf dude instructions whipped out his guitar and sang songs. Except only the first song was a real song, the rest he made up - including a song dedicated to Stace, Julie and me! Was so funny that I videod some of it, but probably a good job I can't upload the videos to here as it wasn't too appropriate haha.

So a bang on the door at 6.30am, after a wonderful nights sleep in the beds made for mice, and there we were back eating our breakfast. Then onto the delights of slipping into those snug, clean and flattering wetsuits of ours! how we laughed. We were all really looking forward to surfing though and after a little bit of theory and practice on the sand we headed into the water.

Well we all managed to stand up! (Except Julie, but we won't go there, eh Jules!). She much prefers skiing... I, on the other hand, am thinking I'm more of a surfer than a skiier - except at least in skiing you don't get wacked over the head with a ten tonne board every few minutes!!!

I loved it. I think we all did. But boy, did I get battered by the ocean. Or was it the board? The instructor helped us to get our balance as some of the waves came, other times we did it by ourselves, and we managed to stand up, it was so much fun. But the waves got stronger and higher as the morning wore on (nothing to do with us getting more tired either!) so it took so much energy to get out there past the big waves just to ride one back that it was exhausting. I got battered on the head (did I already say that?!? Surely not!) quite a few times by my board and scratched my face on it too plus Katie really hurt her finger and Deb hurt her foot but we all really enjoyed it. For more piccies see the girls blog as they are large files (http://www.thegirlsareaway.blogspot.com/ or Julie's - http://www.burnettisbackpacking.blogspot.com/)

So then it was back on the bus and we have headed up the coast to Brisbane, via Byron Bay. Stopped at a lighthouse on the way, nice but not so thrilling, so now just catching up on our only night here before we head off for another early start tomorrow morning. Sea kayaking I think it is we do next! Look our ocean. (oh here is a piccy of the view from the lighthouse - just for you Dad!)

-

Til next time,

Jenx

(Susan - was that enough to keep your fix going? haha)

(PS Sue G - Katie was singing with her nun outfit on, I dont think it was one of those songs but I'm sure she would love to star in the sing along show!)

Oh, happy day!

We went out to a karaoke pub yesterday with David, the friend of Katie and Grahams who we met up with at the start of the week. It was such an old mans pub, but pretty funny. Oh the way home we had a right giggle singing choir songs and mucking about with our matching white and black cardigans - two of each made fantastic nun outfits! Don't you think it suits Katie???

We hadn't done much in the day yesterday as it was raining so we didn't go for the organised walk to Bondi beach as we had planned. Just went for a walk around some of the city that we hadnt seen before and Stace rested in bed as she was really poorly. She is feeling much better today though!

This morning we got the bus over to Kings Cross area of Sydney to meet Stacey's friend for breakfast in a very hip and trendy eaterie, check us out getting with the locals. It was gorgeous food and drink! Then we had a bit of a wander and came back to the hostel to get ready for our next adventure of the evening...

Climbing Sydney harbour bridge! It was really good fun but nowhere near as daunting or scary as I thought, it was quite a timid walk really. The weather brightened up for us too which was great, shame we look awful in our photo but we got it anyway haha, will post it sometime soon. See the ant like creatures walking over the bridge? Thats what we did today!

Off up the east coast early tomorrow...

We are going to the zoo....zoo.....zoo....

We have crammed quite a lot into a few days in Sydney so far so I'm pretty tired still, am going to blame that on the jet lag the whole way through I think! Though I haven't had another episode where I nearly fell asleep in my dinner, yet. (Nic - you would be laughing at me like in Eygpt, any bus travel time is sleep time again!)

Someone recommended the zoo to us so we had a little trip there on Wednesday. We had to go to the harbour and get a ferry across which was fun, the views of Sydney harbour are amazing. It was a good zoo and had alot to look at so we were pretty tired by the end at the first half of the day was pretty hot.

That evening we had a lovely night out on Stacey's work so thanks to them! Stacey had a voucher for a gorgeous bar that overlooked Bondi Beach so we did it in true classy backpacker style, dressed ourselves up, had a pot noodle for dinner and then got the bus there haha! But our bus driver forgot to tell us where to get off so there we were, all sitting at the back of the bus in the suburbs somewhere chatting to the driver while he had his necessary ten minute driving break, before he drove back like a nutter feeling guilty that he had forgotten to tell us to get off! The bar was lovely and we had some champagne too, and our friend Wendy came with us who is sharing our room.

The next day was another tiring one but really good fun. We went to Blue Mountains which was about an hour out on the bus, but we were on an organised tour for that one. First stop was a little area where we saw Kangeroos.

Our guide, Bill, was very funny and took us on some great walks and the views were stunning. (Dad you would have loved the views!). He got us to have a go with some war paint on our faces and drawing a little story onto bark, which Katie won for the best story and got a free ice cream! Hoorah. That was my little bit of creativity to top me up for a while. We had walked down so then got the steepest train in the world, apparently, back up to the top.

It was fairly late when we got back and so we got ready and met a friend of Julie's for some drinks last night which was nice. Stace has another cold so is feeling a bit rough but we are hoping we won't all keep passing it between us. Our hostel is pretty good, it is a huge city one and we have a room of 6 so fairly small with a shared bathroom for the whole floor I think, but it is clean which is all that matters! We have been good and although eaten out a bit have been shopping today to get more soup and pasta for some cheap lunches and dinner so its all good. We were supposed to do a beach walk with our hostel today but it is raining too much so we have given that a miss.

That's about it for now, will add some more photos on here but the video files are far too large to get onto a blog so you will have to wait til we are home for those, sorry! Hope everyone is good anyway.

Jenx