Yeppoon & Airlie Beach

It is the 29th of June today. Currently I am in Airlie Beach, the backpacker mecca between Brisbane and Cairns. Things are definitely warmer and more tropical...but I get ahead of myself. Last post I was still in Bundy. (Bundaberg). On Sunday I was drinking again, and alas I got thrown in the pool. It wouldn't have been so bad except for the fact I was fully dressed and had my mobile and money belt on me. LUCKILY, the passport is fine, but the mobile is pretty much toast, so I have to get a new one. So for the parents if you were trying to call and couldn't get through, that might have been the reason. In other news, the Socceroos lost to Italy and their World Cup bid is over, leading to a dramatic shift to rugby games. Anyway, after waiting until Monday for Andrew to return from Brisbane, Jason, Andrew and I took off in the car early Tuesday north on the Bruce highway. The highway goes through tons of sugarcane fields as well as cattle country in the central Queenland coast, especially around Rockhampton, the beef capital of Australia. Andrews car came with a table, stove, tent, chairs, etc. So we found a caravan park in Yeppoon, 45 km east of Rockhampton, and made camp. We stayed the night and left early the next morning. The stars were very vivid, adding to the tranquill atmosphere of the mostly retirement community. Most of Wednesday (yesterday) was spent driving from Yeppoon to Airlie Beach, through the capricorn and Witsunday coast through places like Mackay, Sarina, Claireview and Proserpine. We found another camping site in town so we are camping again. It is definitely a tropical feel here. Late at night the animals come alive - very erie in the tent, though we never saw much just had the feeling the we were surrounded. Lots of colourful birds. I am going to look into Witsunday sailing tours, and scuba diving, as I'm debating doing my open water PADI here in Airlie or waiting to go north to Cairns, the main staging point. Lastly, there is Tomato picking in Bowen, an hour or so north of here, so Jay and I might do that for a week...Andrew has decided not to work as he has a large line of credit. Until next time...