Again, the time flew by, and our last week in Australia passed in a flash!
The first stop after Rainbow beach was Hervey bay, where we met Ellie's sister Emma and her family before taking a bike ride along the esplanade to a long pier where we saw scools of tuna, big flatheads and a couple of dolphins.
Off the coast of Hervey bay is the southern most point of the barrier reef, so the local waters have lots of marine life.
From Hervey bay we continued on north to a town called seventeen seventy. The grass got greener, the rain fell harder and the mosquitoes got fatter.
James Cook wasn't feeling in an imaginative mood when he discovered the town of seventeen seventy in 1770, I guess.
Despite the rubbish name it was a great spot, and we really made the most of it by going on a motorbike tour, surfing and sea kayaking before going on to a place called Kroombit to stay at a cattle station.
Kroombit was a lot of fun. We rode horses and mustered goats, participated in a goat rodeo, shot rifles, cracked whips, painted our faces, rode a bull and stayed up late playing games with our fellow travellers.
Beyond that, we stayed for one night at a place called Airlie beach. There's not much at Airlie, and it seems as though most people use it as a stepping stone to the whitsunday islands, which we sadly had to miss due to a lack of time.
Magnetic island was our next stop. Again discovered by Captain Cook who was inspired to name it as such when his compass went on the squiff as he sailed by.
It's 50% national park, and supplied us with some good hiking ground for the afternoon that we spent there before going on up to Mission beach.
Nobody ever figured out why Captain Cook's compass went wrong.
The first settlement in Mission beach was during the stolen generation of Australian history.
Aboriginal children were taken from their families and educated in the ways of western culture so as to make them 'civilised'. This education took place in Christian missions, hence the name Mission beach.
A tropical storm flattened Mission beach, and it wasn't rebuilt until after the aboriginal assimilation program ended in 1972.
Mission beach pretty much relies on tourism now. It has lots of pretty islands off it's shores and has the majority of the world's wild casawaries. An aggressive blue necked, boney crowned emu like critter that desperately wants to kill every other living thing with it's long talons.
There are 1500 left on the planet, and we actually got to see a wild one! Sadly, I took the picture on Ellie's camera so you guys don't get to see it here. Perhaps check Ellie's blog thing!
The reason for our stay in Mission beach was to dive on the barrier reef but our trip was cancelled, so we took a short boat ride across to one of the islands off the coast. there was a resort there, so we pretended we were staying there and used their tennis courts and cafe's.
From Mission beach, Ellie and I went to Cairns where we had our last evening meal before getting up at stupid o clock to fly back to Sydney.
After an exciting day of waiting in the airport, it was time for Ellie to head home, so now I'm back in the same hostel in Sydney and it's my last morning here.
Now this story is written, I'm going to jump on a train and head to the airport. Next stop, Bankok!
