Bacon sandwich and cereal and a cup of tea for breakfast, all done for 8am, then quick check around and hop on the bus to nerang,
Surf side santa was driving the bus, and they are doing a promotion where if i share a snap on social media they will donate to a local stocking appeal.
When I got to Nerang station, I used a pay phone to call Passion Cruises, as they had a free phone number and I couldn't use my Oz sim or O2 SIM to get the free calls. This was to arrange a prescription mask for the snorkeling, and confirme they have stinger suits. All in all it makes an extra $17, but I think the benefits more than outweigh the costs!
The train arrived and whisked me in to central Brisbane, and since I didn't need to locate an optician now, I used the extra hour I had to go to the museum. I got there just in time to go on the 10.45am clock tower tour, and got the last ticket (for free). It was interesting seeing the cam being used to pull the bell hammer rope. The bells weigh 7 tonnes, and well made in Loughborough in England, and shipped to Australia in 1930.
I went round the museum part too, there was an art exhibit showing chinese digital art and others, which was very interesting, I am sure I could have probably spent several hours there, but my time was limitted, so I made sure it was a whistle stop tour.
As a result, I made it to the airport in good time, and set the rucksack up ready to check in. When it went to weigh in it was 21.5kg. I honestly can't figure out where this phantom 3 kg comes and goes, but the person at the bag drop off let it through anyway.
The flight was fairly uneventful, and we made it to Proserpine airport 15 minutes ahead of schedule. My first impression was that it was smaller than Launceston airport - you could see to the other side of the terminal building, there was only one xray/metal detector machine, one back reclaim conveyor, and I'm pretty sure even a kid could kick a football from one end to the other!
I gathered my belongings, ad booked on to the shuttle bus for the 40 minute drive to Airlie beach, my destination for the next 3 nights.
WHen I boarded the bus, the first thing I noticed was the strong smell of alcohol, though after a while it seemed more like meths than drinking alchohol, and seemed to be coming through the air conditioning. I never did ask the driver about it though, as he had forgotten to drop me off at my drop off, so I got a free tour of Airlie, as well as Shute Harbour. This was to my advantage, as it also resulted in me getting to avoid a heavy downpour!
After checking in, I booked on to a crocodile safari tour, realising that it was probably my last chance to really see crocodiles in Australia - which couldn't be passed up - everyone knows that crocodiles are rampant in this country, if Crocodile Dundee is anything to go by! That will just leave Koalas as being something I haven't really seen yet - maybe I'll need to find an animal park on my spare day in Cairns!
I went to the room, and found 4 german girls there , all travelling independantly from each other - I think this must be the highest number I've come across at once - the other 2 people in the room being from England
The hostel itself was located right next to a Woolworths grocery store, which was pretty convenient for the shopping, and I decided to opt for noodles as my starch, with chicken, mushrooms and a green pepper to cook up to add to them. This required a bit of negotiation in the kitchen as there was only 3 stoves between all the residents, so the kitchen was very busy.
I managed after a while, and sat down and spoke with a Spanish girl who is awaiting the outcome of a job application - unfortunately the company is messing her around somewhat though and saying 'we will tell you this afternoon' across several days in the week.
As the crocodile tour was set for 7am, I decided on an early night, so completed the journal write up and japanese lessons, then retired to bed - it feels like this is a party town and a half though, though at least the hostel rules are still 'no alcohol in the rooms'.