A new career in the offing?

Well, probably not, I don't think I could drive a train all day. But I can at least claim that I have sat in the driver's seat of "The Ghan" which is the train that runs from Darwin to Adelaide (it takes 2 days). Randomly I ended up sitting next to one of the drivers when we were on a tour of Katherine Gorge and so got a trip to the engine. Unsurprisingly the train wasn't moving when they let us in...
So anyway I'd headed back over to the 'Top End' to catch the train and after about 4 hours you get to Katherine. I hadn't had the chance to get there before so decided to splash the cash and use the 4 hour wait at the station productively. Katherine Gorge is pretty impressive. I wanted to go canoeing but the water levels were still high after the wet season which meant that there could be some saltwater crocodiles in there so they won't let you go yet. We didn't see any salties on the boat cruise I could take but there were 5 freshwater crocs at the side of the river that I'd not have wanted to canoe into either!
Back on the train and luckily it wasn't busy so I got 4 seats facing each other to myself. Unfortunatley whilst this meant I had lots of space I still didn't sleep well the 1st night. By the second night I'd realised that my backpack was so full that it didn't give way if I put weight on it so I used it as a support between the seats and slept a lot better.
Anyway there were some cool sunsets on the way south and I spent a few hours in Alice Springs where I would have gone quad biking but it was really expensive so I just went to town. If you've ever been to Alice Springs you'll know that there's not a lot to do there so I was glad when the train headed off again.
When i got to Adelaide I managed to go on a trip to the Barossa Valley which is the home of Jacobs Creek and many other wineries. They gave us 10 wines to try which we downed in about 30 mins so everyone was a bit merry right from the start. We hit 3 more tastings as well as seeing the world's largest rocking horse (the aussies have a bit of an obsession with big things) and had my first taste of kangaroo, which I think was nice though I can't really remember what it tasted like. That night I wanted to go to an AFL match but it was sold out and on the other side of the city and I couldn't be bothered to leg it over there and get a ticket off a tout. I guess I'll have to save the aussie rules match for another trip.

Nearly a disaster

So somehow I forgot to mention the tsunami that hit the east coast of Australia...or should that be gently nudged. Just as I was getting into Airlie Beach the bus driver announced that there'd been an earthquake in the Solomon Islands and there was a tsunami heading towards Australia and it would hit Cairns 1st so then everyone would know whether to head for the hills in Airlie or not. No-one it seemed was particularly bothered though which was strange although I later found out that they had cancelled operations and closed schools in Cairns and in somewhere called Mackay they had pulled people out of the water. It turns out the tsunami was about 2 cm high by the time it hit the east coast so it was a bit of an anti-climax though I was happy as it meant I could still go on my sailing trip.
I did decide to try and get soaked by waves anyway so I went whitewater rafting (yet again) on the Tully River south of Cairns which was fun.
Next I headed to Port Douglas which is just north of Cairns where Matthew McConaughey hangs out a lot, though not at the moment. However my mate Sally who I met on the west coast was there so we have some beers which was cool.
Back in Cairns and I headed to the Atherton Tablelands which is a waterfally scenic area. One of the waterfalls was used for a Timotei advert and alas also for the video for 'Mysterious Girl' by Peter Andre, apparently they had to build a wooden platform under the water so he wouldn't look so short!
Still in the water I headed out to the Great Barrier Reef and went snorkelling which I'd done last time I was here but was still worth the bumpy ride out, though I could have done without having to dodge the shit that was floating around the second reef.

Not quite Captain Pugwash

I got to Airlie Beach on Tuesday and got checked in for my boat for the whitsundays. It's still jellyfish season so I had to get a stinger suit which in this case is basically a thin wetsuit. I don't think there are many jellyfish around still but as they have some deadly ones I guess it's better to be safe aqnd silly looking than sorry.
I had a good group of 14 plus 2 crew which was nice as it wasn't too big and you could get to know everyone a bit. You also had to help out a lot with the sailing, so I ended up hoisting a few sails over the three days.I mostly hung out with the english though mainly a couple from the midlands called Gemma and Gareth and two others travelling on their own - Rob and Vik. We headed to Whitehaven Bech which is a really long white sanded beach which was good and it didn't rain that much. That night it did rain a bit but luckily the next day it was better and so having stopped at Hill Inlet we sailed for a bit to Luncheon Bay where there is some decent snorkelling so we scooted out there for a while and saw a load of fish and coral. We anchored there headed to Blue Pearl Bay (I think) and stayed overnight, the next morning did a bit more snorkelling and then headed to Black Island to sunbathe before heading back to Airlie. On the way back we were going pretty quickly and the deck on the other side was in the water most of the time. A few of us were sat near the front and Vik got totally soaked while the rest of us did have a few dry patches left. All of us ended up coated in salt. We had a good night out that evening and I also bumped into Nick and Nadia from work for a bit which was cool.
The next day I headed to Magnetic Island whcih is a bit of a chillout place to go. I went to a wildlife sanctuary and held a koala, crocodile, lizard and python, so that was fun. Then I thought I'd better do a bit of exercise so I headed off on a 5km walk before having a few more beers in the evening.