Rainbow Beach to Airlie beach - Days 104-105

After the Fraser adventure we had an overnight stay at Rainbow Beach. Someone upstairs seems to know that we're killing our budget in Oz cause after asking for an upgrade to a private room we only got charged for our key deposits! Woo hoo! We decided to spend our 'surplus' funds on a steak, pasta and salad at the backpackers and turned in for an early, goon-free, sober sleep. Our bus trip to Airlie Beach the next day was only departing at 7.30pm so the day was spent sleeping in and reading the paper and TIME. Rainbow is about half the size of Hermanus, so it turned out to be a lazy day with nothing much to do. The trip to Ailie Beach was a 14 hour overnight bus in which Kimmy and I both got buckets loads of sleep. Thankfully there were few passengers and we we allowed to stretch our weary legs across a few seats after watching the 'in- flight' entertainment 'We Were Soldiers'. We arrived in Airlie at 9.30am on day 105 and guess who walks off the bus with us? Stef & Darren, you know.... The Irish couple that we initially met in Fiji and then bumped into on the Ferry crossing from Wellington to Picton in NZ. Somewhere between Rainbow Beach and Airlie they got onto the bus in the middle of the night and whilst Kimmy and I laid sprawled across the aisle they climbed over us to get to their seats without knowing it was us. We caught up for a few minutes and decided that after a few admin bits during the day we would take the opportunity to get to know each other a little better.... More goon flowed that night, this time the Rosè variety - but the effects are the same, great fun and stories shared until the early hours. Although Stef and Darren are doing the same trip as us our dates are slightly out of sink but, we've arranged to meet them in Bali or Lombok a week before they finally have to return home to Ireland. We're looking forward to it- they're great fun, care free and on the ever growing list of people Kimmy and I are inviting to come to CT. Let's hope they all don't decide to come at the same time!@&$)&! Otherwise they're going to be camping in our garden!