15-17th September - Tin Can Bay/ Rainbow Beach

I escaped the week without being called out - yay! I quickly handed the phone over first thing on Monday and it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I had a lot of weird patients on Thursday...the dental nurses reckon when its a full moon, all the weirdos come out. I think they might be right. One gentleman came in with a top and bottom denture and was complaining that the dentures didnt fit. "How long ago were the dentures made?" I questioned him. "9 years ago." He replied. "And when did you last wear them?" I continued. "9 years ago." He replied again. I tried explaining that if you dont wear your dentures, your teeth will move and there isnt much i can do to make them fit. I altered a bit of metal on the denture and called for the lab technician to come and take a look. The patient was very rude and said "they were fitting on the one side but SHES stuffed them up. SHES made them worse!" I was taken aback by his rudeness and the technician, John, got very agitated by the gentleman. "Who is SHE?" John snapped, and the patient stuttered. I said, "My name is VICKY". The patient apologised. Rude sod. In the end i said i couldnt do any more for him and he would have to go on the waiting list for new dentures. He moaned that the waiting list is years long. "i know" i said with a smile and wrapped up the conversation to get rid of him. Turns out HE used to be a WOMAN...seems like a very confused individual.

I couldnt wait to get home so that Gaz and i could set off on our road trip! I offered to put some of Gaz's stuff into my suitcase but he had already packed...you would have thought he was going for the week the amount of clothes he had put in. Gaz kindly offered to drive which was great because it had started getting dark. We were going to spend the night at Tin Can Bay (approximately 2 hours away) so that we could get up early and feed the dolphins. Gaz had burnt a CD for the drive with songs such as 'sweet home alabama' and Billy Idols 'White wedding'. The sky was black and we were driving along quiet roads through the middle of what i think was forestry. The roads were narrow and had deep drops into ditches on either side with no railings to stop you driving off into the creeks. The car bounced up and down when we hit the pot holes a bit like being on megaphobia at oakwood. It was a relief to see the 'welcome to tin can bay' sign and the welcomed street lighting to guide us around the very small coastal town.

I had booked the accomodation online the night before - Sleepy Lagoon Motel/Hotel. We pulled up and found the reception...the lady could not find our booking. It wasnt a problem as she trusted us that we had paid (because we had!) and gave us the keys to our cabin. Gaz and I were in a little tin cabin around the back of the hotel which had a double bed and a very shabby looking kitchen and bathroom. We didnt mind because we were only going to be in it for a few hours. We dumped our belongings and took a ride around Tin Can Bay to find a place to eat. We found ....no places to eat. Luckily there was a bistro in the hotel we were staying in so we went back there and to be fair, the food was excellent. We both had a rump steak and chips...i couldnt even finish my chips because the steak was so big! Was deffinately worth eating there. Afterwards, we ha da little flitter on the pokies and lost 5AUD. Oh well! We went to bed and were joined by Baby Bob - a little tiny gecko who was stuck to our wall.

They say to get to the dolphin feeding place between 7-8am so as not to miss the dolphins. I had Gaz up at 6.30am so we could leave at 7am. We didnt really know where the place was but as Tin Can Bay is the size of a tin can, it was very easy to find. We were one of the first couples to arrive...then a few more people turned up....then a few kids....then a boat arrived with about 20 people on...so before we knew it, about 60 people had turned up to feed these dolphins. At 8am we began to que up to buy some fish to feed these dolphins which hadnt turned up yet. They are wild dolphins that have been coming to the area for years but there was no garantee that they would show. At 8.30am there was still no sign of the dolphins and Gaz was getting restless. I had been so excited about feeding the dolphins i didnt want to leave so i delayed Gaz a little bit by opting for some breakfast in the Cafe right next to the dolphin feeding area. Just as we had ordered the breakfast, 2 dolphins had arrived. Mistique (the dominant male) and patch (his girlfriend). Sadly some of the spectators had already left by this time! The dolphins were beautiful. As Gaz wasnt bothered about feeding them, he offered to film me. Its an 8000AUD fine for trying to stroke the dolphins so i settled for chucking a fish into their mouth. Gaz was glad i had seen the dolphins and so was i.

After checking out of the hotel, we drove up the coast and places to take some photographs of the bay. It was then time to drive to Rainbow Beach which took under an hour to get there.

Rainbow beach is another small coastal town. It is where, if you have a four wheel drive, you an catch a ferry to the tip of Fraser Island from Inskip point or camp on the beach in your fold out caravan. The first thing we did was head to inskip point and admired the views of Fraser Island. Gaz stood enviously at the men fishing off the beach and i enjoyed feeling the soft white sand between my toes and was fascinated at how clear and blue the sea was. The sun beat down on us and we decided it was time to grab a drink and apply some sun screen! We bought some supplies from the 'Rainbow Beach business centre'. Its called a business centre but has about 6 shops so i dont really know if it is worthy of such a title. We bought a beach bag, sun screen, a beach umbrella and some beach games to play as well as some magazines. All geared up, we strolled over the road to the beach for an afternoon of sun, sea and sand. Bliss!

The hours flew by and at 3.30pm we felt we had better check in to our accomodation - Debbies Place. When we arrived on her doorstep, we were greeted by a little dog thing with long scraggy hair....a handbag type dog whose hair had been tied up into a pony tail on the top of its head. Was cute though - she licked our feet with such delight to see us. Debbie (the owner) came out and said she had run out of accomodation for us but we werent to worry as she had upgraded us to Babs Place - A villa just around the corner. We thought maybe we were getting palmed off and drawing the short straw in this deal but no, she was right, she really had upgraded us. The villa had 2 floors with a big lounge with comfy  sofas and a nice dining room and kitchen. It also had a pool and a jacuzzi but as we found out later that night, it wasnt heated!

Before dinner, we went up to the Carlo Sandblow which is a big sand dune that overlooks the sea on both sides. It was quiet when we arrived but soon filled up just before sunset when a big group of backpackers had arrived. Some were learning how to throw a boomerang (and failing miserabley) and others were trying to surf down part of the sand dune on body boards (also failing miserabley). We didnt quite make it till sunset up there as our bellies were grumbling so we drove down for fish and chips. I thought i would be different and try the baramundi instead of the cod. The wasnt much difference in taste other than the Baramundi had a slughtly more fishy taste to it. Gaz had a burger which looked a little pathetic inside its ginormous bun.

After a very early night, we awoke fresh and ready for the day ahead. Unfortunately the weather was hot and had no breeze so the waves were rubbish for a surfing lesson as previously planned. We grabbed breakfast at a local cafe - pancakes and maple syrup - yummy! We had planned to go to Maryborough for a horse show but on the way, the car started making a weird noise so Gaz felt it best we get back to Hervey Bay. All the garages are closed on the weekend so Gaz will take the car on Monday to find out what is wonng with it. We spent the afternoon on the beach in Hervey Bay watching a guy fish. In the distance we saw something dark moveing around in the water. The guy that was fishing had gone wading in to the water after whatever it was. Turns out it was a Du-gone. Hervey Bay is a well known place for Dugones so hopefully that wont be the only one we see!

We are currently deciding where to get a takeaway from as we have no car to go out and eat.