Noosa

SUNDAY 16TH AUGUST

We were up early, as we got a free breakfast of pancakes with lemon and sugar... yummm.
Then on board the oz experience we were taken through Gympie which is weird little town and then on to Noosa. Noosa is a really nice upper class sort of place. Like Weybridge in sunshine and with lots of hills... oh and 2 beaches.




Sarah and I were due to go off to Gagaju bush camp the day after, but I'd decided as I had quite a stiff neck and also I'd developed a wheezy cough at night, that camping wouldn't really be the best idea for me. All things considered, a few days at Dolphins was much preferred.

Dolphins Beach house hostel is by far the most homely hostel I've ever stayed in and was alot like staying at a uni. It is made of units. Ours had 2 rooms, both with 4 beds in. Each unit shares a lounge, TV, DVD player, kitched and bathroom. Really nice and relaxing, exactly what I needed. They also have a free minibus that takes you into town which runs every hour or so... very handy!





I got to chatting to a couple in the other room who were from England and they suggested having burritos as a group style meal, which we went shopping to coles for - and a bottle of wine :) It was lovely and we watched a few things on TV - luckily Out of the Blue and then Australian Idol was on TV.

I also got talking to 2 girls from Wales, who were going to go Australia Zoo (Steve Irwins) the next day and they invited me to come too, which I thought was a good idea, as you can't really go to Australia without seeing the Steve Irwin zoo. Sarah had no interest in this, so seemed like a good idea to do it whilst she was away camping.


MONDAY 17TH AUGUST

I set off early at about 8am for the shuttle bus into town with Kacey and Emma, the two welsh girls to get the free Australia Zoo bus to take us to the zoo. On the bus, they played a DVD of Steve Irwin in the jungle with Orangutans.



We saw and did alot, including feeding elephants, stroking koalas and seeing a tiger show, but to be honest, it was alot of money for not nearly as much as Taronga Zoo. The nice thing here was that there are loads of large lizards randomly running around the place! Really funny. Here are some of my photos from there anyway.







TUESDAY 18TH AUGUST

Got up about 8.30am...mostly due to noisy people, but I got up anyway. I watched bit of TV but then got the free shuttle into town to have a look at the shops on Hastings Street, near the main beach. The main beach is currently being renovated, as a storm last year, took away alot of the sand, so they are currently working to replace the sand.



The shops were all very boutiquey and expensive. On the way home I got my hair cut at a nice place... but it was only $25, which is pretty cheap. I then walked home rather than get the bus and was followed some of the way by some really brightly coloured, chattering parrots!



I went home for a salad for dinner... stuck to that!!! Then I went on the last shuttle to the cinema for a $9 ticket to see CORALINE - an animated movie. It was quite creepy and walking home in the dark was.... interesting.

Watched a couple of shows and things with people sharing my unit, who were all new compared to yesterday.


WEDNESDAY 19TH AUGUST

My easy day of taking it easy. Went to beach for all of 5 minutes, but it was really too windy and it really wasnt worth it, so I went back to Dolphins, to sunbathe in the courtyard. I then went back to the unit very briefly just to chat to a french girl... I turned the tv on as she needed something to watch before the next shuttle and what do you know... a TINA ARENA 30 minute interview!!! It was very interesting and I found out quite alot about her from it!

I then went to get some alcohol for the evening out and then rented "21" which I watched with Nick, one of the Scouse couple that had just moved in.

For the evening we watched a few TV shows like the simpsons and then me, Marine (french girl) and Megan (scouse girl) got a taxi into the town to go to the irish pub. - That was very very empty, so we went along to 'Koalas' backpackers which has a nightclub at the bottom. It was very full and we had a good night drinking, dancing and chatting to random people. - for some reason there was a stomach comparison discussion... can't remember why but it was very funny.





THURSDAY 20th AUGUST

Had a quiet day just sitting out in the sun. We also walked round the corner for some fish and chips, which was REALLY good! - best i've had in Oz. We all sat around watching Smokin' Aces, another DVD from reception.

Sarah got back today with various tales of the strenuous work that was the canoeing and camping place - hmmm I was glad of my relaxed few days.

We got an early night as we had to get the next Oz Experience bus in the morning.

Rainbow Beach & Fraser Island & Rainbow Beach again

WEDNESDAY 12TH AUGUST

We woke up quite late as our pick up was for 1pm. I tried the internet again, but it was still very slow. Instead I went for a coffee and a meat pie from the bakery. I've not written about this before, but Australia is well known for having the best pies. - I can confirm that this is true, they really are amazing. No flakey rubbish for the aussies, the pastry on these pies is thick enough to keep it's shape. So you can eat them with your hands without tin foil packaging. The best ones are a make called 'MRS MAC's' - which is named after Mrs Macquarie who has various things named after her.... I forget who she was. - the wife of someone important I believe.



Anyway, while we were waiting to be picked up, I noticed someone had defaced a travel board - i thought this was slightly hilarious so I took a picture.



We were picked up on time and were driven a very short distance to the Ferry... I say ferry, but it wasn't the usual style of ferry. This one docks on the beach so you drive over the sand onto the ferry, where our minibus was the only passenger.





There are two ways to do Fraser Island, one is with a guided tour, including accomodation and food etc, or the other way is to do a self drive, where you rent a van, tents and are given maps etc. There have been a few accidents recently with these, with backpackers tipping the cars and has resulted in some deaths. Needless to say, we decided on the organised tour.

As we got to Fraser Island, we were driven at brakeneck speed down a sand track which crosses the island over to the East side. - Very scary. Eventually however we came out onto beach again, which is really what the special bus is designed for. I must say it was very surreal to be driving SO close to the waves... see the photos. - and so fast.



Within minutes we saw our very first and only live dingo roaming on the beach. It didn't seem to even notice us at all. After slowing down for photos out the windows, we continued on to the Rainbow sands, which aboriginies have some slightly ludicrous 'story' about. - something regarding a rainbow dragon rescuing 2 young girls. The real reason is something to do with different types of rock and erosion etc. - it wasn't really very rainbowey as far as I could see... oh well.



After this we reached 'INDIAN HEAD' So called because the first whitefolk on the Island saw all the 'Indians' or aboriginies standing out at the head watching them and also looking at the fishes. It was quite a harsh climb up the coffee rocks - in flip flops! The views however were stunning and we even saw a few manta rays and turtles.




On the way back down the coast we saw 2 large dead turtles on the sand, it was sad... but people still took pictures :S



We then went to the Maheno shipwreck which has been there for a LONG long time. I can barely remember the story of it, but the Japanese bought the boat to melt down to make more ships... but it got caught in a riptide and got stuck on Fraser Island. The Australian marines used to use it as target practise apparently and worryingly only hit it... once! - this is why it's in 2 parts.




We then went a bit further down the coast to Eli Creek, which is a fresh water creek than runs out from the centre of the island. The water was REALLY cold, but we couldnt resist having a walk in it. It's got a very strange taste to it, as it goes through tea tree plants and also aloe vera so it tasted quite medicinal. - Of course I only tasted it from upstream where there's no human contamination. - Human soup no thank you!





We then went back to the accomodation - BASE CAMP is actually what it's called; for a gorgeous dinner of beef steak, kangaroo steak and sausage, all done on the barbeque! The kangaroo meat was cooked very very well, but still... it tasted of liver. yuk.

After a few drinks and some Uno and shithead (AGAIN) we all went to bed, as we knew we'd be up early in the morning.


THURSDAY 13TH AUGUST

We woke up early as requested, but our room seemed to be the only room that were! - the other rooms needed a wake up call!

We then drove to Lake Boomanjin, which is unique on the island as it is the only lake that has the Tea effect caused by the tea tree, so it's actually the colour of Coca Cola... very strange, it almost looked like a horror movie!
On the way we saw a water monitor, which is a very large lizard, have a look. This lake is the reason that Fraser Island is a world heritage site, as it is the largest perched lake in the world; which means that it is raised above sea level and is made up of purely rainwater, which makes it freshwater. It also has no leaks, so not part of the freshwater that makes up the creeks like Eli Creek.




After some lunch we went to Lake Birrabeen, which is like the famous Lake Mackenzie - which EVERYONE goes to, but it is less crowded, nicer sand and has less litter. On the way there however, the bus got stuck in the deep troughs made by traffic and we all had to get out and push!!!



Once there, we all either swam in the lake, played volleyball IN the lake or... as I chose to do, sunbathe.



We then travelled to a place called Central Station, which is where all the workers were based when there was still logging and excavation being done on the island - pre world heritage status. We saw some really weird ferns that live ON trees and these strange bare white smooth trees, called Ghost palms, which apparently shine eerily at night. - must be slightly luminous.




We then went for a little walk on the boardwalks again, which were put in to allow for disabled visitors to appreciate the beauty of the area. We came off this to do a bit of rainforest walking, which was beautiful! I even took a video of some of it, which looks alot like a contestant walking around a KNIGHTMARE level!





Nearing the end we came to a REALLY old tree which is about 1000 years old, the guide insisted that we get pictures hugging it? I didn't.



After this, we went back to base camp for good old spag bol which was lovely. A few more drinks, card games, pool, poker, darts and chatting and it was time for bed, but not before we were warned of an almost 5km walk the day after!!! :O I lost my voice completely that night and it was quite funny trying to speak.


FRIDAY 14TH AUGUST

We walked the first part of the trek through uphill sand... VERY tough to do, it felt more like a workout. Here we got to Lake Wabby, where there is a high bank of white sand which drops down to the water... which is where the sandboarding is done. - Couldn't quite bring myself to do that, so I swam in the lake instead. - VERY cold... but worth it, just to swimming with random catfish!



On the way back, we were told it would be a tough uphil sand climb!!! grrr wasnt impressed by that and it was VERY hard going! - was completely exhausted at the end, but there was a few nice views.



Travelling back to get the ferry, the bus suddenly lost power and black smoke came out. - no-one really knew why, but it was fine when they turned the engine back on? Just before we got on board the ferry, we posed for a group picture infront of the bus. - Yeh... being overfed on Fraser and also onboard the Boomerang.... diet time methinks.



We got back to Rainbow Beach and had showers etc - some internet also. Then a group of us met up to go the 'SHAK' for dinner and had the BIGGEST burger and chips I've ever seen. They were amazing as well! - They had this tip jar type thing at the counter, where if you can balance a coin on the lemon you can have a free cup of coffee. I thought that a 5c coin wouldn't count, as it's thinner than a 5p coin. I put it on as easy as anything and cheekily said "uh... do I get a cup of coffee now?" - apparently no-one had ever done it before so I got a free caramel latte! excellent.

We had a look at the Fraser's bar which seemed to be having a private party for kids? interesting. We did get a drunk aborigini dropping his trousers at us though!! A bit more internet time and then I watched some more United States of Tara and went to bed early.


SATURDAY 15TH AUGUST

We went down to the beach at about 11am to chill out and sunbathe. Nice beach, but we were almost decapitated by some Kiters with one of those huge professional kites. A bit of a late lunch and then some more internet time. We said goodbye to our American friend Laurel, who had so many hilarious stories of growing up in backwater Virginia and her crazy family!

We got to bed early as we had to be up early for an 8am bus.