lofty1978

We arrived on Magnetic Island at about 3pm on the Sun Ferry and travelled by the island bus to our backpackers hotel - Bungalow Bay.  This was a great hostel, the staff were a little slow at times but the accommodation and the bar etc were pretty sweet. The first night we just got some dinner and chilled at the bar, but we then got interrupted by a massive amount of bird noise coming from near the park that the hostel site sits on.  I walked over and it was the 4.30pm lorakeet feeding  time.  These birds look quite like mini parrots and the ranger had left out some bread and water for them to feed on.   You could pick up the food and feed them and at one point I had about 10 birds ... read more

Rather eventful trip on the bus to Hervey Island.  Just outside of Rainbow Beach, about 2 hours from Hervey Bay someone walking along outside thought it was a good idea to throw an egg at the front of the greyhound bus. Combined with the fact our driver was a little bit out there anyway, this caused quite a deal of commotion and the bus driver was slightly startled.  T be honest, imagine the scene, you are driving a 6 ton bus full to the brim of people when out of nowhere a egg shaped projectile gets hurtled at the front of the bus while you're traveling along at about 60 mph. Yes, I too, would have checked my pants. Anyway, to everyone else, it sounded like a balloon popping.  Unfortunately, it left a crack across the ... read more

Brisbane was always going to be a quick stop.  We arrived about 10am and were on our way again by 3pm.  Previously in Byron the girls had bought a guitar as Debs could play and Caz wanted to learn and  as we exited the bus station, this guy asked us if we were carrying a flute, I joked and said no it's an oboe and we got talking.  We asked him where was best to go in Brisbane when we only had a few hours, and he explained that it would be a good idea to go across the river over to the Suth Bank to go on the Brisbane Wheel.  We managed to get over the river see the Wheel, but when we got there it was shut and didn't open till 11am so instead we ... read more

Arrived late ish in the evening to absolute torrential rain. I was staying in the Islander Backpackers, which was $30 a night for a 4 dorm share.  Maybe it was the rain, I dunno, but I just wasn't feeling this place at all.  Byron was so different in comparison, Surfers was like a mini Vegas and due to the weather you couldn't really do much. After a rather restless sleep, it was pretty humid and there was lots of noise coming from outside all throughout the night, I went out about 9am to go and pick up my iPad.  After getting back soaked, I met up with Debs and Caz at Pacific Fair, which I am reliably informed is the biggest shopping centre in the southern hemisphere. The place was just over the top. I was ... read more

Not much to say about the bus journey from Sydney to Byron, it was 14 hours long and not that much to see really.  However, Byron, was a different story. Let me just say this now,  Byron Bay is AMAZING, everything about it.  The people, the scenery, the weather, the bars, the live music, everything is 10/10. It would be here that I would be doing my PADI course at Sundive, the dive company which was located right next to a cape Byron YHA, the hostel I was staying in.   I had done some research through and old uni mate who was a dive master in Indonesia to find out where n the east coast of Australia  is the best place to dive.  The common response was Sundive.  The teacher - Liz Sealey was excellent ... read more

I woke up pretty early to get out to Collins Street in Melbourne to pick up the tourwhich would take me to the Grampians national park and then on to the Great Ocean Road and then on back to Melbourne. We travelled out to the Grampians and the weather was great, the people on the bus were a varied lot I clicked pretty well with this Dutch guy called Basch and was chatting to him for most of the trip. We had a couple of hikes through the Grampians, both of them were great but one in particular was amazing. You can see on the photos attached to this post. There were guys practicing free climbing and we stopped and watched them for a while. Pretty impressive stuff. After this hike I swapped over to another ... read more