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Published: November 28th 2008
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Our time in Australia is done and although im too tired at the min to feel sad im sure i would have been(currently jet-lagged in Chile). Although i shall be back one day!!
After saying goodbye to Conor, Emily and Melbourne who we will really miss as we had such a good time there we flew up the East Coast for a short trip before jumping over to South America. As anyone who was there knows, 1 week for even a relatively small area of the east coast was a bit silly but we wanted to see at least some of it before we left and it was worth it in the end despite having to rush everywhere.
So we started our travels in Byron Bay which was beautiful apart from our initial problems with the stench of pee from our hostel room. The lady was happy to move us to a new room even guessing before i said anything what the problem was. Its nice knowing how often they clean their rooms!! But the beach was beautiful and they are still hanging to the hippy vibe (well just about). And the wannabe´s are always worth a laugh. Take one
pair of cheap Thai pants, a dread or 2 and you have a totally new way of living and thinking!! Easy....
Next we moved on to Nimbin. It was a nice little town and the hostel we stayed in was one of the coolest i have been in. Nice owner and very chilled. After we arrived though one of the huge storms that have been battering Queensland came in. It was only the tail end of the Brisbane storms but i have never seen anything like it. The power went out , trees were falling and lightning was hitting every few seconds. Its was brilliant to see and the owner said he never seen a storm like that in the 8 years he was there. Plus it was cool drinking a few beers with only the candles and noise of the storm for company(maybe i should get the dreads and thai pants!!).
Off we left the next day to Surfers Paradise to drop the car back and head to brisbane. As per usual we organised nothing and as the rugby and cricket was on in Brisbane absolutely no rooms was to be found. Facing a night on the
streets we dragged our pain in the ass bags around and eventually got a lovely hotel room for a great price. Backpackers i think not!!! So Friday night was spent eating soup and watching TV as we had the tour to Fraser early the next day, all his partying is too much for me!!
So up bright and early to catch our tour. Initial impressions are sometimes correct. The guide arrived dazed and confused and quite obviously on the batter the night before. It was a sign of things to come as although he was pretty cool, giving a tour wasnt at the top of his priorities. It came a close third after girls and booze. And fair play to him too, while we slave in offices (only sometimes for me im aware) he parties!!
By coincidence he managed to get 2 blonde German girls into the front seat with him and we were on the road.
It took a few hours to get there and we had to do the get to know your fellow travellers bit on the way. Our group was really cool so that was a great start. When we got the fraser the
guide had to go really fast cos if you dont get to certain points at certain times you get cut off by the tide. The first day just involved getting there, taking a quick walk throught the rain forest and having a swim in Lake Mckenzie. The guide told us this was the largest fresh water lake in the world. Im not sure if he was confused or thought we were stupid but i have seen bigger lakes on the GAA pitches in winter. Or what about Lake Ontario maybe?? We concluded he may have meant Australia or maybe just Fraser Island.
Anyway after that we headed back to the campsite to get set up for night. It was both funny and annoying. When we got there they said just grab a tent. Looking around it wasnt very inviting. All the tents were upside down, torn and pegless. And the guides decided they would help out by have a lie down in there van while we wondered when the storm was going to come in. In the end we sorted it and no storm ever arrived so it was all good. So after a bit of food we cracked
open the goon. Got out the guitars for a bit of a sing song which was good fun. After we consumed the 4 litres me and melissa fell off to bed. Ill miss my boxes of vino!! Good night had but not by one of Austrians from our group. Someone decided it would be a great idea to drive to the pub in a pick up truck at 1 am down the beach. He managed to fall out, break his pelvis and had to be air lifted to Port Hervey. Hope he has travel insurance or he is paying for a helicopter trip!!
The next day we were up early and took a trip to the shipwreck in the photos. The guide told us something about it washing up in the 50´s while Kevin from the trip later told us it was the 20´s. Guide of the year for this guy!! The rest of the day we just went to a lake and had lunch then headed back to Brissy.
Next day we went to the cheese fest that is the Oz zoo. The shows were so embarassing and Melissa had to hold me down to stop me leaving
them. But they are doing great things there and i have never seen bigger enclosures for animals so its great really. We then hooked up with the canadian and english girls the next day for many boozes. Then it was time to fly to sydney for one last session with the guys and now im sitting here in chile, still jet lagged. So jet lagged it took 3 days to write this long and boring tale!!
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