Hervey bay, Frazer Island, Surfers Paradise and Byron Bay

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Hi Guys

We know we are a bit late updating our blog but we are doing our best to get up to date asap.

Hervey Bay

So after another long bus journey through the night we arrived at 8am in Hervey bay where we will leave to go to Fraser island. We got picked up from the bus stop by one of the staff in our hostel called the friendly hostel. The hostel was really nice. It was a house converted to a hostel the bottom floor had 3 rooms and they shared a bathroom, kitchen and TV lounge area so it felt a bit like home. There is not much to do here so we just took some bikes from the hostel and went for a cycle along the sea front and down to the pier. The sea was full of big blue jellyfish so again no sea swimming here haha. We just hung around for the rest of the day and got ready to head to Fraser in the morning.

Fraser Island

We were up early today as we were getting collected by cool dingo tours to take us to the ferry. We were recommended cool dingo because you get to see a lot more and you are not squashed into the back of a Jeep while someone you don't no drives probably half pissed from the night before. We had a short bus ride to the ferry and then it was onto the ferry for the short hop to Fraser island. Once on the island we checked in and we were introduced to our lovely guide Cameron. We were put on our bus and started our trip across the largest sand island in the world to the beautiful lake mckenzie. A huge crystal clear fresh water lake in the middle of the island it is lovely for a nice cool swim on a hot day and we really enjoyed having a swim and lounging on the beach. After our swim we were treated to our first lot of fresh cookies and some tea. It was then back on the bus to head to our next lake. On the way we had to pull a Jeep out of the sand the guy driving was trying to dig himself out when we got to him and he was covered from head to toe in sand. Another reason we were glad to be on the bus. After we pulled him out and got him out of the way we powered up the hill he had struggled to get up and left him to try it again haha. Cameron gave him a piece of advice once he pulled him out and that was to drive it like you stole it! We drove for some time bouncing up and down on our seats as Cameron gave us some information on the island etc before we got to our second lake of the day. Not as nice as McKenzie and not swimmable. We then drove further into the island and stopped for a nice lunch before setting off for a short hike along the river. After our hike we boarded the bus and set off back across the island to get checked into our accommodation for the night. The accommodation was a chalet with 4 rooms, each with 2 sets of bunk beds. They were really nice and we had a drink with everyone before going down to the dingo bar for our buffet dinner and some more drinks that night.

The following morning we were up bright and early for our buffet breakfast before setting of to see the other side of the island. The drive across was as ever a bumpy trip. Our first stop that morning took us to the shipwreck of the Maheno. We got some nice photos of the waves crashing over the wreck while Jeeps fly past on the sand highway! Our next stop at the champagne pools proved a bit difficult for our bus/truck to get to as the sand on the hill was so soft we just kept getting stuck, but after a few times carving some tracks in the sand, Cameron got us to the top and to the champagne pools. The pools are filled from, sea water crashing over the rocks creating what looks like bubbling champagne. We spent an hour relaxing in the pools and getting some photos before heading back along the beach to climb Indian head. From the top of Indian head we could see sharks, ray and turtles in the water below. Even after this there were people on our bus still asking our guide why they couldn't swim in the sea here! We made our next stop for lunch and yet more lovely food. After lunch we made a stop at Ely creek were we got to do some very tame tubing and got some more love cookies. We were just getting ready to head back on the bus when our guide got a call that there had been an accident further up the beach and one of the other guides was hurt. When our guide returned a while later he informed us that the guide was changing one of the tyres on the bus along with some help from one of the passengers when the jack gave way injuring the guide and the passenger pretty badly. The guide had to be airlifted of the island to hospital to treat his severed fingers. Some of the passengers that we're on his bus when it happened were transfered to our bus to be brought back to the resort. You could see from there faces they had had a pretty traumatic time. On our way back we finally got to see some of the wild dingos that Roam the island. We drove back across the island and had some time to relax in the swimming pool of the kingfisher resort. What a lovely place this we would love to spend some time here. We had some dinner before catching the ferry and bus back to Hervey bay at 8:30pm. We were both very happy with the whole trip we got to see so much in such a short space of time. The food was great and our guide was very funny and very informative. We would of liked to stay the 3 days as most were but we must press on. If your not keen on driving the island yourself we would recommend cool dingo tours.

Surfers Paradise

We took an early bus to get us to surfers. When we arrived we were able to ring our hostel to collect us from town. We booked Aquarius back backers it was about 15 minutes outside the town which was probably a good thing with all the schoolies in town. We got talking to Eamon one of the staff from Kildare when checking in and found out that he knew Laura's Nana from TLC nursing home where he worked previously. He could describe her to a tea it was so funny. We didn't do much that evening just got settled and did some food shopping.

The next morning we decided to take the hostel mini bus into town and hit the beach. The beach was nice but so busy with the schoolies. The town is nice it has some nice bars and restaurants. After a few hours we headed back to get the bus to the hostel which after arranging with us never turned. But after ringing they came and got us. We had a few drinks in the bar that evening and got talking to a few people staying in the hostel before turning in as we were of to Byron bay the following afternoon. We didn't have a great time in this hostel in the end it was too far from town, the staff were lazy, forgetful and unhelpful so we wouldn't recommend it.

The following day we arrived at the bus stop 2 hours before our bus as this was the only time the hostel could drop us. Even though they were all sitting around watching Tv.

Byron Bay

We arrived in Byron bay and again got picked up by our hostel the backpackers holiday village. There was a big BBQ getting going when we arrived so we sat down and decided to get involved. We got talking to a few Welsh guys and before we knew it the drinking games had started. The food was great we got lamb and beef burgers, sausages and loads of salad it was a lovely treat. The hostel was kicking a DJ was playing and everyone was in great form. By 10pm a lot of people were a bit worse for wear and it is at this time every night that the hostel move everyone on, which is great. We moved on to a couple of bars in town and ended up having a very good night all round.

The following morning we decided to rent some bikes from the hostel and head up to see the light house. On our walk up to the lighthouse we got to see so many dolphins and turtles from the cliff edge it was incredible how many of them there were. We also managed to get a tour of the lighthouse even getting to go outside on the balcony even after the lady said it was to windy. Windy it was! You should try clinging to a flat surface in gale force winds haha.

We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting by the beach watching the world go by which was really nice.

On our last day in Byron Bay we again just chilled on the beach and went for a walk. While on our walk along the beach we randomly bumped into Andrea and Hugh who we both worked with in Paddypower and Andrea used to be in the band with us as well. Both have been living in Sydney for the last year or 2 and have just been traveling around the east coast for the last few weeks so it was cool to see them. Unfortunately we had a bus to catch that evening so we only got to talk to them for an hour. It would of been nice to have a drink or get something to eat with them but they had only arrived so we were lucky to even see them. We caught our bus to take us to Sydney at 8pm for another comfortable night bus!!

Lots of love

Laura and Ian xxxx

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