Australia - Brisbane - Cairns

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We got up at 10am and enjoyed the fact that we didn’t have to leave the hotel until 11am. Our bus was leaving at 3pm so we dossed around town until we had to go to the bus terminal. When we got to the Brisbane terminal we had to re-weigh our bags. This was a nerve-racking experience as we were only allowed a maximum of 20kg and my bag had been above that many times. Surprisingly it was bang on 20kg and we were ready to go. We had a pick up at Australia Zoo on the way and then it was our stop of Maroochydore. We were stopping here to meet up with Kyle ‘Sloth,’ who we had both worked with. We got a cab to his place where he had skived the day off work. It was good to see him after 2 years and we walked down to the local bar for some drinks a dinner. For some strange reason we stayed at his place, with his flat mate, and he went to stay with his girlfriend. We thought that was very strange as we had never met his housemate.

We were up early as sloth was supposed to be coming round at about 8.30am. He never turned up and his house mate Luke, turned up at about 10am, which was a bit awkward. We at last heard from Sloth at about midday and he said he was ill, but we found it hard to believe. This was a waste of a day for us because all we did was go to the shop to get some food and watch some telly. To top it all off we had just hit the Queensland wet season. It poured with rain for a lot of the day. Late afternoon, Lukes dad turned up to put the sprinklers’ on, before it rained, which again was a very awkward moment. Luke came back at about 9.30pm and was a really nice guy. We had a beer with him and a good chat.

We didn’t have a clue whether we were going to see Sloth today so we decided to take a walk to Malloollaba. It was about a half hour walk and half way in the heavens opened up. We managed to take refuge under a Blockbuster Video awning for about 20mins until it stopped. We continued our walk into town and went and had a beer in an Irish pub. Had a wander around town for a couple of hours before heading back to Sloth’s. He didn’t contact us until about 5.30pm and said he was still ill, so a waste of another day. Luke came back with his mate Sam so we had a couple of beers and then went to bed.

Up to pack before our bus and Sloth turned up with Erin. He seemed pretty out of it so we don’t know if he was ill or not. They drove us to the bus station and off we set to Noosa, only 1 hours north. We arrived at the bus station and took a cab to a camp site by the Noosa river. It was a lovely spot but kept raining. We took a walk into town, doing a lot of walking, and grabbed some lunch and went to see the beach. Then again it poured with rain and again we had to take shelter. When it had stopped raining we took a walk over the hill to Noosa Junction to a pub to see whether the Men’s Tennis Final would be on the tv. The telly was tiny and guess what, it was still raining. We decided to get the bus back to camp and as we got to the tent the heavens opened again. We got in our tent just in time to find out that it wasn’t as waterproof as we thought! The wind was crazy, as it was the cyclone coming back, and rain was coming in everywhere. We realised that the tent wouldn’t last the night so moved into so self-contained accommodation. Good thing we did because it poured with rain all night!! We got in some drink and dinner and watched the tennis.

This has been our most uneventful day so far. We had wanted to do some walks in Noosa National Park but the rain didn’t let up all day!! We sat around our apartment all day apart from popping out to get some food. How very boring, but we did manage to book our trip to Australia Zoo for the next day.

We got to the bus stop to get our free pick up at 8.15am and off we were on the Crikey Croc bus to Australia Zoo, about and hour away. Australia Zoo is Steve Irwin’s (Crocodile Hunter’s) Zoo. He is an Australian legend and died recently by getting a stingray barb in the heart. He caught his first croc in northern Queensland when he was 8 years old!! On the way we got to watch a DVD of his funniest moments and then we arrived at the zoo. We were there by 9.30am and had to leave at 4pm, so had a lot of time to see not a lot of animals. It used to be owned by his dad as a reptile rehabilitation place, which means it is set up majority for crocodiles. We had our map and worked out what shows we wanted to see. We saw the feeding of the giant tortoises’ and got to see them trying to hump each other, problem being that they were brothers!! From there we went to see the elephant feed. After that we walked the short distnace to the crocoseum, a purpose built arena to show the crocs off. In this show they showed us snakes, birds of prey and most impressively the crocs. There were 2 guys in with this huge croc and feeding him. It was really good to see. From there we walked through the kangaroo walkway and got to touch some roos before going to the South east Asian area to watch the keepers playing with tigers. It was amazing to see how tame there tigers were as they have been brought up by these keepers. Back through the Koala area to go see the Crocoseum show again. It was a really good day and I highly recommend seeing the zoo. They are adding to it all the time so it is not just crocs and it is good to see they are continuing with Steve’s great work of conservation. Back on the bus back to town and got some dinner to cook.


Today we got the bus to Hervey Bay, the gateway to Fraser Island. It took us about 4 hours. When we arrived there we realised that the tent wasn’t going to hold up in the bad weather so we decided to get a self contained cabin at the Happy Wanderer Village. We settled in before taking a walk to the beach to have a look and have a drink. The sea is very calm here as it is protected by Fraser. We needed to get some food but Foodworks wasn’t going to cut it. We walked about 3km to Woolworths and got some dinner before getting a taxi back, had a swim in the pool and a few drinks whilst deciding what Fraser Island tour to do.

We had decided to do the 2 day 1 night guided tour in a big 4x4 bus. A lot of backpackers do a self guided 4x4 trip but there were so many clauses in the contract and a $1000 bond, we decided we couldn’t risk it as we couldn’t afford to lose it. We took a walk down to the beach again and a 3km walk to the pier. The pier was so long and didn’t have a train on it like Southend, so we had to walk it. It was a nice walk and the pier was full of fisherman trying to catch Mullet, which none of them did!! We took the long 6km walk back to camp, in some hot sunshine at last and spent the afternoon in the pool.


Up early to wait for our 7.20am pick up to Fraser Island. Our guide for the next 2 days, Graham, picked us up in a very happy mood and we picked up a few more people before getting to the barge terminal at River Heads. We paid out park fee and headed onto the barge to watch the people making a balls up of trying to reverse their rented 4x4s! The journey took us about 45mins and there we were pulling into Fraser Island. Fraser island was originally called N’gari Island, by the Aboriginals, meaning Paradise Island. They were not wrong and especially as most aboriginal tribes lived in the red desert struggling to find food and water. There was an abundance of fresh food and the island sits on 120 million mega litres of fresh water, over 20 times the amount of water in Sydney Harbour. So water wasn’t at a shortage either. Fraser is the largest sand island in the world and the only place where a sub tropical rainforest grows on sand. We split up into 1 and 2 day groups, got in our big 4x4 bus and headed off with guide Graham over the bumpy sandy roads to Central Station. Central Station was the main logging camp back in the day. We got out of our bus, Graham gave us some information about the island and about March Flies. They are huge and have a bore on their head to suck out your blood. There were so many of them and became a pain over the 2 days. I hate to think about how many we killed as a group. From there we took a walk through the rainforest past a creek. You cannot hear the water running in the creeks because there are no stones for it to wash over, just sand. It was a nice sort walk and there were some massive trees!!! We met the bus at the other end and drove off to our resort at Eurong for some lunch. After lunch Zo and I took a walk down to the beach, avoiding the electric anti-dingo gate to have a look. We didn’t stay for long as we were getting mobbed by the flies and the beach is technically a highway on Fraser. Back in the bus and up the 75 mile beach to Eli Creek. The water was so clear and Zo and I took a wade and a sit down in the freezing cold waters, mainly to evade the flies!! Back on the bus and the short journey to the Pinnacle. They are colourful canyons which look like rock but are made from sand. Shortly after leaving the bus broke down and we could smell diesel. Turns out the fuel injector had broken. We sat around for about half hour wanting to cool off in the sea. Only problem being that Graham had told us not to go in the sea because you were certain to die!! If the rip didn’t kill you the 12 types of man eating shark definitely would!! Graham manage to fix the bus with some brute force and off we drove to Indian Head. We climbed up the rocks to the top to look over the sea and beaches, the view was just amazing. We managed to see turtles, rays and sharks - great view!! Back down to the bus where Graham gave us a talk on Sea Jellies (Jelly fish) as there wer loads washed up on the beach. He told us what can kill and what not. The have one called an Eurakanji which is the size of the finger nail, transparent and can kill you. Then there is the Box Jelly which is the hardest mother in the world!! It takes less than 3 mins to kill a human, and that is from one sting!! Back on the bus and down the beach highway to see the Murhino shipwreck. It is a great picture opportunity. It got stuck at the start of the 20th century and they couldn’t recover it. After the 2nd World war they used it for bombing practise and it only got it twice!!!! Maybe they need a bit more practise!! Back to our resort for a well needed shower and Mexican dinner where we met a nice older Irish couple. From there we went to the beach bar for a few drinks with the couple and Graham where he taught us some collective nouns.

A shiver of sharks, a mob of kangaroos, a parliament of owls, a bask of crocodiles and my favourite a murder of crows.

Up for brekkie at 7.30am and on the bus for 8am to drive the short distance to Lake Wabby. It was a 2.5km trek up hill over soft sand to the top of the sand blow (dune). The view was amazing, even though the walk was hard and we headed down the blow to the lake. We sat in the lake for about and hour whilst the catfish swam around us and exfoliated our feet! We also got to feed them a lot of the flies we were killing and they loved it, a good way to get our own back on the flies!! Back an easier route to the bus and off again We went back to the resort for some lunch before taking the 40 min journey to lake McKenzie - the dogs… It is this beautiful fresh water lake surrounded by 98.5% silica white sand. The water was so clear, and when the sun came out it looked amazing. We had 2 hours there and I spent every second in the water, to my detriment as I got sunburnt!! It gets deep very quickly which suddenly makes it cold but it was just amazing. Due to the depth change you can see 3 distinct different shade of blue. Best place so far!! Back on the bus and back to barge to go home. It was a great 2 days and made even better by our funny yet informative guide Graham. We manage to get back just in time to get our bags out of storage and check into our new 2 bed cabin, which was tiny and hot. So hot in fact, we slept in separate beds. Probably because my burnt back was giving out more heat than the sun!!

Today was very uneventful as we checked out at 10am and had nothing to do until our bus at 8.55pm. We sat around the TV room most of the day on the internet because it didn’t stop raining!! Had a pizza before getting on our overnight bus to Airlie beach, gateway to the Whitsunday Islands. About 40mins into our 13 hours bus journey we had to stop because the door on our bus broke, not having a lot of luck with buses. Luckily he managed to fix it and off we went.

Arrived in Arlie Beach after a very uncomfortable night on the bus. Got a cab and checked into the Island Gateway Holiday Park. We were going to put our tent up but it was so humid and thank god we didn’t. That night it rain hard solidly and flooded a lot of the park. Luckily we were safe in a cabin. We checked into our cabin an took a walk into town to see what was about. Airlie is a nice little town set up for backpackers before their boat trips. We walked back to camp and had a look a what boat trip we wanted to do. Tracey on reception was really helpful and we got a standby rate for the Silent Night, leaving the day after tomorrow. We had a afternoon snooze, catching up from the bus and got some food drink for the night. On the way the heavens opened up and we got soaked and the rain didn’t let up all night.

Had a relaxing day today. Got the bus into town and had a walk down to the beach. You cant go in the water this far north because of the Jellies, so they have built a lagoon on the land for people to swim in. Back to the campsite for a swim because it is so humid. Even when it rains it is crazily hot! Relaxed in our air con room ready for the next day.

Ou yacht didn’t leave until 2pm so we headed into town, with out soft bag carrying our minimal clothes, to get some lunch. We picked up some alcohol for the trip before getting a cab down to the mariner. We met our deck hand Wilson, who checked us in and away we went to Silent Night. We were only a small group, 8 in total, which was nice and a mix of nationalities. We met our skipper John, before heading out into the open waters. We chose this boast because it was a proper sailing boat, had done the Sydney to Hobart, which meant we got to sail. We worked as a team and got the sails up and there was a good wind. So much so we were all sitting on one side and leaning so much that we had the other side’s railings in the water. It was a great sailing experience and felt as it we were doing 50 knots‘, we were actually doing about 12!! After the sailing we stopped off in a small cove for some snorkelling. It was amazing to see the Barrier Reef and all the fish but Zo had trouble putting her face in the water as she had never snorkelled before. The weather kept changing and we had to pu ton our rain jackets a few times but overall it wasn’t as bad as expected. The WhitSundays are a group of 74 islands. We didn’t learn much about them as our skipper wasn’t very informative but I· can imagine in the sun they look beautiful, very much like Ha Long Bay. We anchored up for the night in a protected bay as the main sea was pretty rough. Had some dinner and a few rinks before listening to some music and going to bed. Our group wasn’t very talkative!! We had a small and I mean small private cabin which was roasting hot.

Up the next morning about 7am, had breakfast and headed off for some more sailing. The sea was really rough and it was awesome!! We were flying through the water up and down over waves! We sailed for about 2 hours before stopping off at Whitehaven Beach. It is supposed to be as amazing as Lake Mckenzie but I don’t think it is. Especially as it is too dangerous to go in the water! We took a walk to a look out point which was pretty amazing and then sat on the rocks by the beach for an hour or so. Back on the boat for lunch before driving (that is the technical term when using the engine) to a small cove for some more snorkelling. Every time we go in the water we had to put on a full stinger suit so not to get stung by Jellies and in the first place we snorkelled we could see a few. None of the girls when snorkelling here as it was full of fish. I went in with a underwater camera and it was amazing. Bright coloured coral and an abundance of fish all colours and sizes. There were some huge fish about a metre long and they kept nipping at my toes. Wilson kept throwing bread in near our faces so all the fish would come round. It was an amazing experience. Back on the boat where Zo and I took the helm driving it to a bay where we could rest for the night. Had dinner and everyone went to bed apart from Wilson, the Italian and I. We stayed up having a few drinks and managed to see a dolphin by the boat trying to eat the calamari.

Up and off we went back to port and arrived back about 11am. Back to camp and to wait around in the humidity all day for the night bus to Cairns. The bus turned up with a really aggressive Scottish driver. We were near the front and all we could hear was him rambling on - not a nice man!! He smelt of vinegar because the chip on his shoulder was so huge!!!! We got to Cairns about 6.40am and checked into our motel. They didn’t have a room available for us so we took a walk down the promenade to the town centre. Cairns is a really nice town with a good buzz about it. It was getting hot about 10am and we needed to get a new phone as Zo had lost hers. Back to the motel to check in and sort out our gear for the flight to South America. Had an afternoon snooze because we were shattered from the bus journey. Went and bought some dinner and skyped the folks.

Had a bit of lay in before going into town for a swim in the lagoon, same as in Airlie beach. It was blazing hot so we went for a drink before walking back. Packed up our gear for the flight and went back into town to the night market and to have another drink. Back for a glass of champers and a pizza to celebrate our last night and Valentines day, before having to be up at 3.30am for our flight!!!!!!

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Photos

Kola
at Australia Zoo

Giant Tourtoise
Feeding time at the Zoo

At the start of the pier
Hervey Bay

The burnt popadoms!!
Lessons 1 - never leave popadoms unattended in the microwave

Avoiding the march flies
in Eli Creek

The barge
to Fraser Island

Tom hugging a tree
Massive trees on Fraser Island