Noosa and Fraser Island

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Hello, once again, and welcome - I am nearly up to date... As you will remember from my
last blog, I left Southport and headed further north up to Noosa, before moving on to
Fraser Island...

Noosa was awesome. Up to that point, it was the best place I had been to, and I kicked
myself a little for having extended my stay in Southport as it meant I only had two nights
and a day in Noosa to take a look around. The first day was spent having a little lunch on
Sunshine Beach, before getting some groceries and heading back to the very nice hostel,
which was friendly and full of colourful decoration and comfy chairs in a big courtyard
area. I met a girl called Shelly on the minibus back from the shops and she invited me for
drinks that night with her friend Matt, who happened to be in my dorm room, so that night we headed off to another backpacker bar. Reasonably priced jugs of beer and a beer auction meant the night got off to a great start, chatting with Matt about him being a policeman in the UK and witnessing why he was not the most shining example of one you might hope to find - he is a drunk, but a very funny one, and my questioning of whether he could do a good robot was met with dance off challenges galore and so, once suitably oiled with Toohey's and cider, the three of us hit the dance floor with gusto, and proceeded to throw shapes like they were going out of fashion (whereas we were clearly the one's dancing out of fashion). Upon arriving back at the hostel we joined some others sitting outside the dorm and talked in various broken European languages until the early hours. Good times.

The next day I decided to do the coastal walk rather than Australia Zoo, which I shall save
for another trip. The walk was awesome, around 6km through a bit of forest, down winding paths and plenty of stairs at the start, and the scenery couldn't have been better. I took lunch again, and once I'd finished the walk, I turned around and did it again rather than wait for the bus. I was rewarded with a double rainbow over Sunshine Beach just as I
finished, so it was well worth it. Talk about an awesome hangover cure. That night was
pretty chilled, reading a book and chatting with some of the others in the dorm, before
hitting the hay ready to travel up to Hervey Bay the next evening.

Hervey Bay wasn't too impressive, so it was just as well I Was only there for a night
either side of Fraser Island. I went to bed quite early in the world's quietest hostel,
and woke the next day ready to get the bus. I met a chap called Simon and another called
Seb on the bus, and spent the ferry trip chatting until we arrived. We met our tour guide
Jarrad on Fraser, got in a 4x4 bus and headed off for a walk in the rainforest. I won't
write every detail but the three days went something like this:

Day 1
Arrival. 4x4 bus and Jarrad chatting to us about the island. Walking in the rainforest.
Seeing a basin lake before lunch, and swimming in Lake Mackenzie in the afternoon. Walking more in the afternoon. Arrivals at the dorms and then drinks before an awesome pizza and pasta buffet night. Many jugs of cocktails, drinking games with 20 people trying to clap hands in time. Breaking down international barriers with one of the most faithful games known to mankind; charades. Finding out the French film names do not translate to English very well. Witnessing again how awesome my James Bond playing cards are. Realising that even I can have too much pizza in one night, feeling sad about it, then feeling better when told that the dinner lasted for another hour so I may just be able to get another slice in later on. Sleep in a comfortable bed. Sweet!

Day 2
Up early for a buffet, all you can eat, cooked breakfast. Lots of driving along 75 mile
beach. Seeing the wreck of the Maheno. Eli creek which I walked down in water up to my
waist very slowly holding my camera and crapping myself that I would trip over. Climbing
up to Indian Heads. Sweet chilli chicken wraps for lunch being watched by a dingo and
finding a golden orb spider. Swimming in a lake so cold it would have turned Frosty the
Snowman's man bits blue. More charades that evening. Mexican buffet, cards and a crazy
drunken game Maddie taught us called Ninja, as dangerous as it sounds when around six of you are tipsy and trying to hit each other without being hit yourself.

Day 3
Down to seven people left on the tour. Seeing a sand blow where the sand comes inland and takes over the forest. Seeing a Brahminy Kite hunting fish. Seeing a Sea Eagle out on the beach. An F-16 low fly by. Walking out to a lake with no one else there and swimming for the last time on Fraser. Deciding that the trip shouldn't end, so arranging to meet
everyone in an Irish bar back in Hervey Bay that night, and the subsequent passing of
Nicolai's hat for pictures. Pangs of jealousy about Maddie, Lottie and Seb moving onwards to Cairns and the Whitsundays.

On the Sunday I flew back to Sydney, back to Bondi and the flat. My little trip had been
pretty good, but it was time to actually see about getting a job as funds were running short.

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