Blogs from Rainbow Beach, Queensland, Australia, Oceania

Arrived in Rainbow Beach in the afternoon on Monday, its a very small town with not much here at all so just went to the supermarket for a food shop and then took a stroll down to the beach. Didn't eat all day so was absolutely starving so treated myself to chocolate pudding at the hostel tonight. Meet some people, some are going to Frasers tomorrow and some are in my group on Wednesday. We for a walk around the town in the night with a Swedish girl called Anna. We were trying to find anywhere that was still open so she could buy some chocolate but everything was already shut up 8pm! Played pool with Anna back at the hostel, we were both awful at it and each of the two games we played took ... read more

Hii! I keep wanting to start these blogs with "g'day" but I can't quite bring myself to do it! Okay so now we're in a lovely little place called Rainbow Beach. there's not a lot to do here except go to the beach and once again embrace the east coast culture and spend the day on the beach! So that's what we've been doing :) Before we were here we were staying in a place called Noosa which again is another east coast surfing town so not much to report from our visit there apart from sunbathing on the beach! no surfing though because the waves were definitely not for the beginners! A cyclone out near Fiji is causing the coast to be a bit dangerous for swimming in the sea but perfect for experienced surfers ... read more

The Koala Boy This story was told long ago by the aborigines in Australia. It explains why the koala must always be treated with respect. There was once a child whose parents died, and who was left in the charge of cruel relatives who forbade him to drink the water they had collected from the creek. The child was forced to eat eucalyptus leaves, and he was thirsty most of the time. One day, these relatives went off into the bush for the day to hunt for food. By an oversight, they left their water vessels in a place where the child could reach them. As soon as they were out of sight, he took the opportunity to drink his fill. Then, thinking of what might happen when they returned, he had the foresight to take ... read more

Legend has it that there was a time in blackfellow’s land when the night came down like a black cloud and veiled the world in darkness letting neither moon nor stars be seen. But as Bohra liked to feed at night, he objected to this darkness. Being a great wirinun, he put an end to it by just rolling the darkness back as if it had been a rug and let it rest on the edge of the world while the stars and moon shone out. Bohra was very pleased with himself as he could now see to feed during the night and he could go about as he pleased on his four legs, for in those days Bohra went on all fours like a dog. One night as he was feeding, Bohra saw a number ... read more

9.2.12 We said our goodbyes to Gaz for the final time and we got our bus to Rainbow Beach. We hadn't pre booked any accomodation, so as we got there we looked around. There was only 3 hostels to choose from all next to each other and as 2 of them were full up we were only left with one to stay in. We checked in and went to the beach for a few hours until we got blown by the sand and decided to sunbathe on the grass at the back of the beach. We bumped into the welsh guys from surfers paradise so we met them later on in the bar. We had a competition downing jugs of beer and I failed coming 3rd out of 4. 10.2.12 Sun bathed by the pool this ... read more

After a long, tiring day’s travel from New Zealand we arrived in Cairns, Northern Queensland. This was the first time either of us had been to Australia so we were keen to explore the country and its culture. The first difference that we noticed from NZ was that the temperature was considerably higher. In NZ it had fluctuated wildly from high 20s degrees C to hailstones and biting winds. In Cairns it was still, balmy and warm. Later, we quantified this as a high of 32C daily with biting cold nights of 24C! (Ha Ha, we hope you are all enjoying November in the UK!) We had booked a couple of nights in a Lonely Planet recommended hostel and were taken there by a skinny, unintelligible taxi driver with long, unfashionable, New Zealand hair. It ... read more

Day 34, 15/10/11 Today I had a lovely lay in and woke up not knowing what to do for the next few weeks. I have decided I plan to reach Cairns asap, hopefully within the next 2-3 weeks. That way I will have finished everything I have booked so far and I can stop for a month or so to work before heading south (probably Melbourne) for Christmas. That's the plan anyway but they seem to change quite a lot when your here. I am heading off to Airlie Beach today with a one night stop off at a town called 1770 just to break up the 17 hour coach journey. Once at Airlie Beach we will do The Whitsunday Islands. After I was all set on my plans we headed for the beach in the ... read more

Day 30, 11/10/11 First things first, text Dad a Happy Birthday! Got the Greyhound and made our way to Rainbow Beach. The hostel was okay and as part of my booking for Fraser Island I got a free meal and 2 drinks worth over $20 - Bargain! Had to have a safety chat about Fraser Island and driving over there on the sand - turns out you have to be 21 to drive over there so I was a passenger. Went for a free organized bush walk to a sand-blow and saw the sunset before coming back to hostel for dinner and socializing with the OzIntro lot who we met here who are traveling south.... read more