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Hey there,
Well we finally left our wonderful (and free) accommodation in Noosa. First stop in the backpacker trail is Hervey Bay, which is a couple hours north of Noosa. Hervey Bay is known first and foremost for being the gateway to Fraser Island. When we arrived we realized pretty quickly that 99% of tourists are here for that reason (the rest to fish on the 1.4km pier). So we were preparing to head out to the big sandy island (biggest and sandiest in world), and then we got a taste of the prices. Very expensive! We couldn’t find a deal for less than $300 so we decided to skip Fraser for now and spend the money at the Whitsundays (which are strangely a lot cheaper). The hostel at Hervey Bay was nice with a pool, bar, restaurant, and beach frontage. Maybe a bit loud for Matt at night, but then again not many places close down at 8pm! Hervey Bay has a nice beach which goes on forever and seems to have a daily quota of around 20 (soooo much different to Noosa). And not only is it quieter, but way less… how should we say… upper class. Walking past
the pubs here at midday on a Friday makes you wonder how any money can be made here. Don’t think I will be walking alone at night here. Matt was completely fascinated by ‘Shark World,’ where there were photos of penguins, seals etc extracted from great white’s stomachs. And if that’s not sick enough there is a noticeboard of all the deaths and attacks on humans for the last 20 years or so world-wide….sickos!
Some things we have noticed in the area is ridiculously cheap pineapple (48c), ridiculously expensive fish and chips (and the type of fish- you order battered sprats for about $5!), mussels cost $20/kg (what?!), most cars are Holden (we saw 7 parked side-by-side today) and not only is liquor available drive thru but it is advertised on tv almost as much as food!
Next stop was Cania Gorge, which is inland from Bundaberg (mmm lemon lime and bitters). We decided whilst we are not (quite) in Great Barrier Reef territory that we would spend some time in the hinterland looking at trees and rocks and such. Matt thought that was a bit strange, but was pretty stoked that the campsite had a pool so everything
else seemed to be secondary. Driving there was very interesting…not quite the outback, but it was looking like it! The small towns were very redneck/hillbilly…with old run-down mine houses and pubs, with exception the little town Childers which had fields of sugarcane, and bright red earth. We even saw an aboriginal meeting house, which was not quite as nice as a marae. When we arrived in Cania Gorge Matt started laughing because it was so out of the way of anything and appeared very desolate. After the first night we realized that the camp site is very quiet and peaceful and the gorge is stunning. We got up early the next day and did three walks through the gorge, which was full of large sandstone monoliths (rock geeks) and very, very hot and dry. After walking for a while every breath we inhaled would make our throats dry and hoarse…good thing we bought about 50 mandarins for $5! There is an abundance of wildlife; we have a resident Goanna under our house which is probably three feet long. There is also bird feeding time here everyday at 4pm which attracts about 100 rainbow lorikeets to the feeding bucket, great for
photos! Matt even saw a Taipan snake (he reckons 3rd or 4th most venomous snake). And there are wallabies everywhere! We went for a drive to the nearby Lake Cania (which is dammed and very low) and there were about 10 wallabies (some with babies in pouch) eating and resting on the grass verge. They didn’t even mind me taking a photo! We found one walk today pretty funny; it was called ‘Ferntree pool walk’ and the journey takes you through the gorge to a pool with a couple of (dead-looking) ferns nearby. When we arrived this 60-something lady said ‘now this isn’t something you see everyday is it?!’ Um what? There wasn’t even flowing water! They asked us if we see things like this much and we said uh yeah, New Zealand has quite a lot of ferns and water…. The weather here is quite typical central autumn weather, very hot and dry days (over 30C) and very cold, clear nights (down to about 5C), so air conditioners AND heaters are good buys! Oh and happy birthday Katherine from Cania gorge…!
On Wednesday we were off to Rockhampton. This was a quicker drive, with air con on full
blast. We ended up staying at Kinka Beach, which is one of the beaches at Yeppoon (30km east of Rockhampton). Our place was a bargain with 2 bedrooms, kitchen, pool etc for $50. We found Rockhampton to be a bit of a hick town, slightly similar to Thames back home, but bigger and richer. The historical buildings line the “CBD” and there are many rough farmers, who look like they have just come off Crocodile Dundee. Not a very touristy town, but we did some jobs and spent about an hour trying to find the (one and only) internet café. But there are beautiful parts around here, like the large hills behind the city, various volcanic plugs, nice coast and beautiful churches and buildings. The temperatures here are warm but the crazy thing is that you can’t swim in the water for most of the year because of the deadly box jellyfish, and even crocs! So the beaches are pretty deserted!
But we are very excited to go to Airlie Beach, which is the gateway beach to the Whitsundays, probably one of the most exciting parts of the Oz journey. So stay tuned!
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Ngaire
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Goodbye Noosa, Hello .....
You're capturing the bright colours of Oz!! Well done, love to see, and read about, these interesting new places north of Noosa. Earmark your favourites so I can check them out one day. Lv Mum