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Published: March 1st 2007
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Selva Falls
The lads cooling off Waterfall style Leaving Gail and Nigel's humble abode was a very hard task,but we eventually escaped the big city of Sydney.
We drove until the early hours of the morning (roughly 700km) all the way to a campsite in Graftsmore just 30 mins south of Byron Bay - our next stop off point which we had been told by many a traveller as a 'must do',described as 'a hedonistic pleasure park,a place to indulge one's wildest instincts'. Let's find out...
Our planned 3 day stay turned into a 7 day indulgence after checking into the Aquarius Backpackers. We bonded so well with a roomful of Swedes,Dutch and Brits - swaying us so easily into hanging around longer. 'Room 22' felt like a big family. In the evenings we would esemble to catch up on what each other had done, and end up playing games - a huge laughter with the aid of the local winery produce and the assortment of different nationalities! We also were lucky enough to meet Lawrence and Hazel, the fun 'parents' of the group who we discovered that the former of the two was a musical genius. Has his own record label and recently toured with
David Essex, Streebeck - 'Without a Baedeker' is out now in all good record shops.
Just an hour inland from Byron Bay we visited a place called Nimbin. The Hinterland hang-out became legendary in 1973 when students staged an experimental and alternative festival for all the disillusioned drop out students. Since then, it has become a town full of small shops selling hemp products and local societies campaigning to legalise cannabis. Young and old hippies prowl the streets, all adding to our crazy experience of Nimbin. It's reputation may be big, but the town was tiny and we escaped to the nearby gorgeous,picturesque waterfalls to escape.
It was the 30th of January and we packed up the Big Dog and finally left Byron Bay and headed up the coast. During our time at the hostel, we made very close friends with a real Californian -Pascal. He was getting ready to start University in Melbourne and travelling beforehand. His high amounts of energy made him the perfect travelling companion, so for the next week he would ride up the coast for a week to Rainbow Beach with us - he didn't know what he was letting himself in for!!
Big Dog on the Beach
We made sure she applied suncream We then headed to the Border Ranges National Park, testing out our 4x4 even more after its great track record. As soon as we arrived,we took to a beautiful 8km walk through the rainforest passing the great Selva Falls for an ultimate refreshing break in the baking heat - gorgeous! But the weather did not last long. As we started to set up camp it started to tank it down with rain - something we haven't seen for a while - for a solid hour. But like true boy scouts (I have the badge in tent erection) we quickly put up a makeshift shelter enabling us to cook our much awaited steaks - alright!!
We then headed up the Sunshine Coast clocking up hundreds more Km's and finally arriving in a town called Noosa. Here we had to sort out our plans for Fraser Island,a big travellers destination where booking ahead was essential. Our major decision was do we buy an all in one package deal? Or drive on with our 4x4 ourselves? After hours, and I mean hours, of debating and indeciveness (the trouble with having 4 loud voices all together) we agreed on splashing out on
Nimbin Street Code
Top Right,check who did part of the painting.Legend. a group package deal to meet more travellers and save our 4x4 from a rough ride in the National Park Island.
We then departed Noosa and headed for Rainbow Beach, a coastal town known for its colourful cliffs and massive stretch of beach. Again we drove through miles of luscious National Park in order to get there, showing Pascal what our Big Dog was capable of, and when we finally arrived it was as good as the name suggested. Stunning cliffs and miles of white sand which you have to cruise along in order to reach the town - a lot of fun.
But this was also our last day with Pascal, who started University in just a few days time. It was a joyous and animated fair well, a man whop had been such a good travelling companion for the past week - we were gonna miss him. He was in contact with us shortly after, and i asked for a bit of an input to this blog about his time with us. Over to you beach boy;
The next day we woke up super early cause of the searing morning sunlight, and decided that we were going to just stay there for a bit and sunbathe cause we had to wait for low tide in order to successfully navigate the beach to Rainbow Beach. After a couple of hours in the sun we decided we couldn't wait any longer and set off along the beach in the Big Dog. We reached the place where low tide was necessary and it was definitely necessary as we came to a skidding halt where our track ran straight into the water. We got out to assess the situation and realized that it was going to be a good couple of hours before we would be able to drive so after much coaxing and encouragement from Sam we decided to swim out about 400 meters to a sand spit that had formed. I was more than a little apprehensive about the whole thing cause I was sure that there would be some sort of current and possibly jellies along with other creatures of the sea (sharks... sting rays... etc.) But in the end, after watching Sam, Duncan, and Jonah make it over Alec and I decided it was safe. It was like something out of a movie. Pristine white
Aqualog
Sam cooling off in a river in the Border Ranges National park sand that spread over about 150 yards long and at it's widest maybe 20 yards wide. We spent the hours diving off the edge where the sand abruptly fell off into deeper water, or yelling and flailing as we sprinted into a flock of over 100 seagulls dispersing them like you always wished you could as a child. I was a child again with nothing to do but play all day long with my newfound best friends. We walked back to the car along the beaches that formed as the tide went down. Lucky for me, Alec volunteered to swim back to get my water bottle that I left on the spit. A really nice guy.
The drive along the beach was almost surreal. We were all in a daze, that daze that you fall into after a day of excitement in the sun. We drove for about 20 minutes on the beach. There's nothing like it. It was beautiful, peaceful, and exhilarating.
This was exactly what I wished would happen while traveling in Australia. Meet up with some great people and take off to wherever the wind (or Big Dog in this case) takes me. My sincere
View from the Afternoon
Dunc thought it would be fun to climb the cliffs,we didn't know that they're were sand cliffs and you have to move very quickly!! thanks go out to my British friends from Bristol. Thanks for the time of my life.'
I did not pay him. Honestly.
On we went, and our decision to buy the package deal turned out to be a fantastic one. We arrived in Hervey bay, the last town before driving over to Fraser Island where we met our team with who we would spend the next 3 days with. We also organised to meet up again with Lisa and Alex, two Swedish girls we had become close with since Byron Bay to embark upon our Fraser Island Safari.
Thousands of travellers flock to Fraser Island every year, and I could see why. An island with more sand than the Sahara Desert, offered beautiful suclusive clear lakes, miles of beaches and great view points off cliffs where we spotted a few turtles and stingrays. After being reunited with our Swedish friends, we gained four more. These Scandanavian Vikings get everywhere. Anton, Johann, Merlin and Michael donned a distinctive Scandinavian/Hip Hop clothing style and were all fans of Monty Python and Fawlty Towers, and sang great Johnny Cash numbers with a brilliant Swedish accent. The lads became awesome fun
Chilled Beers
One of the many discussions in Noosa.. mates who we shared the great experience with. We quickly exchanged phone numbers and emails and would hopefully meet up with them again further up the coast - goodbye for now!
We had hit travellers paradise, hard. The only way is up!
Dunc
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sam cottle
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God i love the east coast, spent many months in byron bay, brilliant place, used to walk up past the goannas to the lighthouse everyday then have a refreshing swim on the way back. Fraser Islands pretty crazy isnt it, i love those massive lakes. Watch out for dingo's with your baby there though.. cant wait to go back to all that!