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Published: November 27th 2008
Our arrival in Cairns as i type this, after being in Australia for 6 weeks, seems like a life time ago. Cairns itself is a little soulless and not the sort of place that sets an example for the rest of this huge country. However, it has a party vibe and some nice beaches to the north (i visited Trinity Beach one day) and is a good base point to take trips either further up north or inland. After my buddy Helen receiving some sad news from home and having to go back to the UK for a couple of weeks i set off inland on my lonesome and went to a small village 'in the bush' called Yungaburra and stayed in a rustic lodge called 'on the wallaby' which was very friendly and relaxed. I ended up chatting to a lovely German couple who were travelling for a few weeks with their little toddler Hannah (who was just adorable and never cried) and they let me ride around with them through the Atherton Tablelands for a couple of days as they had their own car. If you don't have your own wheels while travelling Oz it can be a hassle
as you need to do everything as part of a tour which works out rather expensive if you do more than a few. I did do a tour for one day and saw Lake Barrine and Lake Eacham which are both volcanic crater lakes and are very clear and beautiful. We also saw a few small turtles just by watching the surface of the water. Very cute. On the tour i also saw the famous cathedral fig tree which was pretty impressive before doing some canoeing to try and watch out for tree kangaroo's and other wildlife. During the following days with Sarah and Hanu, we went to a few waterfalls including Milla Milla falls (the same falls where Peter Andre shot 'Mysterious Girl'!) and had a swim and generally did a fair amount of driving around seeing a few look out points and taking in the stunning scenery of this part of Oz (as well as learning a little German). We also went to Granite Gorge Nature Park and saw lots of rock wallabies.
After spending a few days inland i said goobye to the German family and headed back to Cairns for a quick stop over before
making my way down to Mission Beach- a very long stretch of beach- and spent a couple of days chilling there and seeing Dunk island which is a very pretty national park with some very annoying sand flies. Counteracting this however, Dunk island is home to an abundance of wildlife including over 100 species of birds and many butterfies. There are lots of beauiful walks you can do through the national park but the only walk i managed was the very long 15 minute walk to Muggy Muggy beach, so called by the Aboriginal people. In fact, the island was home to the Djiru aboriginal people for thousands of years and the aboriginal people still feel a strong connection to the island. It's called Dunk island as Lieutenant James Cook sailed past in 1770 and named it after the first Lord of the British Admiralty- Lord Montagu Dunk.
My next stop down the coast was to the gorgeous Magnetic Island or 'Maggie' as the locals call it. This island was really beautiful in parts and had a number of secluded bays where you can claim your own beach for the day. Aside from drinking goon on the beach (goon
is boxed 'wine' which has been filtered through fish bones and costs a few pounds for 4 litres and after 2 glasses you don't care about the taste) the highlight of the island was probably the forts walk where we saw wild koala's and walked up through lots of old buildings that were built during WW2. We also went to the fort at the top of the hill which offered stunning views to Townsville which was obviously beneficial for those unfortunate Aussies who were based there during WW2 enduring long warm days on a beautiful island! The soldiers based here never fired apart from once accidentally when an American vessel arrived unannounced. I stayed at Bungalow Bay on Magnetic which was a wildlife reserve and we slept in rustic huts where we were woken up each morning by some animal screaching at some ridiculous hour. I did a wildlife tour at this place and held a croc, snake and a few birds of different varieties. At one point i had birds landing on my head and all the way up my arms when the guide put food in our hands to feed them. I was just standing there not knowing
what to do, waiting for them to get off me!
After spending a few days on Magnetic my next stop down the coast was Ayre. During my days on Magnetic i spent alot of time with 2 great German girls called Theresa and Judith. I actually met Theresa on Dunk island but bumped into her on the ferry to Magnetic. Judith had to leave after Magnetic but Theresa and i have pretty much travelled together since as we booked a package deal for the Whitsunday Islands and Fraser island. We separated for a few days when i went to Ayre to do the SS Yongala wreck dive which was one of the best dives i have ever done and is also one of the top 10 dives in the world. On our first dive i saw 20 eagle rays swimming together which, the instructor said, she has never seen anything like it before. I also saw turtles and tonnes of other fish. The wreck still contains bones and is a grave site so can't be entered out of respect for the dead. Also they predict that the front of the wreck will collapse within the next 2 years so
Brisbane
love this shot! You have a beach, river and buildings all in one shotit would be pretty dangerous to enter. It sunk in 1911 killing everyone on board and they have never been able to determine exactly what happened. It did sail into a cyclone so that must have had something to do with it!
After Ayre my next pit stop was party central Airlie Beach for the Whitsunday islands! I did a 3 day/3 night liveaboard trip on a dive boat called the 'Pacific Star.' I did about 4 dives, one of which was a night dive. Very fun. The boat i went on went to the less dived outer reef so we got to see some beautiful coral walls and some pretty big fish. I snorkelled off the boat and saw this huge maori wrasse which swam so close to me i could easily have touched it. I was later talking to a skipper on one of the boats who told me this particular fish is called Albert and he always swims around the boat as it's his territory. I couldn't believe that out of the whole ocean, it's possible for one fish to be recognised and named. We nearly didn't make the outer reef however because the waves were
so choppy but after some decision making by the skipper we took the plunge and a few motion sickness tablets later, we made it safe and sound for some good diving. We also made a stop to the famous Whitehaven Beach with it's pure silica sands and turquoise water. You can't get purer anywhere in the world and even on a cloudy day the sand is so bright you need your sunnies on! After 3 nights of sunning on the deck and diving in the sea we regretfully arrived back on dry land but were soon entertained with lots of free booze for the after party which was a top night out.
The next day i went to Mackay which isn't a very exciting town but it's the base point for going to a platypus bush camp which was situated on a lake and was the most rustic place i've stayed in Oz. The huts are open at the sides and there is even a hot rainforest shower which was amaing. There was a campfire each night where we had roasted marshmallows. We also went to Eungalla National Park which was very pretty and we did some swimming in
Cairns
a storm is brewing a few waterfalls. One late night bus later and hanging around in the ghost town Mackay for a few hours i set off to the quaint towns of Agnes Water and Town of 1770 where i had my first surf lesson. Our instructor took us around after and took us to see some wild kangaroo's which was pretty cool. My next stop after these places was Hervey Bay for Fraser Island which was a definate highlight of my trip in Australia so far.
Fraser Island is just beautiful and i could easily have spent longer. The lakes inland are surrounded by white silica sand and the water is so incredibly clear. One of the main tourist attractions is Lake Mackenzie but Lake Barrine was just as stunning and less visited. The island itself is the largest sand island in the world and is created by longshore drift. There are different ways to explore Fraser but i chose a self-drive tour where you get put in a group of about 10 people and rent a 4X4. Who would have thought a tour company would give a group of 10 backpackers a car and a map and let them be for
3 days?? Anyway they did it (although scaring us beforehand with the usual blurb on having to pay 1000 dollars if we reck the car). It's not possible to explore the island in any other vehicle and driving on the rocky, muddy terrain inland is some of the most challenging driving i've ever done. It was lots of fun though and now i feel i can definately drive a 4 wheel drive pretty confidently as you won't find conditions like that in many places. It is really surreal seeing all these large motors drive down the endless sandy beaches on the island with the backdrop of a mountainous inland. Our group camped for a couple of nights and the stars in the evening were the most amazing i've ever seen. You would literally see a shooting star every minute, it was just stunning. However, one downside of Fraser is that you can't swim in the sea. The coast of Fraser is a breeding ground for tiger sharks and there are loads of stingers around at the time of year we went. However you could swim in the champagne falls which were natural rock formations that provided a natural barrier from
the sea.
I am so suprised that we made it off that island all alive and kicking and we didn't have to pay car damages!
My last port of call in Queensland was Brisbane where i was reunited with Helen and stayed at her friend Paul's house. It was really nice seeing her again and staying somewhere where we didn't have to worry about checking out or being woken up by people coming and going at all hours of the night/morning. Dorm life can take it's toll! Brisbane is a nice city based on a river and i spent a day just wandering around. We didn't have long there however as we were soon on our way to New South Wales and Surfers Paradise........
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