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Published: June 14th 2009
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Day 58
We got up nice and early to catch the bus from Brisbane to make our way to Hervey Bay. This was our first experience of the Greyhound and it was a fairly uncomfortable five hours! I think it is deemed to be a relatively short trip and so we were lumbered with what looked like one of the older coaches. No matter how I sat I just could not get comfortable. I seemed to be the perfect size so that neither slouching nor sitting up straight helped! This was bearable for five hours but left me worried for the upcoming twelve hour trip!
Anyway, whinge over and we arrived into Hervey Bay. Hervey Bay is a strange place as the primary reason people go there is to go to Fraser Island, us included. Everything else is very spread out meaning that there was not a lot else to do. We were staying at a place called the Colonial Village YHA which was nice enough. The only problem being that it is winter here at the moment and although it is nice in the day, it is cold at night and our room had no form of heating!
Brrrrrr!! Anyway, day one in Hervey Bay involved little more than a trip to the supermarket and booking our Fraser Island Trip which leads me on to.......
Day 59
An early and very cold start!!!! We were up before 6 am as we were picked up just after 6 am and my god it was cold! Standing around in your shorts at that time of day is not fun! Brrrr!! (again) Once we had got over the shock of the temperature we sat back and were soon at the marina where we boarded the boat. It took about twenty minutes to travel across to Fraser Island and it was a nice steady journey. Right, for those of you not 'in the know' Fraser Island is a world heritage sight and is unique as it is the only place in the world where tall rainforests grow in sand. The island is 123 km in length and has over 100 freshwater lakes! Right, lesson time over. We met the guide and he led us to our mode of transportation, a four wheel drive bus! Superb! It was basically a military vehicle converted to a bus as the terrain is a
little rough out there! We went round the first corner and then up a hill that was practically vertical and then straight down the other side......this was clearly going to be a bumpy trip! We travelled through the rainforest with the guide pointing out all the interesting things until we reached the beach. We raced along the beach along the shore line and saw a sea snake that had been washed up! We stopped for a tea brake half way up the beach and we saw some humpback whales playing in the sea! What an amazing sight! We were so lucky to see them as it is very early in the season for them and although we couldn't get a photo because of the distance, it was a sight neither of us will forget.
We continued on up the beach stopping to see the coloured rock formations before moving on to see the famous Maheno Shipwreck which was washed up in 1935 whilst being towed to Japan to be scrapped. To add to our wild life sights, on the way to lunch we saw a wild dingo! It looked happier than the one we saw in the koala sanctuary,
although a lot skinnier. After lunch we headed back into the rainforest for a walk. It was one of the quietest places I have ever been, really eerie and you would imagine quite scary if you were on your own. We then made our way to the famous Lake McKenzie which was beautiful. It is slightly acidic and so little grows in it meaning it is crystal clear. The sand is one of only two places in the world where it is 99% pure silica meaning it is ultra fine. After psyching myself up I made my way into the lake which was so cold!!!! Brrrrr!!!! (again) I was pleased I did it though having travelled all that way. We finished the day by washing the sand off our feet in the heated pool of the expensive eco hotel on the island! Ha ha!
Day 60
We checked out of the YHA the next morning and played some basketball as it was free! Check out the photos! We hired some bikes and went for a really nice bike ride along the sea front to kill some time and just chilled out. Then came the monsterous bus journey.........twelve hours!
Small by Chinese standards (my new benchmark for everything) but still uncomfortable. We watched a film for a couple of hours and then had some seriously disjointed sleep as we kept stopping along the way and changing driver etc It was like being back in hospital although nobody asked to take my temperature this time, although if they had they would have found I was bloody cold as it was touching zero outisde!! Brrr!!! (again). Anyway, twelve hours later and we arrived in Airlie Beach.......
Day 61
We were met at the bus stop by the guy from our accomodation and he drove us back to the apartments. We went and did a big food shop as we had facilities to cook and we decided we would make most of our meals whilst here to save some money. Not to mention the fact we were starting to get a bit sick of eating the same rubbish when out. So, a bit of a quiet day to start, which was the same the next day....
Day 62
Sat on arse at beach all day.....
Day 63
The best day by far as we did our
trip to the Whitsunday Islands, the reason we came here! We were picked up at 8 am which was far more bearable than the Fraser Island trip and were dropped off at the marina. We were pleased to find that the trip was only half full as we had loads of space on board. The trip across to our first stop was quite rough as the boat rolled around around all over the place with the horizon appearing out the left window.......then the right......then the left.........The first stop was Whitehaven Beach which was beautiful and is the other place in the world with 99% pure silica sand. We spent around one hour on the beach which was empty except for around the twenty of us....heaven! Anyway, back onto the boat and we had some lunch on board before making our way to Hill Inlet to take in the gorgeous views. Back onto the boat again and we moved to our snorkeling spot near the reef. We hired some wetsuits as the water was pretty cold! brrr! (again) It took a bit of getting used to but I soon got into it and ended up being the last one in the
water. You loose all sense of time and direction when you are swimming around and when I looked up I couldn't see anyone! The stuff of nightmares, alone in the ocean! Then I remebered there was a bloody big boat behind me! Phew! We got back on the boat and had some hot drinks and cakes and were taken back to shore. We had a really good day and met some really nice people. Definitely a high point of our time in Oz.
Day 64
Sat on arse by pool.....and had a BBQ!!! How Australian is that?!
Day 65
That brings us to today and we have just been killing time really as we were kicked out of our apartments at 10 am. We've just been chilling out by the beach, reading and taking in the view before another ten hours on the bus! Great!
Anyway, we hope you are all well. I miss family and friends but I'm afraid we still miss very little about England otherwise! Keep the messages coming and I apologise for the typos but I really can't be bothered to read this through again! Take care everyone!
Nick &
Marta
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Lucy
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Nice Pics!
Loving the creative beach photos!