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Published: November 10th 2011
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Hello everyone!!
Time is flying on our travels, so I didn't get round to blogging for the last few bits of NZ. As so much has happened since, I will sum up the last bit of the south island in a sentence: I jumped into a 134metre canyon with my legs tied together (hero), we saw some seals and sperm whales in Kaikoura and we soaked up the incredible atmosphere in the fanzone in Christchurch when the All Blacks won the WC- the perfect end to an unforgettable 5 weeks.
We only have 3 weeks to whizz up the East Coast of Aus so have crammed in loads so far. Our first stop was Byron Bay where we tried our hand at surfing. As natural born (modest) athletes, we found it a lot trickier than we were expecting, and suprisingly difficult to work the wetsuit look like they do in the movies. Despite this, by the end of our session we were standing on our boards, dodging the jellyfish and generally loving it.
Next stop was Noosa, a national park running along side a beautiful long sandy beach, which were sad to leave after just one night. As we
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Fraser Island sunrise, the calm before the Dingo... were strolling down the beach at sunset (not at all cliche...), Kate was taking a picture of the other 4 of us. She asked us to swivel round for one looking out to the ocean (even less cliche...). At that very moment two dolphins jumped out of the water, about 10 metres out in the shallows. There were many excited squeals as we sat for a while watching them play, before heading off to a beachside bar for a celebratory cocktail! We also saw our first real life koala in Noosa. It was a bit grubby and I didn't want to cuddle it like I had expected to.
We then headed to Rainbow beach which was our base for our 2night, 3 day Fraser Island trip. We've all heard great things about this trip from friends and family who have done it before, but we still taken aback by how good it was! Having checked our food rations (a bit like being on an episode of Shipwrecked), we boarded our 4 wheel drive, joined by 2 Swedish girls and a Canadian chap. The swedish girls won our hearts very early on when they played the entire Mamma Mia soundtrack
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Girl band snap over the sound system. For some strange reason, the Canadian got increasingly grumpy (and increasingly camp) throughout the trip...! There were so many highlights of the Fraser Island experience- some stunning lakes, sand dunes and beaches as well as some turtle, shark and stingray sightings. On the last morning, we decided to get up for sunrise as our camp site was right on the beach. It was beautiful, well worth getting up before 5am! Busy getting some arty farty photos (Ben, you will be impressed at my ability to nativigate the 'sunset mode' function...!), I couldn't understand why Carmel's face had gone a even paler shade of white. Before long, I felt a tickle on my ankles and looked down to see a wild dingo sniffing my heels. Fortunately(!), there are no shower facilities on the Fraser Island so he soon lost interest and pottered off to the waters edge to howl at the sunrise. We naturally fabricated a story about wrestling it to the floor to earn some 'hardcore camper' points with our group over breakfast.
Having survived such an ordeal, I felt like a warrior and consequently adapted my 'Do one thing a day that scares you'
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Pretending to be cool, calm and in control!! rule to 'if you've done one thing that scares you before 6am, do something to terrify your friends instead'- I volunteered myself to take the wheel of the 4 wheel drive. Cruising along beautiful long, white beaches, it seemed I was reformed into a competent driver. Remarkable what a girl can do in the absence of pedestrians, roundabouts, maps, and general rules of the road. Given the number of guardians reading this blog, I won't mention how hairy the surprise off-road track got later on...!! Back at rainbow beach, and clean once again, I got up early the next morning to feed some wild but incredibly tame dolphins.
Our next trip was to Airle beach, which would be our base for the Whitsundays sailing trip. Fraser Island was a tough act to follow but, amazingly, Whitsundays trumped it. The weather was perfect, and we sat on the deck sunbathing, and generally living the dream. At our first snorkelling stop, I saw a massive Maori Wrasse (with big fat pouting lips- see pics). I perfected a technique which has become invaluable to me, as a snorkeller who often squeals and scares the fish off- the stalking game. Track and admire
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Lake McKenzie, Fraser Island them out of their sight, then flap your flippers as fast as is humanely possible to get you as far away as possible as soon as they attempt eye contact! The food on the boat was amazing so we returned to the boat for sunset cheese platters, before watching out for shooting stars on the deck.
The next day I saw my first sea turtle (so beautiful and graceful) on an early morning snorkelling trip, before we headed off to an absolutely stunning lookout point and to the infamous Whitehaven beach for some corney photos and time to relax with a book.
What had been an incredible day, ended with the highlight of my trip so far. Just as we'd finished eating dinner on the deck, Tona thought she'd seen a big fish in the water by the boat. It soon transpired that we had 3 dolphins hunting squid around our boat. It was pitch black, except for a full moon, and clear sky of stars, and just absolutely stunning. The dolphins were within touching distance, and having had their evening snack continued to dance right next to the boat for hours- spinning, flipping and jumping. I did raise
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Girl band's founding principle my suspicions with the captain later on in the night that he may have just parked up at Seaworld. The crew had some atmospheric music on in the background and all this combined made it really a rather moving moment. It was majestic; and a sight I'm sure I will remember forever.
We certainly did not want to get off the boat the next morning.
We're now in Cairns for our last few days of Aus before we leave Kate and Emily and head to Singapore for a couple of nights before landing in Krabi, Thailand on the 16th. (Don't worry re floods, we've done lots of research and spoken to friends who are currently there. And packed armbands/ rubber rings).
I'd been told I might not be able to dive in Cairns as planned tomorrow due to being an 'asthmatic.' However, I went for a medical this morning and the specialist's conclusion was that 'I had a good set of lungs on me.' (This was as a result of completing a few tests, rather than giving them an ear bashing..) Can't wait! Trip to Cape Tribulation will be our last day in Cairns.
As always, lots of love
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Sunset, Noosa to you all xx
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ben
non-member comment
wow!
jess, what a brilliant blog! it sounds like you really are having a fantastic time and everywhere you go are getting the jammiest luck! the dolphin swimming around your boat looked breathtaking. whilst i should probably concede that your english language skills have trumped my standard "we're having an awesome time" you still have some practice to do on that camera, but so far i'm quite impressed! i'm really pleased you've had a go at diving and look forward to hearing how you got on soon. we had a great time watching the bungy and sky dive videos - i had a feeling you might do them once you were there...make sure you have a go at rock climbing on the rocky peninsula nr to krabi (i've forgotton the name so check my blogs and do the walk up to the vantage point over the palm trees!). enjoy the next leg of your journey and i look forward to reading the next blog soon x