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Published: July 11th 2006
I have been in Australia now for three weeks. At the end of the week we set off to Canberra, the national capital, to meet my friend Zach. We picked him up and started on our way to the Snowy Mountains. It was soooo cold there! We hiked Mt. Kosciusko, Australia’s tallest mountain. It took us over six hours! At one point we were literally scaling the side of the mountain. I felt like I was in a James Bond movie or something. It was over a 150 foot drop straight down. You were supposed to wear proper ice shoes and gear, but we couldn’t be bothered spending the extra money. Well all is well, we made it. The next morning our contacts were frozen in the cases, which were in the car. That’s how cold it was. It was -8 C in the car. So after freezing nearly to death we started heading toward the Blue Mountains. We camped out at the Megalong Valley and it rained most of the time we were in the mountains. We hiked the Plateau, Kanangra Falls, and Wentworth Falls. All were so beautiful. I don’t think I could ever get tired of the scenery
here. However, in Wentworth Falls we hiked for about five hours and got so lost. I really felt at some points that I was in Vietnam. There was a proper path you are supposed to follow, but we just made our own path and were having to cut through bushes, swing from trees, I know you think I’m joking, but I’m really not, and we finally found the right path again. But we ended up in a town thirty minutes down the road from our car park. I have no idea how we got where we ended up. So we had no money on us and couldn’t take a cab, bus, or train so we just started walking. We decided to hitchhike and this really nice man picked the three of us, but could only take us to the highway. So then we were walking on the side of the highway and weren’t exactly sure which way we were going so turned off a road and there was a man who was driving a double decker tour bus and he said he would give us a lift to get us a little closer to the car. So then we ended
up just having to walk about five more minutes and FINALLY made it to the car right before dark. We then headed back to Sydney because Zach had to catch a flight to Cairns the next day. We were able to take a shower, which sounds like no big deal. But, after going seven days with no running water you can imagine what we not only looked like, but smelled like. And most of you know how my hair gets just from the next day…so I’ll let you think about that for a minute! I never knew how much of a friend soap could be. After we dropped Zach off we started heading north with Charlotte, one of my friends from New Zealand, and her lift Ada, from Germany. They are traveling in a station wagon and we are just caravanning. We camped out in a parking lot in a place called Bonny Hills and our view was the beach. Amazing. Our front step was the sand leading right to the water. However, the night before we stayed in this nothingness of a town called Wyee and stayed pretty much in a dump site, but it was free!! We then
headed to Coff’s Harbour to go to this surf museum and we saw pelicans there, but they are nowhere near what our pelicans look like. They are massive birds here. We arrived in Byron Bay and went to Cape Byron, which is the most easterly point of mainland Australia. The water here just gets better and better as you head up the coast. We cooked out at our campsite and then it started to rain, again. Love Australia weather. The next morning we went to this small town called Nimbin. I wasn’t there more than five minutes and I was offered marijuana at least five times. Once was by this little woman about 60, knitting on the sidewalk and she just asked us all if we wanted marijuana cookies, chocolate, honey, like it was nothing. After that we headed toward Surfer’s Paradise. It was pretty much like Myrtle Beach. Very commercialized. We paid for a campsite, which was the first time I had to pay for a place to stay so far. We were so excited because there were real showers, kitchen, and even a swimming pool. We didn’t know what to do with ourselves. Next on the map was
Brisbane. Here we split with Ada. We just toured Brisbane for a couple of days. Saturday night though we decided we wanted a few beers and bought a case, which here is 30 bottles. And we needed toilet paper so Charlotte took this huge roll that you find in public bathrooms and took it with us. So we were walking through Brisbane, size wise it is the third largest in Australia, with this huge thing of toilet paper and box of beer to the bus stop. No big deal. Come to find out though that we missed the bus to our stop and have to get off 2 km before our stop. So we get off and start walking on the highway, again, in the dark and all of a sudden it just starts to pour. And of course we have no rain gear. So we are walking for about 40 minutes total, soaking wet, and of course cardboard doesn’t really withstand rain to well, and halfway through our box of beer just falls apart so were are having to carry all these stupid bottles of beer to the campsite. And as soon as we get to the van of
course it stops raining. Funny thing is, we are all so tired at this point we don’t even want a beer! On our way from leaving Brisbane we picked up a new lift, Alan, who is Swiss Italian. His accent is amazing. We stayed that night on the side of the road and were able to go to sleep with cars passing the whole night. The next day we started heading toward Rainbow Beach. We stopped in Noosa Heads though and went swimming for the first time since I’ve been over here. The waves were awesome! I mean they were just absolutely massive. I had so much fun swimming! We stayed at Rainbow Beach for the night which is the tip of a peninsula connecting with Fraser Island. There are dingoes here, which are wild dogs that roam different areas throughout the country. They look like sweet, innocent dogs, but are very vicious. They have killed children before. There is this one story that a woman was convicted of murder of her child, but they came to find out about five years later that it was actually a dingo. So that night Alan went to the bathroom and came running
back because there was a dingo chasing him. And the next morning one of his flip flops was gone. After Rainbow Beach we arrived in Hervey Bay. We set out from here to Fraser Island. This is the largest sand island in the world. It is a lot like the northern part of the Outer Banks. You have to have 4WD to drive on the island. There are no paved roads, but only sand, everywhere. So we went on a self-drive safari for three days and two nights. Our group was a German, a south Korean, three Irish, and the four of us. Our land cruiser was bright pink. You have to take a barge over to the island and all of the other cruisers were white, except for ours. So we named it Barbie’s Beach Cruiser. Before, heading to over we all went food shopping together and I suggested that we have peanut butter and jelly for lunch as I though that it was a normal thing to eat and quick and cheap. I was quickly reminded that that was an American thing. And everyone thought it was so funny that I wanted that for lunch, whereas I thought
everyone ate peanut butter and jelly. It was so funny though because Alan had never eaten peanut butter before in his life. We made him try it and he said in his Italian accent “I think I’m becoming addicted. If I could I would work on a peanut butter farm.” It was so funny, but you have to do it with the accent. The island was awesome though. We had to camp out in tents, but you could choose where on the island you wanted to sleep. We all got to drive, but of course the cars were manual as well. So needless to say, everyone got a good laugh when it was my turn to drive. I kept stalling out. But they said I did very well for my first time. Of course, when we booked the tour we were told that we were going to have perfect weather, and of course our first night there we have rain. We had a BBQ before the rain though and we made a campfire. We really didn’t have much to start the fire with so we dug a hole in the sand and put in some paper and small wood we
had found and tied making a torch with spray deodorant that someone had. At first at seemed like a great idea. But children, do not try this at home. So Ben sprayed and sprayed it in the fire hole with no fire yet. Then he took his lighter to it, and BOOM. I mean it was the funniest thing I have seen in a long time. We all started laughing, meanwhile he had lost the majority of his arm hair and eyelashes. He was ok though, but it was hilarious. I mean you would think all of us are old enough and intelligent enough to know what would happen, but of course we tried it anyway. So then the rain started and we couldn’t even have the fire after all. The Irish guys had never been camping before and put up their tent entirely wrong and there were puddles of water in all of their sleeping bags in their tent. So they ended up sleeping in the truck. Next day we went driving more north of the island, weather beautiful. We arrived at Indian Head and had to walk 45 minutes to the Champagne Pools. And of course when we
get to the place where we have to start walking it starts pouring. All the other people were sitting in the trucks waiting for the rain to stop, but clouds were everywhere and it looked like it would rain forever. So I decided I would step up and told everyone we were going in the rain anyway. I had everyone pumped up and we started walking in the rain and we were soaked and decided halfway through walking that maybe it actually wasn’t such a good idea. Oh well. Who wants to walk in sunshine anyways, overrated if you ask me. And we jumped in the pools so we got wet anyway. Of course though as soon as we get to the pools the sun starts coming out anyway. So we swam for awhile and the other groups started arriving at the pools and we were leaving and we were all bleeding somewhere because of all of the rocks and sharp shells in the water. And as we start walking back to the truck, all bleeding, and our soaking wet clothes, what does it do, oh yes, starts raining again. Love Australia weather. So the last day we went to
Lake McKenzie. Beautiful day and beautiful lake. It is the most crystal clear water I have every seen in my life. The sand is white as snow and the water starts out crystal clear like tap water, then changes to a turquoise blue, right before changing to a deep royal blue. This is the one time the postcard actually looks like the real thing. Amazing. So we all went swimming, were laying out soaking up the nice sun. Take a guess. Rain. Of course. So then we just decided to go back to the truck and headed to where the barge would pick us up. Oh well. Can’t win them all. And we still had an awesome time. So today we are leaving Hervey Bay working up to the Whit Sunday Islands where we will go sailing. I put some pictures up from New Zealand to start with and then put them up for the length of time I've been in Australia. Miss you all!!
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Anna
non-member comment
WOW
Hey cuz looks like you are having a blast and living the real life. I am so envious! Why can't my job be like that! Anyhow, this is definetly a trip of a lifetime for you. The pictures of australia make me want to go there so much, especially since I just got my SCUBA diving certification. I finished all of my cert dives yesterday. It is totally fun. I am glad to see that you are having a blast and don't forget about all of us in the States. I am now kind of wishing that I had done something like that when I finished college. Oh well just more things for me to plan on my vacation time from work. Be safe and make sure to keep all of those fun stories written down so you can remember all the details lata. :o)