Surfers Paradise, Fraser Island and the Whit Sundays

Monday the 13th

Myself and Erich arrived in Surfers Paradise and really just chilled out. Surfers paradise is a real beach resort type place. There are lots of high rise apartment buildings that people use as holiday homes. Close by there are a number of theme parks. But despite the name the surfing isnt all that great, well thats what the real surfers say.

We sat on the beach for a while, went for some average italian dinner that evening and went to bed early..

Tuesday the 14th

We caught a local bus to dreamworld a nearby theme park. Thomas the german guy from the surfing trip joined us as he had just arrived in surfers paradise. The rides were great with one called the claw being my favourite. It was like a huge swing 9 stories high that basically swung you upside down. After the highest point, Thomas the german said to me in his german accent "thats so mean" as we plummeted towards the ground. Cracked me up.

In the afternoon after we had done the rides we went into a part of the theme park with waterslides to cool off. I felt like I was twelve as we went down the huge slides into a pool. All in all a great day.

That evening back at the hostel myself and Erich cooked for ourselves, thomas, galways Danielle and two other random english girls that were in our dorm (forget their names already). After a tasty pasta dinner we had a few beers and checked out the nightlife in surfers paradise. It was great fir the girls as we ended up in some bar with male strippers. But after byron bays amazing music, surfers paradise nightlife was a bit disappointing. Still the six of us made the most of it and still managed a bit of dancing to really bad music.

Wednesday 15th

Myself and Erich got on a bus and headed up north to hervey bay where we would get to visit fraser island. We changed bus in Brisbane but we didnt stick around, although i did see a sign for "beer and breakfast"....crazy ozzies. It took us most of the day to get to hervey bay. That evening in the hostel we ate all you can eat pizza with a few south african girls who gave me a bit of an insight into life in south africa. Im in no rush to go there.

Thursday 16th

We checked out at 6am and met the group for the fraser island trip. The plan was to visit fraser island, the largest sand island in the world, driving our own four by four for 3 days/teo nights and each night we got to set up tents and cook our own food. A bit of an adventure with people who dont know each other. Ten people are grouped together and given a 4 by 4 and off you go. The group was made up of myself and Erich, Natalie an american girl, two Swedish girls and two Swedish guys, Moa, Beatrice, Jonatan and Josef, an English guy Lee and his Ozzie girlfriend Crystle and a french guy Romain.

First we headed to the super market where we bought the food and booze for the 3 days. It was pretty easy, Jonatan one of the swedish guys is a chef so we let him decide on the food. Then we drove to the ferry and got the ferry to the island. There are only dirt/sand tracks on the island that go through something like a jungle that has somehow managed to flourish on this island that is made completely out of sand. The tracks are pretty bumpy and with an inexperienced 4 by 4 offroad driver, namely me, the ride wasnt all that comfy. We got on the island at the west side and drove across to the east pacific coast stopping to admire the jungle along the way. At the beach on the east side we set up camp for the night. After the camp was set up we all thought we had done a great job. Then it started raining and got windy and we realised that in reality, we did a pretty shit job.

We managed to cook some sausages on our gas stove and then all of us hopped into the 4 by 4 with our food and beer and played some drinking games and sang some songs. It was good fun but having to sit in the car due to the wind and rain spoiled that night a bit. We went to be in our leaking tents and i dont know if i slept more than two hours with the noise from the wind and rain, the shitty mattress provided and the hard ground. I had thought sand would make a comfy bed but my got was i mistaken.

Friday the 17th

We were not allowed to drive on the beach until after noon and the low tide so we hung around in the morning, and the sun came out. Eventually with the sun shining and we started driving north along the beach. Driving on the beach is strange at first but great fun. We passed a cool ship wreck on the way and after an hour and a half we reached Indian head where some of the only rocks on the island form a rocky head. The view from the top of the head was spectacular and we even saw two whales swimming by the head. After this we drove on another ten minutes and came to the champagne pools, pools in the rocks where the foam of the oceans waves coming over the rocks make it bubble. Here we took a dip, we were not allowed into the ocean due to all the sharks and killer jelly fish.

We drove back down the beach a few hours to our new camp site. This time we found a very well sheltered place although it wasnt really necessary as the skies were completely clear. After we set up camp 4 other 4 by 4s pulled up close to us. At first we were a bit disappointed but this feeling didnt last. Jonatan cooked up a great pasta dinner and afterwards we sat around in a circle under the satrs and played some more drinking games. After the previous night everyone was in great form.

Two fishermen pulled up beside us and set up a little covering and started playing some music. After we had enough of our drinking games we, and everyone from all the nearby camps (maybe 50 people) wandered over to the fishermens tent and music and a party erupted. An absolutely fantastic night of dancing followed, amazing given where we were.

Saturday the 18th

We packed up pretty early and headed inland to Lake Mckenzie a beautiful lake in the island with a sandy beach. We got in the water which was fresh and incredibly clear and started playing a game we invented "Hit face". Basically you threw a ball at other people faces. Then we played keep it up with your face. Ok so it wasnt a leather ball, it was more like a balloon, but everyone on the beach was laughing at us keeping the ball up with our faces.

After the lake we headed back to the ferry nad returned to the mainland. A few of us went to a chinese buffet and then got an early night in Bed.

Sunday the 19th.

This day, after we had said good by to all our group, myself and erich chilled. We went for breakfast at a cafe on the beach. Then we rented out bikes and cycled up and down the beach and around the town. We stopped off at this shark museum where we saw a great white shark frozen. BUt really the shark show as it was called was shit. Just paper cut outs about shark attacks, something I didnt really want given the fact that I was about to go diving. For lunch we ate great fish and chips, then saw some guitarist playing in a cafe before lying on the beach until sunset. Then we got ready for our overnight bus up to Airlie beach.

Monday the 20th to Thursday the 23rd

The bus through the night to Airlie beach was horrible. I didnt really sleep all that well and I was getting straight onto a sailing boat that day. Airlie beach is the town where all the boat trips to the whit sunday islands leave from.

At 2pm I met the group for the boat and we set sail for the whit sunday islands. The sail boat, called Spank Me ?????, had a crew of 4 and about 20 tourists. For the three days we sailed around the islands sailed out to the great barier reef. I did my first scuba dive out at the great barrier reef. It felt strange at first breathing under water, but once i got used to it I absolutely loved it. You are in a 3 dimensional world with loads of fish and corals. Its really difficult to explain, but all i can say is Sweeeeeeeeet!! And when we were diving I saw a shark 1.5m long. It was white tip reef shark, which isnt dangerous but it was 1.5m long. In total I did 3 dives, two out at the reef and then one in a little rocky bay. I have to do more, I love it.

When we were not diving we were swimming at amazing beaches and snorkeling over the corals. The food on the boat was fantastic and in the evenings we had a few beers. One special beach worth mentioning is white haven beach. Just look at the photos. The sands are pure white and the water is paradise blue.

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