Travels in OZ


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Oceania » Australia
May 4th 2006
Published: March 5th 2009
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Out on the Towns...ville
Melbourne - 3/22 I spent a few days in my first stop getting a plan organized for my 6 weeks in Australia. I decided to fly to Cairns and travel down the east coast. Melbourne was hosting the Commonwealth Games so the streets were packed with people in the final week. I spent some time grinding it out at the Crown Casino. My last night playing cards there I saw WSOP champ Joseph Hatchem playing a few tables away from me.

Cairns - 3/27 I landed at midnight and stepped off the plane into the hot and humid air that makes up the climate in northern Australia. I didn't do much because of the rain that poured down over the couple days I was here. Decided a trip to the Great Barrier Reef would be better when the weather wasn't so ugly.

Townsville - 3/30 Taking Greyhound south, we drove through some of the small towns that really took a beating from Cyclone Larry a couple weeks back. Small trees were scattered on the streets, and telephone poles stood at an angle. Townsville was an interesting place, it seemed like it couldn't decide if it wanted to be a
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Rock pool Townsville
city or a town. I was still too far north to swim in the ocean because of the presence of jellyfish. There was a nice saltwater rock pool though that was right by the beach. I hiked up Castle Hill for a nice view. I didn't expect to see much nightlife here, but on Friday night a few of us ventured downtown where surprisingly it was going off. Each club we walked by had a line out the door as well as a Paris Hilton look-alike promoting outside the entrance. We were wearing sandals and committing other dress code violations so we walked back and watched Pulp Fiction. I took a ferry out to Magnetic Island and spent a couple days chilling out and hiking to some small secluded beaches.

Airlee Beach - 4/4 Its known as a "drinking town with a sailing problem". Airlee Beach is a small town, but one of the most popular destination points amongst backpackers because the Whitsunday Islands are just to the east and great for sailing. Every other shop was selling sailing packages. I spent a couple days hanging out by the lagoon and experiencing the crazy nightlife. I boarded a sailing
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Goana Townsville
yacht called Condor with 17 other passengers and 4 crazy crew members. The first night, we anchored in a bay and rafted up with 2 other boats from the same company so that you could walk across all three, then the party started. During the next day we were dropped off at Whitsunday Island and hiked to Whitehaven beach to enjoy the morning in the warm clear water. Later on we stopped in a bay to snorkel over the Great Barrier Reef. There were times when the rain came down hard, but when it was clear, the scenery was excellent. The next day, the wind was strong on our return to the marina across the strait. At full speed the boat tips about 30 degrees, but it feels like 45 and everyone had to be careful not to lose their grip and fall overboard. Back in Airlee Beach, I joined some friends from Condor for drinks before barely catching Greyhound at 11pm for my 10hr trip south.

Agnes Water - 4/9 I stayed at one of the best hostels on the east coast called Cool Bananas in this quiet town. The owner, Greg, reminded me of the soup nazi
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Magnetic Island
from Seinfeld. He kept the hostel clean and provided a great atmosphere with music and tiki torches and a great lounge area, but he ran it with an iron fist and you didnt want to get on his bad side. The first night I arrived I was in the crowded kitchen when he came in and started yelling and swearing at some guy, not sure why. Another night he went looking for the guys that left dirty dishes in the sink and let them have it. But he constantly had to turn backpackers down because his hostel was constantly full. I did a tour of the area. We rode mini-motorcycles and saw kangaroos hopping around people's backyards. Checked out the sunset from the town of 1770 and then rode back. Agnes Water was south enough that the water was safe to swim in so I spent a lot of time at the beach. I took a surf lesson, but didnt have the best waves to learn on. My last day there I woke up early to hike out to a lookout point and watch the sunrise.

Hervey Bay - 4/15 After I arrived, I went to an orientation at
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Magnetic Island
the hostel for the trip to Fraser Island. I was in a group of 4 German guys traveling together, a couple Swedish girls, and 4 solo English travelers. We got up at 5:30 the next morning and got packed up for the trip. We arrived on the largest sand island in the world and began our self-drive 4WD tour. We took turns driving around this spectacular island. Some of the lakes are crystal clear and surrounded by white sand. We camped out and had to deal with the occasional rainstorm that would blow over us. It was obvious after the first night that my group enjoyed having a beer or twelve. The next day we floated down a creek that lead to the ocean, climbed a hill called Indian Head. The second night offered much dryer weather. After some drinks, the Germans started a friendly rivalry with a group camped near us and one of the Brits went streaking through their campsite. Stopped off at some more unbelievable lakes before catching the ferry and then driving back to the hostel.

Noosa Heads - 4/19 Noosa had a nice feel to it along with great beaches and national park. I
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Airlee Beach Club
booked a canoe trip along the Noosa Everglades and left early in the morning. Our group was 3 Israelis, 5 English, one Austrian and myself. We canoed out to our campsite and spent the evening playing cards. The next day we rowed down a ways then started a long hike to a massive sand patch on top of a mountain. It was like a small desert that appeared out of nowhere.

Brisbane - 4/23 I took a daytrip to a koala sanctuary to check out some of the aussie wildlife. I went into Brisbane on Anzac Day (like Memorial Day for U.S.) and watched as the streets got swamped with spectators for the parade. I also spent a couple hours in the casino where i played in one of the worst-run cardrooms I've ever been in. Before reaching Byron Bay, I stopped off for one night in Surfer's Paradise and joined a massive pubcrawl through this party-town. One night there was plenty, but a lot of people I met had spent weeks in this city that didn't offer much other than a bunch of ways to get drunk everyday.

Byron Bay - 4/27 I spent close to a
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Limbo Contest on the Matador Whitsundays
week in this surfer's Mecca. The beach was the best I had been to in OZ with nice waves, warm weather, and beautiful girls. I met some English travelers in my room and spent a good portion of time chilling with them. They all met in BB and liked it so much they decided to rent an apt. I swear these guys lived off $5 pizzas and goon (cheap boxed wine). My days were spent hanging out at the beach or surfing. The hot-spot at night was a club called Cheeky Monkeys that would be packed to capacity late into the night. There were always a couple injuries from drunken backpackers falling off the tables they were dancing on. I took a daytrip with a dozen other travelers to an old hippy town called Nimbin. The locals are all stoned and the police don't bother anyone. Locals on the street sell "cookies" or "brownies". We all explored the town for about an hour, the museum in town was accurately described by our driver as "a place where they took all the junk off the streets over several years, then tossed in a grenade". Back on the bus several people indulged
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Snorkeling Whitsundays
in their cookies. When in Rome... We drove out a ways and stopped the bus in a rainforest. Then we got into our swimsuits, ran along the trail in pouring rain toward a waterfall where we jumped off into freezing water. After that, our driver barbequed for us and we headed back.

Sydney 5/4 Over the weekend, I took a train to the Blue Mountains where I did a hike through the national park. It was the first time since I've been traveling that the temperature was cold. I had some great times in Australia, but not nearly enough time here.


Additional photos below
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Drinking with Condors Airlee
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Kangaroos Town of 1770
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Not to be confused with Hells Angels Town of 1770
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Sunrise Agnes Water
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Fraser Island
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Beautiful Fraser Island
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group shot minus one shy girl Fraser Island
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Fraser Island
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Fraser Island
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Fraser Island
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Dingo on patrol Fraser Island
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Gecko Grubbin Noosa
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Noosa Everglades


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