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Published: March 16th 2009
Our Fraser Island trip was to start at a hostel called Frasers on Rainbow at Rainbow Beach. We had to be checked in by 3:30pm the day before the trip and ready to attend the briefing at 4:30. As usual, we miscalculated the distance on the maps (Gary's thumb and forefinger technique proving to not be the most accurate) and ended up at the place at almost 5pm. The girl at reception growled at us a bit and told us to join the group for the 2nd half of the video. At first glance, the group looked to be really young and I didn't get a great feeling about the trip. Thankfully, I was to be proven wrong. After being split into our groups and signing all the paperwork, we all went shopping. Now, considering food shopping can be an ordeal when it's just the 2 of us, with 9 other people it proved to be a bit of a nightmare and took ages. Eventually got it sorted, but from that experience alone, I could tell we were up for a few personality clashes over the next few days! I should introduce the group really: 3 London boys, who I, mistakenly thought would be a right pain in the arse Sash, Andy and Michael. Leeka from the Netherlands, Kim from Canada, JoJo from Germany and 3 German girls whose names I forgot and never had the need to use them again as they kept themselves pretty much to themselves for the 3 days. Leeka proved to have that leadership thing going on, but I think this may have rubbed some people up the wrong way. Mainly Kim. Anyway...we had to be checked out at 5am so got settled in our dorm and had an early night. This was seemingly not the plan for the other group, who shall be known as Team Canada (8 Canadian girls, 2 English girls and a gay English guy), as they stayed up well into the early hours getting wasted. We heard later that one of them was found naked on the bathroom floor. Just our luck not to be in their dorm!
4.30am is not a good time to get up. Even if you are on an amazing 6 month trip round the world and are about to visit the worlds biggest sand island. A few hours of faffery with the trucks and getting everything loaded on then we drove round to the garage for another briefing about the trucks from the mechanic. Was a bit apprehensive about driving these things at this point. They looked like they might fall apart at any minute and sure enough, before we'd even got to the ferry, one of the panels inside the back of the truck was starting to come loose. Good start. We got the ferry across to the island and straight away saw a couple of dingos. Snap snap then onwards. The weather was gorgeous and spirits were high...except for the German girls, who I don't think had any emotion other than indifference. Considering it's a sand island, the 1st road we encountered was anything but soft. For an hour we were rattled about in the truck so much so that it was actually difficult to talk. After that, the beach was smooth riding, with the odd creek here and there. 1st stop was Lake Makenzie. Beautiful place with stunning blue waters and a huge white beach. I'm not sure why I was expecting it to be quiet with it being one of THE things to do in Oz, but the packed beach that unfolded before us took me by surprise. Our group found a spot and spent the next few hours chilling on the beach and in the lake. Headed back to the truck for our 1st lunch. What a sand filled experience that was. After a while, you get used to the crunch in all your food and drink. I can't remember at exactly what point we clicked with our group, but looking back now, it seems like they're old friends. Well, most of them. Our 1st night was spent camping just off the beach and was just our group as we'd managed to lose the other group. Not the best really. Would have been good to get a big 2 truck party going on. The girls all pulled together to cook up an impressive amount of pasta for us all and we ate, drank and smoked into the night with an awesome clear sky above us. I don't think the London lads even knew you could see the milky way from earth! At what seemed like 2am, but was actually 10pm, we all went to bed in our lovely baking tents.
Woke up at about 6. Felt like I'd imagine sweaty cheese feels so got out of the tent. Mistake. About a million of these big chunky flies attacked me. Took refuge on the beach, which seemed to be fly free but could see a couple of guys further down the beach doing some sort of weird tribal dance. Seconds later I joined in as the masses of flies realised I'd moved to the beach. This attack lasted until we'd eaten and put the stuff away. Annoying doesn't even come close. Met up with the other group and ventured to the next stop, Lake Wabby. By this point, it was torrential rain. We ate and sat around in the truck, but thought we may as well walk the 30 minute walk and check the lake out. Got there, cold and wet, dossed around in the lake until it didn't feel warm anymore, then hiked back to the trucks. I should add at this point that the other group appeared to be on a mission to drink goon from dawn til dusk. They took those silver bags everywhere! When we got back to the beach, we found the other group getting a fine off a ranger for leaving food outside the truck. I think we all decided that we would stay at this spot for dinner and then head off. We set about constructing the tarps between the 2 trucks to give us shelter to cook in. Worked pretty well actually, thanks to Gary and JoJos efforts to get the tarps right. After food, it was my turn to drive the beast. Not the best time to drive as the rain was still slamming it down, it was starting to get dark and visibility was pretty awful. Drove for an hour or so til we arrived at a campsite. Not exactly loads of fun, but not as bad as I expected. We'd intended to just stop so people could shower here but after talking to another group, they said a ranger had told them not to camp on the beach because of the storms coming in, so that they could camp at this site for free. One of the other group called the campsite hotline, or something, and they agreed we could stay here for free. Found a good spot, set up the trucks and the tarps, then the rain stopped. Typical. Both groups together was a good laugh. We ate and then all sat down round some picnic tables and played "Never have I ever...". For those of you who don't know the game, a person has to complete the phrase, and anyone who HAS done whatever they say, has to drink. It normally turns to sex after about 3 turns. With the London boys and the Canadian girls, it didn't even take 1. The drinking and JoJos special cigarettes carried on into the night and Sash got into a bit of a slagging match with Carla from Team Canada. Think she won actually. All in good humour though. Chatted with Carla for a bit actually and will hopefully be meeting up with her when we get to Canada.
The last day, we drove up to Indian Head where we'd been near enough promised of some shark sightings. Stayed there for 20 minutes in the baking sun on top of a rock. Nada. Time was ticking on and we had to be back at the ferry by 12pm. We headed back down the island, stopping at the Maheno shipwreck, which was pretty cool and Eli Creek, which was just a big creek that you could go wading in, or as Team Canada did, piss in. On the trip back down the island, was having some pretty good banter with the other group at all the stops. Was looking forward to the nights festivities back at the hostel! It was a mission to get back to the ferry in time, but we made it. The drive down to it was interesting. Bags fell off our truck, the cover came off the other groups truck, and one of the girls from their group decided to piss out the window as it was moving. Never a dull moment with Team Canada. Back at the hostel, most of the other group had to go to bed cos they'd been pissed all day. But by the time night fell, everyone was up and about ready for a session. Kim did a bit of an acoustic show, which was really good. She's got a decent voice. After that, me and Sash started to work on the leftover boxes of goon from the trip. He had a pink bucket that he'd brought from the full moon party in Thailand and we were swigging it out of that. It's around about this point that my memories of the night become a bit hazy, and by hazy I mean they start to not exist. I remember taking a drunken walk to the hostel next door with Gary and one of the London lads. I remember getting friendly with Erin of Team Canada on the field at the front of the hostel. After that, well, my mind's either blank, or the memories aren't suitable for this blog!
Checked out the next morning with my worst hangover of the trip yet. Exchanged details with the London guys. They were heading to NZ and then the states so we're probably going to meet up with them again at some point on the trip. Thankfully, Gary took on driving duties for the morning, while I drifted in and out of consciousness in the passenger seat. Stopped off in Agnes Water/Town of 1770 for a spot of lunch on the beach. Real sleepy little towns. Supposed to be a good hostel here which everyone stays at, but our mission was to get as far up the coast as we could. From Rainbow Beach it was over 1500km to Cairns so we had some serious distance to cover. We arrived in Rockhampton as it got dark and checked into the YHA hostel. It was totally different to most of the YHA hostels we've stayed in. Much more laid back and low key. Quite basic but it had a good atmos there and the girl at reception was dead chatty and helpful. Our stay was brief but would have been a good place to chill out for a few days, if we'd had time. As it was, we were up and outta there pretty early. Drove for 9 hours (711km) to Townsville. Not a massively interesting drive. Think we stopped in Airlie Beach for lunch and a quick glance at the Whitsundays from the coast as we didn't have time to do the boat trip.
Stayed at a little place in Townsville called Orchid Lodge. It was a small place and the lady who owned it (Fran) put us in a twin room instead of a dorm, for the same price, because we'd been driving all day. Bless her. It was a real quaint place and a short walk from town. We were shattered from the trip so threw something together (probably bread and humous...it normally is) and retired to our cosy little room, with its own fridge and TV. What luxuries! Woke up to another scorcher of a day. After our week of the storms following us from Port Macquarie, the weather seemed to have realised the error in its ways and gone back to being hot and sunny. Wandered around the town a bit. It was like most of these small towns, almost completely empty. Maybe the Dengue fever that the mozzies were carrying had scared everyone indoors. We cared not about such things and braved the day. Stopped off at Mission Beach for lunch after leaving. Another meal sat on the beach. The beach was massive and empty. That's the good thing over here, because there are so few people for a country so big, the beaches are normally really quiet. Although this one had deadly jellyfish in its waters, so that might explain its emptiness.
Arrived in Cairns to find it's not the bustling backpacker party town we though it would be. There were no high-rise buildings, the roads were quiet and it actually seemed like a cool little coastal town. We'd booked into a hostel called Travellers Oasis and it was probably one of the best hostels we stayed at in Oz. The Welsh guy, John, had been there for almost 2 years and was a good laugh. He introduced us to our Dutch room-mate, Daphne (yes, another Dutch Daphne) and warned us that she was a bit of a feisty one. Got into our room and it looked like she'd been testing out the spare beds in the room cos they were all rumpled up. Crazy Dutch. When she appeared, she told us that she was leaving at 4am but would try and keep the noise down. We chatted with her for a while and arranged to meet her down at the Woolshed or something, which was the best backpacker bar to go in for cheap food and drinks. As it turned out, she got a last minute booty call from some guys she'd met so she vanished for the rest of the night. Shame. The bar seemed to be the only place that had anyone in it in Cairns. Was heaving with backpackers and as we'd got there quite late, people had done with the eating part of their night, and were getting on with the drinking bit. After a while the music got turned up and people started dancing on the tables. With an early check out in the morning and no drinking buddy to get hammered with and dance on the tables, we headed back. Shame we didn't have more time to spend here as it was a wicked hostel and John was a proper decent guy. Next time.
The rest of our time in Oz was spent doing boring airport stuff which I won't bore you with. So there it is...Australia...Tick! Had a wicked time here. 4 weeks is nowhere near enough to do the kind of distance we did. Staying in places for 1 night isn't the best way to meet people or to get a good feel for a place. There were too many places where I would have loved to stay for a week or more. Ah well. Felt a pang of sadness as we got on the plane because there were so many cool people that we met in Oz and you're thrown together for a few intense days and then you leave and, in some cases, will never see them again. Hopefully with most of them, we'll keep in touch.
New Zealand...you're next!
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Anna seddon
non-member comment
well for someone who doesn't think they can write all that well ... you write a pretty wicked blog Chris. You sound as though you've thoroughly enjoyed Australia and had a fantastic time ... Look forward to reading your next one ... Gem had better watch out ... she's got some serious competition. Love Ma xxx