The rest of Australia part 1..

Ok, so we've been a bit (well VERY) lazy about this whole blog thing...apologies!!
We arrived safely in Auckland you will be pleased to know, unfortunatly to rain - something we are no longer accustomed to after the likes of Australia! So heres a summary of the rest of our australian adventure!!

After Byron Bay we headed to Surfers Paradise, and we arrived at the hostel just in time for the bbq! bingo! We had also bagged ourselves an 8bed dorm between the two of us, plus a tv, plus a fridge, plus a massive mirror (luxury) and even better about 10 shelves for us to spread our clothes out in! We spent the days by the beach and wondering around and the evenings out in the town, one on a bar crawl and the other just in a bar called Shooters where we got the job of viewing a bikini competiton.

Our next stop was Brisbane, we wondered around the place which was extremely humid and busy - reminded us of London tbh. lol. We mostly just relaxed, drank a bit, found a bar that had a Wii competition on in and attempted to win but didnt, although we came very close in the tennis tournament. We wondered around the botanic gardens and along the riverfront which was pretty. Whilst in Brisbane we also went on a trip to the Australian Zoo - the steve irwin one. this was pretty awesome, kelly held a koala (leanne got too scared...then the guy asked if she wanted to hold a snake instead..erm no!), we fed elephants, saw a pretty cool tiger show, loads of kangeroos, crocodiles etc.. it was a good day out.

We had one day to spare before we were due to arrive in Rainbow beach for our trip to Fraser Island so we stopped off in a place called Noosa, which is small but very beautiful. we ended up with a hostel that was a 30min walk from the main centre, which we ended up walking about 3 times. we chilled on the beach with a guy we had previously met, then headed to an irish bar in the evening for drinks and a free bbq - got to love the free food when your a backpacker!! We left Noosa the next day and headed for Rainbow beach (and no the beach is not multicoloured as leanne had hoped.)

Our stop in Rainbow beach meant that Fraser Island had arrived. We had booked a selfdrive tour which meant us and about 6/7 others would get a 4x4, camping equipment, a map / itinery and we set off for 3 days / 2nights. your not allowed to swim in the sea on fraser island because off the jellyfish and sharks so we visited two lakes, Lake Wabby and Lake McKenzie and Eli Creek. all of them were stunning. the water was so clear and pure on most of them, with fish swimming around. The camping was a new experience for the both of us. before we set off for Fraser our group all went and brought our food and drink for the 3 days. We successfully managed to put our tents up which was a proud moment! :-) The first night camping was at a campsite called camp K'Gari, which was an aboriginal camp with wild / tamed dingos walking around. We got together with the other car and did drinking cames after we'd all had dinner. It turned into a messy and drunken night. The second night we camped at central station. We were constantly on edge about an creepy crawlies getting into our tents, considering our first morning we were greeted by a huntsman spider on our car, it was huge! eurgh! Fraser island was really good, the driving was another experience. when the sand was soft you couldnt stop because you'd get bogged, and many of the tracks up to the lacks were entirely soft sand on a hill. The tracks also had holes and dips in so it was like being on the back of a roller coaster. all in all, it was ace though! definatly recommend the self drive tour.

Our next stop was Airlie Beach ready for our 3day/2night sail around the Whitsundays on the boat Apollo...

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Part of trip: Leanne and Kelly take on the world...

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