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Published: January 13th 2007
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Noosa
The beginning of our walk around Noosa National Park Hi Everyone!
Well, since my skydive I had a fantastic remaining stay in the Arts Factory in Byron Bay. New Years Eve was great fun, I went to the Buddha Bar with Tom and 3 new friends, Nikki, Sara and Mike. Please remind me not to drink tequila too often, especially after drinking goon (wine in a box). It was a great night, and became best buddies with everyone in the bar, and and great difficulty dancing in flipflops. Anyway, NewYear's Day we did a really long walk up to the lighthouse and the most easterly point in Australia. Now that was hard work after the previous night, we nearly collapsed at the top, but it was worth it, and so we treated ourselves to fish and chips on the beach afterwards watching the sun go down. Nikki, Tom and I also went horseriding, well we thought it was going to be a sunset ride on the beach, but as it was pouring it down with rain we went on a wet trek through the forest. I haven't ridden in ages, so a trot was enough for me on my horse Magic, infact I screamed and shouted 'stop' most of
the time which had Tom in hesterics, as he'd never even sat on a horse before, when asked his riding experience he said, he'd touched one once. We saw 3 wallabies too!
Anyway, after sad goodbyes to Byron Bay and Tom, I set off for Noosa Heads with Nikki, Sara and Mike. With only a brief 3 hour stop in Brisbane for lunch before catching another bus to Noosa. Noosa was absolutley gorgeous, a proper surfers paradise where rich people live. We went on a walk around Noosa National Park, even though we started at 8.30am in was so hot. But it was a lovely walk, and we treated ourselves for a full English brekkie afterwards.
After one night in Noosa we caught the bus up to Hervey Bay. From here we would catch our ferry to Fraser Island. We went with a tour company called Koala. We were put in groups of 11 the night before, so there was me, Nikki, Sara, Mike, 2 guys from Brighton Dave and John, English girl Sioban, 2 German guys who were totally mad and hilarious, Michael and Marcel, and 2 Swedish girls, Maggie and Helena. It was a really nice
Me and Nikki
On a jetski in Hervery Bay. This was hilarious, as neither of us had been on one before, we were going full speed hitting waves, screaming convinced we were going to fall off! group and we got on really well and had such a laugh.
The first ordeal was doing the shopping list. Oh my god, 11 people trying to decide what we needed for 3 days worth of meals, including catering for 3 vegetarians was not fun! I took charge of the alcohol shopping list which was nice and easy and then just sat back and watched the dispute. Eventually it was decided upon and we let the 5 boys go shopping, which I was very unsure about, but us girls needed to have our showers and get ready for 3 days of hardcore camping without showers and toilets, so beauty regimes were at the top of our list. Believe me, the boys were gone for HOURS! But, to give them credit they did a good job and stayed within budget (although John is an investment banker in the city), and even had enough money left over for treats.
So, at 6am the following morning we were up bright?? and early ready to pack up our 4x4 beast of a vehicle with our food and camping equipment. This took hours and we had to check and double check every little
Me and the 4x4
Loading up before we leave for Fraser thing to make sure everything worked, and how to fix punctures and how to get out of sand if we got stuck. By the way, Fraser Island is a huge sand island. So by 9.30am we were on our way to the ferry port, 3 in the front and 8 in the back. Once on the island we had to change into 4x4 mode, and revved it up going through the sand and the harsh terrain. We got stuck and luckily another of the groups helped push us out. We all had a go at driving throughout the 3 days, either along the beach which was great fun, or through the bumpy inland. Those of us sitting in the back had a particularly rough ride, and we had a few bumps along the way. At one point a huge spider landed on the back window near where me and Nikki were sitting. Now, I know it was the other side of the window, but as we're both scared of spiders, and this one was huge with orange legs, we started screaming. It eventually disappeared, only to reappear on the window behind me, again we started screaming. Marcel, one of the
Germans sensibly said, 'I zink ve should ztop ze vehicle and remove ze zpider', which he did....thanks Marcel.
There were absolutley gorgeous lakes which we swam in on the island. We couldn't swim in the sea at all as there are sharks, stingers and other horrible creatures around Fraser, we actually saw some baby sharks in the water from a look out point.
Now, there are signs everywhere warning you of dingos, which are wild dogs which live on the island. They are scavengers and are quite a problem on the island, and it is very important not to leave food out which would attract them, you must never walk alone, especially when you go bush toileting. Yes mum, there were no toilets, so we had to bush toilet, never thought you'd see me doing that....but I did! Anyway, we hadn't seen any dingos and the boys were very disappointed on our last evening that we hadn't encountered any. So, we pitched our tents in a nice spot by the beach, drank some goon, played rounders on the beach and did silly bunny drinking games. Then returned to our campsite to prepare the evening meal of spag bol.....yum,
my favourite. So the 2 Germans took charge and we enjoyed a lovely meal...in the dark. Afterwards, being so full of wine and food we all got into our tents. Now, for some reason some of the boys thought it would be a good idea to bury the left over scraps of food which we hadn't eaten. You are actually meant to put EVERYTHING in the van, locked up with windows shut, and not keep anything outside, not even flipflops. And NO food to be in the tent. Dingos can smell everything. So there was me, Nikki and John asleep in our tent, with me in the middle. We only had the mosquito net door done up as it was so hot, so we could see outside. I'm a pretty light sleeper and I'll wake up at the smallest noise, so when there was a small yelp just outside our tent I opened my eyes. And there right outside of our tent was this dingo. OH MY GOD, I have never been so scared in my life. I shook Nikki and John awake. We all just sat there looking out of the doorway as another 2 dingos appeared. They were
sniffing around and were obviously after any scrap of food they could find. They sniffed right up to the door of our tent, which was awful as we could see them. They were actually quite big, and because they are wild and unpredictable we didn't know what to do, and I actually feared whether we'd get through the night. I was shaking with fright, Nikki was scared as much as I was and was trying to hold her breath and could hear her heart beating. John was trying not to act too scared, but I knew he was. This was scarier than doing any skydive, the adrenaline made me feel really sick. Then another 3 of them arrived and I thought a whole pack was going to circle us. We sat there for a good hour waiting for them to leave, and eventually they did at 3.15am.
In hindsight it was quite an experience. But I wouldn't wish that upon anyone. Most of the others in their tents had slept through the whole thing. The ranger came by the following morning as she had followed the dingos tracks to our camp, and asked how many there were etc. They obviously
keep track of their movements. We later learnt how dangerous they are, and that in the summer they are at their most boysterous, and are most likely to attack. So I guess it was lucky we just stayed perfectly still and didn't make a noise. Nikki thought they would be able to smell her fear. We laugh now!!!!
As much as I enjoyed Fraser Island, and it was beautiful. I don't think I'd repeat the experience in a hurry, no showers, toilets, and the wildlife was enough to deal with for 3 days.
Adventure to be continued.....
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Eve
non-member comment
Hello!
Hi Parker pants!! It looks so amazing!! How scary with those wallabies though! You must have been terrified! You are very brave, looks like you are having so much fun!Mis you lots, lots of love Eve and Marc xxx