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Published: February 4th 2007
Fraser Island Beach
75Km beach it's called, I think....After a month, it's finally time to leave Sydney and see some more of this massive country. It's been an interesting time here in the big city but everyone (Spence, Steve, Dom, Gem, Vicky & Lucy) was more than ready to start heading up the coast and trying some new experiences. It didn't start very well unfortunately. We arrived at the Greyhound station around about 19:15 for what we thought was the 19:45 bus up to Byron Bay only to find that it left at 19:00 without us. We put this down to bad karma as we had not paid to stay in the hostel for the last 2 weeks! It posed a bit of a problem as the 21:45 bus was full and we were about to lose a whole day in Byron Bay (we only had 2) if we couldn't find transport. Vicky decided that she had really had enough of Sydney and was willing to hire a car to transport us all there, which sounds easy but at 22:00 at night it really was a bit of a mission. We made about 100 phone calls before we got a 'maybe', then we had to fly across town in
Goodbye Sydney
Saying tata to Ali & Paul 2 taxis to the airport in order to pick up our car before 23:00, and then, there was the cost, only 700 dollars!!! Thanks Vick 😊 Piled all our bags into the car, thank god it had a huge boot because the girls have got a LOT of bags and headed straight up the coast. Steve did the bulk of the driving whilst everyone else dozed, five hours later Dom took over before Gem drove us into Byron, (not before Dom had run over a crow!) good work team! Decided to stay up and have the day in the sun at Byron doing what was the staple activity of the next two weeks, sunbathing and swimming. The next day was more of the same but we had talked to Chris who we had met in Miami and he came down that night with a full esky of beer - what a diamond! As it was the weekend Chris decided to travel up the coast with us to Noosa and we went there in the comfort of his van whilst the girls went by Greyhound. Noosa is a trendy little surf town set in the now familiar white sand meets rainforest
Meeting up with Chris from Miami
Good to see you, you old scrote! setting, it is beautiful but definately not the type of place to stay on a budget, I didn't see many backpackers going into the Hugo Boss boutique! Our second night there unfortunately produced a bit of drama, Gem and Vicky had their purses nicked by some scumbag, eventually recovered them but minus cash quelle surprise. Next day off by bus to Hervey Bay which would be our base for heading out to Fraser Island in our self drive 4x4. When we got there we had to go through the total snooze lecture of what we had to do. Buying of provisions, vehicle tax, sleeping bags yada yada yada but we did meet the rest of our team for the next 3 days. Scott and Jenni from Milton Keynes, Drew and Ali from Victoria B.C. and Andrew from the valleys isn't it boyo! Up at some ridiculous hour like 05:00 the next day to face another snoozefest, don't sit on the bonnet, don't drive with your eyes closed, don't drive off a cliff etc before we finally got on our way to catch the 10:30 ferry across to the island. 40 Mins later and we were off in a cloud of
dust and sand towards Lake McKenzie for some more sunbathing and swimming. The 'roads' on Fraser are why you need a 4x4, they are just deep sand over a roller coaster track and I'm sure there were a couple of head shaped dents added to the top of our truck! It was gorgeous at the lake, the water was like walking into a bathtub, shame there was so many other people there at the time. Steve and Andrew went off to swim across the lake and managed it although Andy did have to do half of it with Steve on his back as Steve thought it might be cool to drown in the middle! Went to Lake Wabby before heading to our campsite for the night where we found that Fraser was capital of the world's horsefly population! Little b*stards, luckily they disappeared when the sun went down so we could enjoy or BBQ and salad in peace. Woke up early the next morning as by 07:00 it was about 400 degrees in our tent and quickly resembling a turkish sauna, had a quick brekkie before packing up and heading north to Indian Head where there is a massive Tiger
Our Transport
Yes, I'm sure you can smell the luxury...... shark breeding ground, and we saw some! Very exciting, also saw some Manta Rays and assorted other big fish. The sharks were part of the reason we weren't allowed to swim in the sea but you can add stinger jellyfish and extremely dangerous currents! From there we went back south to Eli Creek for lunch and to float in the freshwater stream and inspected the wreck of the S.S.Maheno which ranaground back in 1955 when Steve was 10. Then we shot a bit further south and set up our second campsite and sat on our mat chatting whilst Steve and Drew made a massive spaghetti. After dinner we had the 2007 Fraser Island Special Olympics which were won by Steve and Victoria (Good work guys - we still owe them a prize everyone, perhaps post suggestions on this page? Also Ali send me lots of those pictures please!) I think a drugs test is in order! We were just packing up for the night when Dingoes were finally spotted! Two of them sniffing round the tents. Obviously the boys started chasing them whilst the girls decided they wouldn't be going to the toilet again that night!! We got up the
Lake McKenzie
How blue? And it was about million degrees next morning to see dingo tracks everywhere, they had obviously come back to snoop around when we had gone to bed. Rushed to pack everything away as the flies were unbearable and then a short trip to Eurong for some breakfast where we enjoyed a touch of civilisation before going to Lake Birrabeen where we enjoyed it all by ourselves and played some 500 up, that's a ball game perverts! We decided to head back to the ferry terminal after that to make sure we were well within our deadline but were just passing Central Station when we got stuck and all piled out to dig the sand away only to find that all the bolts on the rear differential had sheared away leaving us with only 2 wheel drive, disaster! We were all stood outside scratching our heads when it started to hammer down with rain! 😞 Some helpful aussie sorts did stop and try to help us replace the bolts but unfortunately it didn't work and we decided to just go for it as we only had half an hour before we missed the ferry. So we all piled back in and Scott drove us back at near
Lake Wabby
That's a stupid name...... light speed to make sure we didn't get stuck, bouncing all over the place but we made it and managed to limp our way back to base. We all went out for dinner when we got back after the most amazing shower ever! And it was about 9 o'clock when Gemma mentioned that we should have been on the 19:00 greyhound to Airlie Beach, oh dear....... Dom phoned up the next day to find that we couldn't leave until 13:00 and it was going to cost $70 each for a no-show fee, it should've been $140 but Dom argued them down! We are really bad with buses.... Finally got on the bus and arrived in Airlie at about 2 am to find we weren't booked into the hostel and would have to wait in the outside TV shed until someone turned up at 0600 - result! Managed to get 4 or 5 hours sleep before we had to get up for our briefing to go sailing in the Whitsundays, this was not the best preparation! Everything was rosy again once we eventually got on our boat, the Kora and our first trip was to our island accomodation where we would
Camp Horsefly
After BBQ relaxation be spending the next two nights. Checked into our chalet overlooking the beach and grabbed a quick power nap before our BBQ dinner. Met the girl's mate Tom who was on the other boat and managed a couple of beers with him, he's our kind of people 😊 Up at 06:30, my god is this a holiday??!! Bit of breakfast then off to Whitehaven Beach for some reef diving and general beach activity before back to the island for a carbon copy of the night before, with added Steve turning into the Goon Monster! Next day a slightly later start before we went over to another beach for reef diving and lunch before we headed back to Airlie, with the heavens opening just as we got there, cheers........ Had a bit of a rest at the hostel before we went out with the girls for their last night before going back to Sydney and then home, got rather smashed on free jugs of beer, they weren't supposed to be free but we blagged them by keeping saying we'd just arrived - thanks Koala Tours! Had a tearful farewell the next day as the girls got on the bus, it was
Indian Head
No, it's not porn! It's where the sharks are!! weird as we had spent most of the last three months travelling together, see you all soon! Steve, Lucy and I headed further up the coast to Mission Beach for Scotty's Beach House that Tom waaaayyy back in Vancouver had suggested we stay at and we ended up staying for 4 days! It was awesome, sooo relaxed and chilled out which was good as it was too effin hot to do anything else. Steve and I look ready for India already! 😊 Finished our east coast odyssey by taking the short bus ride up to Cairns for 3 days where we met up with Nick & Nick from Sydney (See you in Thailand mate!) Off to Hong Kong!
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Rob
non-member comment
Brings back some memories boys!
Looks and sounds awesome fellas, even with your numerous disasters-you'd think by your age you two would have learnt how to organise yourselves by now! Good to FINALLY hear some amusing stories though. Keep us posted. England's, well, England. What more can I say, same old same old. Can't wait for the reunion lash. Oh, and a goon monster Steve must have been horrible-haha!