Great Sandy Fun - The Journey from Noosa to the Town of 1770


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July 11th 2007
Published: July 11th 2007
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We had one hell of a party on our last night in Bundaberg, almost got kicked out the hostel for drinking booze at one point, but all was well. After two hours of drunken sleep, it was time to get on the bus heading back down south to Noosa. It was exciting to leave, but after all the nice things our coworkers, house mates and friends were saying, we almost wanted to stay. It was like leaving home all over again.

Heading south, I thought that the weather was going to be worse, but in actual fact the weather was perfect, it was scorching hot in the sun, but cold again at night.. It is weird to think that it is the middle of winter here, but the weather is probably much better than in the UK (heard about the endless rain and flooding). It felt so good to be in a different place again, absorbing a new atmosphere. Noosa is a beautiful place, very upmarket and posh. The main street by the beach is lined with expensive designer shops and fancy restaurants, but perfectly neat and tidy in every respect. We hired kayaks to explore the coast of Noosa National Park, with the hope that we would bump into a few dolphins along the way, although it never happened, we did get to see some stunning views, and fight really hard against the strong current, a great workout! Just our luck, the next day we were walking through the National Park along the coastal track when I saw a pod of about eight dolphins jumping in and out of the water, and just around the corner there was a sea kayaker, unaware that they were about to encounter a pod of dolphins, lucky!! The coastal path led us to a stretch of amazing beach, where we found a group of nudists prancing around, and then back through the rainforest to see the eucalyptus trees shredding a layer of bark. It was certainly a place for rejuvenation and relaxation. We were able to watch several sunsets from the beach and at Laguna lookout in the National Park.

As Noosa is the closest place to Australia Zoo, the home of the late Steve Irwin, crocodile hunter, we just had to go and take a look. A courtesy bus picked us up, and played us a video about Steve's life, and how he became a crocodile hunter, which had obviously been made long before his death. He described the most important people in his life, including his family and wife, and even his dog that was shot dead on a pig hunt, which brought tears to his eyes. It was sad to watch, and touching. The shrine and memorial to him in the park was very loving, many people have openly expressed how much they will miss him and the work that he has done for the environment and conservation, and rightly so. The zoo was great, all the usual suspects of Oz wildlife were there, kangaroos, koalas, snakes, reptiles, dingos, Tasmanian devils and not to forget the crocs!! Most of the animals there, if not all, have been rescued from somewhere and something, which is very creditable and amazing. There were three south east Asian elephants that were rescued from a cruel circus, and we got to feed them. It was so cool, just put a piece of fruit in the palm of my flat hand, and Nelly scooped it up with her wet and muddy trunk and popped it in her mouth. They were being washed when we walked past them later in the day, and literally straight after they stomped over to a big pile of mud and rolled around in it, brushing it over themselves just in case there was a small patch that had been missed. Ha ha!! I want one!! We watched a crocodile show as well, although it was quite cheesy, it was still amazing to see the crocs being fed, such powerful and scary creatures. There is one called Agro, caught by Steve himself in order to stop the croc from being shot by resident Queenslanders for being a particularly aggressive crocodile. I am certainly not going swimming in any water further up north. The great thing about the zoo is that the animals aren't in cages, more like enclosures, and where it is safe to do so the animals are free to roam around. The koalas are in a section of trees that is not closed in by a barricade, but a koala plaque is posted on the trunk and they stay in those trees, and the same with the kookaburras. It was a really good experience, and although there is not the traditional selection of animals in the zoo, I really liked the animal encounter angle that it has taken.
Moving north again, it was time to head to Rainbow Beach, our chosen entrance point to Fraser Island. We met up with Verity, one of the girls we worked/lived with in Bundaberg, for the action packed few days, great fun. Rainbow Beach is a tiny little town that consists of about 20 shops and restaurants, loads of holiday apartments and resorts, and an amazing beach. We took a stroll up to the Carlos Sandblow, a naturally created mountain of sand created by the wind (it's all in the name), discovered by Captain Cook and named after one of his crew members. It was so amazing, as an adjoining part of the Great Sandy National Park it is understandable why (there are layers of multicoloured sand). There were patches where we were walking on the yellow sand, and left pure white footprints.

Fraser Island is the world's largest sand dune, and also part of the Great Sandy National Park. It has a 75 mile beach and is the home to some of Australia's great wildlife and scenery. We were in a group of 11 people, most of whom were Irish, and who luckily had a similar taste in music (unless they didn't pipe up about it). There were three people in the front, and eight in the back, all bumping around when we sped over small mounds of sand and uneven paths. It was very snug, to say the least. The loading of the 4x4 and safety checks was a long and slow process, but we were eventually on the 10 minute boat crossing and were on the beach. I can imagine it would have been great to drive on the sand, have the full 4x4 experience, but it was just as great being a passenger, being able to drink whenever I wanted (although meant I'd have to dig more holes), and I made up for the lack of driving by being the group chef. Within minutes of being on the beach we had spotted a couple of humpback whales, spraying water and splashing their tails about in the sea. Our tour began with a visit to Lake Mackenzie, one of the fresh water lakes more inland. It was so stunning to look at. The waters were crystal clear and there were so many distinctive shades of blue, representing the vast differences in depth of water. However, the lake was freezing cold, so I only went in as far as my knees, and just admired the views instead of swimming. It is not safe to swim in the sea here, too many sharks and strong currents, and seeing how crazy the sea was, it wasn't too inviting. Shortly after, we pitched camp in a circle of trees, behind a boulder of sand, and cooked our steak dinner, mmmmm... It was not long before we were circled by dingos, occasionally we heard them pitter patter around us, and when torches were shined outside the circle, their eyes lit up in reflection. I then became worried to go dig a hole ( a.k.a. go to the toilet) by myself, so Adam and I went together and became each other's lookout. As soon as we cleared up the mess from dinner, we stopped spotting them, so the night turned into a carefree drinking session, what else can you do to keep warm? It was cold at night, but not as cold as I was expecting it to be, probably just as much as a night at Glastonbury.


The morning came, and although the dingos had not savaged our food, like we had been warned about, crows had devoured a bag of bread and four biscuits out the crate on top of the 4x4, nobody had covered it back up with the tarpaulin, oopps! We learnt from our mistake though, and luckily that was all they got. I managed to convince everyone to move campsite up to The Meheno, the shipwreck further along the beach. I had been told about how amazing the sunrise was, through the holes in the wreck, so we pitched up close to that. We continued driving along the beach after that, up to the furthest part that we were allowed to drive to, India Heads. This was a viewpoint at the tip of a cliff face, overlooking the 75 mile beach, another bay, and the sea. It was from here that we saw a manta ray swim by down below, and many more whales, this time squirt water and jump completely out of the sea. It was incredible. It is migration season for the humpback whales, hence why so many swam past, but I still can't believe the sights that we saw. Among other sights along the drive, we saw sandblows and coloured sands, layers in many colours. The whole drive was incredible. The only thing we didn't see was sharks, probably a good thing though!! We saw a dingo in the middle of the day too. We were advised never to approach a dingo, and never to feed them, in light of their savagery nature, but it seemed really passive (and we outnumbered him by loads). He strutted out, stopped, posed, then walked on some more, laid down, rolled around in the sand, stretched his back legs, then walked on some more. Each pause he looked towards all the cameras from the 50 backpackers following him down the beach. It was so funny, and completely nonthreatening!! The evening camping was a lot colder than the night before, so we all huddled in the 4X4 and put the heating on, whilst listening to music and drinking to keep warm. After only a few hours sleep, I got up for the sunrise, although no one else did, far too hung over. I didn't really want to get up, but since I moved the camp to do so, I really had to. It was really amazing too, I'm glad that I got up, it was worth it. I did hear a dingo howl though, freaking me out a little, but as I could not see him anywhere, and I was on a wide open beach, it was all good. Such an amazing trip, really was.

The bus trip taking us to Town of 1770 passed through Bundaberg. It was a little weird, almost felt that the past week hadn't just happened and we had never left. Freaky. We arrived in 1770 at about 1am and picked up at a turn off in the middle of nowhere. 1770 got it's name from the year that Captain Cook discovered Australia, and is the first town in Queensland. You wouldn't believe how small the town is, and noncommercial. There are only about 15 shops in the shopping centre, there is no MacDonald's and only one pub. It is a hidden gem in the east coast, all the activities are really cheap and the scenery is stunning. Like most of what we have seen in Australia, it is surrounded by National Parks and has an incredible, hardly touched beach. We wanted to surf on the first day, but there was no surf what so ever, so we chilled on the beach, trying to get back our faded tans, and practicing with our travelling circus. We had to rely on the free bus shuttle service from our hostel, Southern Cross Retreat, as it was situated quite far from the town, so we spent some quality time at the hostel too. We had our own private cabin, with en suit bathroom, and a huge TV, so we made sure to make full use of that in the evenings (so many episodes of Simpsons and South Park). Not just that, there is so much land there, and a huge pond, so we have hung around in the mornings too.

I have had my first experience riding a motorcycle, on a mini chopper with the Scooterroo tour. I can't believe how much fun it was. There was a group of about 29 people, all on choppers or scooters, riding round the streets of 1770 and Agnes Water, for about three hours. It started off slowly, but it wasn't too long before we were going up to 50 kms per hour. We stopped to check out some kangaroos and wallabies that I almost missed because I was concentrating too much on not crashing into the person in front of me. For ages I kept forgetting to use my mirror, and was turning my head to look for the people behind me, still thinking I was riding a bicycle. It was really similar though, balance and control wise. It was fully automatic, so I only had to concentrate about my speed and not crashing. It was so much fun. We stopped off at the only pub in town to get some take away wedges and a bottle of beer (I got the most lightweight one we could find, as was worried it would make me clumsy, when in fact it made me more confident to go faster), and watched the sun set over the sea. On the way back I got up to 75 kms per hour, felt the rush of adrenaline empower me, not bad on a mini motorbike!

For another rush of adrenaline, we went on a scenic flight over the town, waters and National Park. It was amazing. It was a 4 seater commercial plane (including the crazy pilot), and only two of us had the chance to fly it. We were with an American girl called Marissa, whom had also been at Fraser island at the same time (but not in the same trip), on our bus to 1770 and also on the chopper ride. She had never flown a plane before, so we agreed that she should have a go, and I decided to let Adam be the second co-pilot, considering his reaction and giddy behaviour after the last time we flew a plane at Able Tasman in New Zealand. I didn't mind to getting to fly it, being a passenger was great fun, and it wasn't a stunt plane! The pilot did a few rolls and nose dives, the change in g-force was very noticeable, and loose stuff in the plane hit the ceiling. He didn't allow the plane to go completely upside down, as this would have cut the engine out. The scenery we flew over was amazing, rivers, sands, beaches, forest, sea, dolphins and pelicans. We had a beach landing too, were the co-pilots swapped over, we had a photo shoot, and played with some crabs. It was such fun, really exhilarating. The pilot was a nutcase too, one time when he flew over sea he hovered just meters above it, getting real close. Such a bargain too, and to top it off, my ears didn't even pop as they usually do.

So, time to take the dreaded overnight bus to Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays. More action packed days to look forward to. Wicked!


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14th July 2007

all that sand
wow all that sand and you didn't build castles.now you've both recharged yourselves it's time for more fun. the sunrise over the shipwreck is great and well worth you getting up early for it. keep having fun and be carefull. mum xxx

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