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Published: June 28th 2008
Well as you may have guessed by the title we have had an eventful and busy last 10 days or so. When we left you last time we were in Caloundra on the Sunshine coast having just been to Steve Irwin's Zoo!
We had a nice day in Caloundra and on Dicky Beach we saw the wreck of a small cargo boat called the SS Dicky, it wasn't mentioned in the guide books so was a nice suprise! The beach had also recently had a bush fire at the back of it and it made some really cool sand - it was white on top and black under it. We wrote funny messages on the odd sand then made some food by the sea. We started out drive towards Noosa and along the way we saw a massive pineapple and a massive cow alongside the road. Everywhere has these big monuments it seems. We stayed in a rest area that night and woke up next to a rather scary number 13 bus - see picture!
The next place we headed to was Noosa, on wednesday 18th. We first went to Laguna Lookout which had some really nice
views out over the habour of Noosa. Next we drove over to Alexandra Bay having heard dolphins could be seen from here. The bay was very nice but we didn't spot any dolphins, there was some massive waves crashing against some rocks and we stayed to watch it for an hour or so. After this we cooked up the usual pasta meal in the van and headed to our next town - Rainbow Beach. We found a nice campsite in rainbow beach as it had no rest stops. It was close to the beach so we checked out the beach which looked like it had some good surf and nice sand. We had took Adam's surfboard down so decided to get in the sea. Megan and Nick watched from the shore while Adam tried to get on the some waves. After a few decent attemps Adam got a big one, but when he moved to stand up the bottom of the board caught the wave. The next few seconds are a bit of a blur, but the surfboard dug in the sand below the wave and Adam was thrown down onto his surfboards fins which plunged into his leg. Adam
Nick at Carlo Sandblow
Close to the dangerous cliffs!held his leg as he tried to walk back to the beach. Megan came running in to help - bless her! The leg looked really bad, we won't put the picture of it up, but all you need to know is it was a very open 3 inch tear with yellow fat hanging out of it! It didn't bleed due to the depth of it which was nice, Nick ran and got the lifeguard on duty and he drove the buggy down to us. He bandaged it up and drove Adam to the doctors. The lifeguard (Liam) confessed on the way that he didn't actually know where the doctors was but with some help of a few strangers we found it. The medical centre was very good and within an hour or so a trumatised Adam was out of there, with 8 stitches on his muscle and 11 stitches on the cut. We drove back to the campsite with lots of pain killers and antibiotics and decided we would treat ourselves to some local fish and chips, cod and chips to be precise! We spent the rest of the evening making a video of the things we have been upto
Number 13 bus
Possibly the scariest thing we have woken up next to! for some friends (it may be released publicly on youtube - but be warned it contains grusome pictures!).
Next day we got up nice and early and headed down to the medical centre for Adam's check up appointment. The staff were very good again and gave us print offs of everything for insurance claims. Doctor Deon Smith put 6 butterfly stitches over yesterdays proper ones for some added strength and told us where the pharmacy was. We picked up plenty of drugs for the next 5 days then headed back to camp. We decided a chill out day was the best plan due to Adam not being able to walk about. Megan gave Jimbob (the van) a much needed clean out and Adam and Nick sat in the deck chairs shaking their heads at the broken surf board. We stayed another night at the campsite and hired out some Dvds to watch in the evening. We watched 'Click' staring Adam Sandler and Megan cried (she doesn't knwo we have wrote this!). There was suprisingly cheap - about £1.20 per week - how much is it in England normally?
Next day we checked out of the campsite
Rainbow Beach
Famous coloured sands and decided we should explore Rainbow Beach a bit. Our first stop was Carlo Sandblow, which is a 150m high mound of sand that is slowly growing and taking over the land and forest in the area. It was like being stuck in the dessert here and we had some great views of the sea too. There was a 600m walk to it but Adam made it okay and Megan is now glad she isn't the slowest walker holding us up. After the sandblow we headed back to the accident area to wak further down the beach to the rainbow sands that the town gets its name from. We had some good views and saw some cool sand dripping down in different colours. Next we drove on to our next location, Hervey Bay, which is the main port used to visit Fraser Island. We quickly booked the best looking and cheapest one day tour of Fraser Island for the next day. We spent the afternoon on the beach then drove to Vernon Point in the evening and played on some rocks while the sun set on the horizon. We parked up for the night in a big truck rest area
Nick at Rainbow Beach
Tiny Megan in the background! by a garage for some sleep.
Next day we headed down to the beach and got picked up for our tour of Fraser Island. Apparently one day isn't enough time to explore the island - but we don't have the time or money to spend 3 or 4 days there. Our bus driver was very cheerful and he took us to the ferry port, he informed us that on the ferry we should lookout for dolphins as they are seen often. On the short ferry ride (35 minutes) we did see something come up and pop back down but no one was sure what it was (we think a Dugong). On Fraser Island we got on our big 4 wheel drive tour bus and met our guide for the day - Steve. Our first stop was lake McKenzie, the water was soooooo clear, this is due to the fact the lake is completly rain filled with no springs of rivers running into it. We stayed here for a while and washed in the water as instructed to by Steve. The acid level in the water is very high and you can wash your hair with no shampoo -
The deadly surfboard fins!
The one on the right went in Adam's leg... it actually worked! We also cleaned our skin with the abrasive sand that is so thin its almost dust- apparently you can fix scatched watches with it. Next we headed into the forest and Steve told us lots about the types of trees we were seeing and how they grow on the worlds largest sand mass (Fraser Island). We were warned of snakes but again failed to see any! Next they dropped us off at a resort for a buffet lunch. It was a great change from pasta and rice in the van. Next we hit highway number one on the island which also happens to be the eastern beach and is informativly named 75 mile beach. You can only drive on the island with 4 wheel drive and our tour bus got upto some good speeds on the beach - which has a speed limit of 100 km/h. We were told to watch out for dingos (wild dogs) and migrating hump back whales - we saw none again. We stopped to look at some coloured sands but they werent as impressive as Rainbow beach. There was an optional flight over the island from here that we couldn't afford, but
it was cool to watch the plane take off and land on the beach - one of a few places in the world it can be done. We continued our drove along the beach to the wreck of the Mahino. This was a pretty cool shipwreck, it was slowly sinking below the sand and 4 floors of it are currently under the beach - it was very long and very very rusty. Next we went to one of the biggest creeks on the island - Eli Creek. 2.4 million gallons of clear fresh water flows out of here per hour and it never stops. We raced sticks down it while we moaned about the lack of wildlife we had seen. After this we started the drive back to the ferry, and just as we thought it was over someone spotted a whale fin out at sea! We were too far away to get a good look but we could see it spraying water into the air and coming up every now and then. On the ferry back Adam spotted a fin in the distance, it got closer and we were joined by 3 wild dolphins as they swam along side
Broken surfboard
No more surfing then... the ferry for a bit - what a turn around in luck! We got back to Jimbob. Our next stop (Rockhampton) was a bit of a long drive so we got started on that, we did 200km before pulling into a rest stop for some sleep! It had been a long, hard, but very enjoyable day!
Next day we woke up and continued our drive to Rockhampton. The drives were now starting to be more like we hoped as we got fursther north. We saw nothing but feilds and lone trees surrounded by mountains for large bits of the drive. We got to Rockhampton about midday and saw the bull monuments at the gateway to the city. Rockhampton is the Beef capital of Australia and there are over 2.5 million cows in a 250km radius of it. There were pictures of cows everywhere but not as many cowboy hats as we would have hoped. We went to the Great Western hotel to see when the next rodeo was on - but it was a week away and we can't stick around that long. We were all a bit dissapointed as we really wanted to see that - maybe
in America! We found a rest stop quite far out of town and decided to stay there for the night.
The next day was a bit of a boring one but very productive. We used Rockhamptons great facilities to top up on Adam's antibiotics at a pharmacy. Then we found the medicare offices and Adam signed upto it. It is completly free to UK travellers to join and you get all your medical bills paid for by them - what a great service. So we didn't even use the travel insurance like we hoped. We sorted out a mailing address for Cairns, apparently we can just send it care of the post office and just pick it up. Adam and nick need to get tax numbers sent there for when they start work, and Megan needs her passport that she left in Melbourne's departure lounge. We stocked up our vans food shelves and brought a few bits of needed clothing - mainly socks! After this we headed back to the rest stop and got some sleep.
We woke up in the rest stop and decided we would check out Rockhamptons northern beaches. First we went to
More clear water
at lake McKenzie Blacks beach and watched some kitesurfers that the area is famed for, then we went to dolphin heads and found a nice little bit of beach all to ourselves. We played on the rocks (Adam didn't mum!) and then played in the sea. Some small fish were close to the edge and Adam spent a while trying to catch one with his 'club'. He thought he had landed one but it turned out to be a fishermans fake fish on a line and hook. While it wasn't a catch it was better tools. But the hook proved too big and the fish kept just eating the bait (sea snails) off the hook. After here we made some food and headed off ot Airlie Beach - gateway to the Whitsunday Island. They were named by captian Cook as he though he passed by them on the cristain festival of Whitsunday - turns out he actually didn't as he forgot about the international date change line! We decided to stay in a campsite as we all needed a shower and Nick had some clothes too wash!
Next we got up early and headed to Shute Habour for 9am. We soon
Maheno Shipwreck
On 75 Mile Beach, Fraser Island found the kayak hire place and sorted out some renting - which was much cheaper than gonig on the half day guided tour. The lady didn't seem too keen on giving them to us for a full day so we got a half day and were limited to only seeing the near by island. We saw Shute Islands and White Rock as we kayaked around. They were unlike ones we had used before as they had rudders to help with sea currents and wind, but we picked it up pretty quickly and no one fell out all day! We saw some nice coral and a lot of dead coral too. At one point we all saw something, a fin, then it went and we couldn't see it again. Nick said he thought it was a shark and Megan got all worried, Adam thinks it was more likly a dolphine - but we will nver know! We didn't see any other sea creatures. But we did stop for some sandwiches we packed on White Rock Island and saw some Lizards and snakes on there. We got back to the rental place only 5 minutes late and nick was shattered. He had
Maheno Shipwreck
View through the window! a single kayak and Adam and Megan had been in a double kayak - also know as a divorce kayak! We headed back to camp and booked ourselve a proper tour out to the far island for tomorrow that includes some snorkling and another buffet lunch! We spent the afternoon cleaned out the van, washing clothes, reading books, and writing this blog up!
Our plan for the next few day is finish off the Whitsundays then continue our journey north. We have our van for another 2 weeks so we are on schedule to be in Cairns on time, possibly early, so we may visit a few places further north! Also Adam and Nick need to sort out bank accounts and find themselves a job - although we think we have that sorted (details coming soon).
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Adam Gibson and Nick Burke
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simon
non-member comment
Nice
Glad your ok Adam. Think pic of your wound may have spoiled the fact that all the rest are great. Take care