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Published: January 24th 2010
NOOSA
We watched too fast too furious, which was auctioned packed, before arriving at Noosa. We really do not know what to expect! We are waiting around at the bus stop for ‘the GAGAJU bush camp’ bus to pick us up and get chatting to Ulrika & Marion from Sweden, who seem to have less of an idea than us! Alan arrives in a car to drop off a load for the bus. He advises us that our bus will be along soon as it has just had the back axel fixed. Alan is quite curt, he’s only going to say it once so you’d better be listening and Liam likes him instantly.
We eagerly jump in and Alan introduces himself as the cook, tells us how exclusive and expensive the area is, where 1hr in an internet cafe will cost you $15, and with an average house price of $10 million. He points out the most expensive house to buy and the most expensive house to rent, all from across the water. Also it is a favourite spot for Brad Pitt to holiday, with the two bedroom house he normally rents selling for millions. It is certainly a millionaire’s
playground. Seventeen year olds learn to drive in $250,000 cars! This is why he lives out in the bush for free!
Alan takes us down to the local Woolworths and gives us time to grab food and booze for the next four days, as quickly as we can(he wants to leave 30 seconds ago). He also tells us what he plans to cook for supper for the staff for the next three nights, so if we would like to join them, they will charge $10 for dinner and a beer. As we still don’t know what to expect, we decide this is the better option. Mind you he was going on like he was going to be cooking a 5 star gourmet dinner. So we thought we would just be happy if it was burger and chips.
The Swedish seem to buy enough food for all 10 of us! But we are soon off and away again and as I am sitting next to Hannah we sit and joke about the fact that we could all be being driven off to a human slaughter, a bit like in ‘Hostel’ and that the couple of people that were dropped
off this morning were the only ones to make it out alive! After scaring ourselves silly we turned onto this really bumpy dirt track, which was about 2 km long and very bumpy no wonder the axle needed fixing.
Alan points out a few passing kangaroos and tells us the last time he hit one it dented the bull bar, smashed both lights and the radiator, cracked the windscreen and knackered the wipers of the van, causing $500 of damage! The kangaroo got up shook its head and skipped off!
As we near the neighbouring campsite Alan tells us of the population of Gagaju, about 100 people all camping 365 days a year, even when it gets cold (down as low as 29o!). All people who live in the bush to get out of the rat race and live the simple way. He also points out the shared amenities shower block and shop at the top of the track.
We pull in to the Gagaju Bush camp, decamp from the bus and Alan gives us a tour of the site, starting with the TV lounge (with huge wide screen surround sound monster and a huge selection of
films), kitchen (with its own snake & reminding us no one does anything in the morning until the kitchen is clean!), hammocks, campfire, bar (very well stocked if you like VB) and bush toilets (porcelain and a long drop need I say more).
Then on to the dorms, and in Alan’s own words “10 bunks, 10 of you take your pick” the bunks are home made out of 20cm diameter fence posts with some plastic matting nailed in place and a camping mat as a mattress (they don’t look incredibly comfy) we grab the two nearest the door as Charlotte has the bladder of an incontinent 4 year old!
We get told to meet him at reception with our top up fees, deposits and dinner money, then he will dole out the sheet and pillow to each of us for our first night. Reminding us that the trip Briefing is around the pool table at 0730hrs sharp!
We head off and after covering ourselves in bug spray and mingle with the rest of the group. We all settle in and walk down to the river for a quick look, whispering amongst ourselves that we still have absolutely
no idea what the smeg is going on, but as long as we don’t hear “Duelling Banjos” we’re willing to throw caution to the wind and see it through.
Getting to know the fellow inmates. Steve who has made kangaroo chilli that wasn’t spicy enough for his liking. Becky and Andy while sitting by the camp fire with a beer. Jim from Hull, who has lived here for five months. He has been travelling the east coast starting at Cairns for seven months, camped here because it was cheap. Decided to stay and now runs the bar (not the hardest job as it only sells VB).
A couple more bus loads of keen kayakers arrive, Alan does his little guided tour, (the last one with VB in hand) some are cooking their own meals, others, like us are waiting for Alan to start cooking. Sitting by the fire swapping travel stories between the group and finally (we are both a little ravenous by now), about 8 30 Alan starts his magic. Truly amazing from a man who looks like an extra from The Labyrinth that could boil water and make it taste bad, produces the most amazing meal.
Steak schnitzel (steak coated with corn flakes and cheese), potatoes and sour cream and mixed veg, beautifully complemented by an icy cold can of VB (honestly, this place should ask for sponsorship from them). Turns out Alan used to be a cook in the navy (merchant we think), so knows a thing or two around the kitchen! A couple more beers (Liam finishes all the ones he had bought to last him three nights & the two with dinner (Charlotte didn’t want hers!)) and stories round the fire then bed to be up early for our 7.30 briefing.
Up with the lark and the leaf blower, which Wayne wields as both an alarm clock and a useful devise. Surprisingly comfortable night, but now how does Liam get down without breaking a hip (they neglected to build ladders to the 6 ft high beds), up and ready with a coffee, and a liberal spraying of bug spray and spf30 sun block. Off to the briefing. Alan, being a man of many words gives the briefing. This consists of “Today, you’re going to paddle 2k upstream and back! Tomorrow 7k downstream and back! There you go what did you think? Good
briefing Eh?”
Seeing the look of bewilderment on half the groups faces, he elaborates. At about 9 30 we are in fact paddling 2k upstream against the tide to a little beach the other side of the first lake, to a little landing beach, no bigger than the pool table. Leaving the kayaks there walking 2km to a beautiful beach eating the lunch we have a time to prepare. Aiming to leave for the return journey at about 3 30 so as to be back by dark. Tomorrow you’ll paddle 7km downstream with the tide to the other side of Lake Cootharaba, lunch, return!
Bewilderment has now become shock, and most of the group turn white (even with sunburn) and Alan adds but no one is going anywhere till the dishes are done and the kitchen is clean. Our pillows and sheets are returned to reception as tonight we sleep in tents.
Sandwiches made, bags packed for the trip, sheets and pillows returned. Kitchen still a mess so we decide to lead by example and do the washing up. Alan notices and reminds others that nothing happens until the place is clean. Nothing, no kayaking, no deposits
returned, no courtesy bus into town, nothing. Charlotte washed up (mostly the staffs washing up, we notice!) then people start to help drying and putting stuff away.
Then the yell goes out “1st day kayakers”, we know a good job has been done and the day can continue. We all congregate out by the river and the six kayaks. As there are sixteen of us we have four boats of three and two of two. We get our own boat together and start loading up, the rest of the group consist of Andy, Becky and Hannah in one boat, Two Aussies (the hippies) and Jackie from Canada in the next, three French lads, the two Swedes and two tiny Irish girls and a German girl, Isla in the last. We are reminded to keep together or lose our deposit, we should go as fast as the slowest boat. In to the water and off we bally well go. Keeping together in the not at all sense. It was quite easy as the water was reasonably flat, but the two boats with only girls in were struggling (the Swedes had no sense of direction, the others had no man power)
One hour fifty minutes later we land at the little beach, (which is more snooker table sized than pool table) pull our boats ashore and start the walk. Then we see a sight to warm any true Britain’s heart, A Pub and true to form all the Brits dive in for a wee drink.
After a small libation, we head to the beach. Two km walk my codlings! More like five km, in 40o sun, with no shade. We gladly go in for a paddle to cool down, no swimming due to bad rips. Then a spot of sunbathing (Yes folks, Liam is slowly becoming a sun worshiper) and lesson in bad beach driving, out of the 30 odd vehicles that passed us 18 got stuck. Some briefly, others completely.
One complete dough head drove straight on to the beach in his 2wd car, without letting some air out of his tyres, a fully laden roof rack and a trailer. He cut through the sand like butter and soon sunk up to the axles but he kept revving and spraying sand everywhere but going anywhere. When a kindly Good Samaritan stopped to help he could be heard
saying “it’s because it’s too heavy” to which the Samaritan replied “Rubbish, you’ve got a 2wd with hard tyres! The weight doesn’t help but it’s not the cause!” Which we think is a polite way of calling him a total moron.
After 90mins of sunbathing and slowly becoming bacon, we decide to see if the pub is still there and head back. Telling the others we’ll meet with them as they pass the pub and to be sure they’re en route back to the boats by 3pm. At this point we find out Liam has the only watch in the group. We told them to start counting down from 2700 and leave between 300 and zero. And off we went with Hannah in tow.
Bit by bit we were joined by the rest of the group, first the Irish girls then Becky and Andy, then all the others as the time approached 3.30. As the two Irish girls and the German girl (Isla) were lagging way behind. Charlotte asked the three French boys if one of them would mind swapping with one of the girls to even up the boats for the way back. They were more than
happy to help out, however we soon regretted it when all of the boats went flying ahead of us. Back at the boats we load up and back on the water fighting the current to get back to the river mouth (it felt like trying to run up hill through porridge). Finally back on the river and streaming along (pardon the pun) we are having loads of fun chasing Hannah, Becky & Andy. Before we know it we’re back at camp in about 45 mins.
Quick showers all round and relocation to the luxury two man tents with camp mats and well nothing that’s it apart from floor (not even sheets or a pillow!). Liam had a good chat with Wayne down by the luggage store where they were waxing lyrical about Harley Davidson’s, Skulls and Tattoos! Liam has to make good use of the bar tonight as he finished off his beer last night, at $3.50 a go the $13 in his pocket won’t go very far. Luckily he has two coming with dinner (as Charlotte does not drink VB) and enough cash for three should do okay with that. Then Charlotte (who still has cider left and
is rather smug) uses her womanly wiles to get a dollar off the next can.
Dinner tonight was another masterpiece by Alan; pork won tons, fried rice and a bit of salad. Making it a rather a successful night. More stories round the fire with a couple from Bristol named Gary and Tracey who are travelling round the world for a year camping in a tent and also plan to marry in Melbourne when they get there. Good company, good conversation and an exhausted couple go to floor (bed).
Well the little that Charlotte slept was not a lot and she woke up feeling like she had broken her back! Liam also was having back problems, both from the rowing yesterday and the floor last night! It fleetingly looked like we might not make it on today’s trip, but a few words of encouragement and promises of an easier day to come and we were off and away. Very quiet this morning as there was no leaf blowing! We found out later that it was Wayne’s day off and he was having a day out with the boys on the Harley.
Yesterday there were sixteen of us,
today hippy man and his girlfriend (who argued all day and night) were missing from the camp. Also the two Irish girls decided it was too much for them. So Isla (the German girl) jumped in with the two Swedish and Jackie (the Canadian) jumped in with us. Well it was a lot easier with three of us. We were also rowing with the tide, so not long after we set off we pulled all four boats together and just sat there and floated along letting the tide pull us along.
We get to the Lake and it is a bit harder going, but not as bad as yesterday. We are in the lead, so make a decision as to where to land and hit it pretty much on the nose! We all get out and wander over to the closest shop, who directed us to the pub at the top of the hill. The Swedes decide to stay on the beach and eat there picnic (which I am sure consisted of a six course menu!). Everyone seems to know where the ‘backpackers’ want to go! We walk up the hill to the Apollonian hotel, which has cold beer
and a nice lunch menu to boot!
As we are quenching our thirst with the first beer of the day we see a whole gang of Harleys drive by, by beer two they are all pulling up at the pub! Wayne was with them on his day off! We all cheered and waved, which I think he was quite proud of!
Isla and Jackie brought no money with them, so after demolishing there sandwiches and a couple of bottles of the free house water, they headed back down to sunbathe with the Swedes. Liam eyes up the Lambs brains on the menu, but ends up with the special of the day, a lovely prawn satay curry with Jasmine rice. Charlotte opts for the chicken and roasted sweet potato salad with pine nuts and a cranberry jus. Yummy.
We head down to find the three French boy have left already (which they had permission to do as they have to be somewhere by early afternoon) and started fighting the tide just after we left them, only to overturn their kayak a couple of hundred metres out(the lake is quite shallow so not a major problem). We go back across
the lake, which after a nice long rest and a few jars is a lot easier than we expect (Liam being very cautious with his carry out from the pub under his seat. Then into the long lazy river! We join up with Becky, Alan and Hannah for a nice rest and a bit of a float down stream, while the Swedes are battling to get ahead! We just quiet happily float for a while. Then the race is on! We arrive back to camp in no time, unload, shower and decamp to the camp fire.
Charlotte rushes over to reception and checks if we can upgrade to a bunk tonight and is asked to wait until the last bus comes in then check again. It should not be a problem. We wait and as soon as the newbie’s have had their tour and collected there sheets, she is back over again. This time we are not in the big bunk house, but the 4 man tent/bunkhouse. Unfortunately we are both on the top bunk! God help Charlotte!
We chill out Liam around the camp fire and Charlotte having a bit of down time watching ‘Burn after reading’.
Liam is chewing the fat with Wayne and Mike (another staff member). It turns out Wayne’s son Matt owns Gagaju bush camp and has done for ten years, Alan is just a member of staff who does everything! Dinner comes out as Marinated Steak with baked potato, sour cream and Ceaser salad. A master piece as usual, if a little late! It fills us up and the strains of the day take effect, so it is not long until we are shoving Charlotte into the top bunk (a group effort) and away are with the fairies.
The other girls come in at about 5 or 6 in the morning, so a good night’s sleep was had by us, but then came the dilemma of how to get Charlotte down without falling on the sleeping girl below! I don’t know how we managed it, but we did! A nice lazy morning having breakfast and watching the canoeists head off on their adventures. We had our last shower and got our stuff together and jumped into the second bus, just before mid day as we knew the 1st bus would be full of people trying to escape.
We arrive back
at Noosa Head Greyhound bus stop and after Liam helps Mike get the tiny Irish girls huge suitcase off (it was big enough for her to stand up in!), we head on up to the YHA which looks really nice and cool, although it is at the top of a hill! We drag all our bags up there to find they don’t have our booking! We check the e-mails and it turns out we did not book in there as we found a cheaper hostel with air-con & a swimming pool. Noosa backpackers resort, the lady behind reception is kind enough to ring them and tells us if we go back to the bus stop a courtesy bus will be arriving in 5 mins.
It turns out the two Irish girls are staying there too, along with the Swedes. We check into a double at the top of the block next door, with only a couple of rooms, one shower room and a TV lounge. There was no air con, but we did have a great ceiling fan and a comfy bed. We chilled out in the TV lounge while doing all of our washing. It was really nice
to be out of the blazing sun! An old guy Rodney came in and chilled out (dozing away) with us. We headed down to the bar for happy hour pizza (you get a free beer or wine).
Rodney joins us and tells us the story of his life. Turns out he was in the Navy for a couple of years during the war, returning to Holloway road, where he won the heart of a much younger lady (who looked a bit like Charlotte), who lived in Muswell Hill and worked in a bar. He upgraded her to Islington and now they live in Majorca. He has come over for a few months to see friends while she visits her son in the UK. Unfortunately the lady he was going to stay with was buried the day he arrived, so a friend’s son let him stay as long as he wanted in one of the rooms in the hostel. I think he quite enjoyed meeting people. Turns out he is 85 years old. Good on him, having a younger wife must keep him fit and young looking.
We hear from Charlotte 2, she has had a bit of a rough time in Fraser Island. It turns out that she made friends with a German guy, Patrick, who she buddied up with and was put in a group of 10 with him. She cooked steak that first night (the previous Wednesday night) and he choked on it. They did CPR and managed to keep him alive for three hours before a helicopter arrived (one of the boys drove to a resort and used a payphone to get help). A tear ran down his face and he squeezed Charlotte’s hand before being flown off. It turns out there were complications on the flight and the steak got wedged further down which deprived his brain of oxygen, so when they landed he was non responsive.
Although he was on a ventilator he could breathe for himself and his pulse was okay. There was some brain activity, but it did not look good. She had been with him in hospital and managed to get through to his parents and a couple of his friends, but did not think any of them were coming over. Poor Charlotte was still in shock, she was being driven to Brisbane to stay the night before flying up to the Whitsundays to catch up with her itinerary, but was not feeling quite right. We tried to reassure her she had done all she can, but I think she was exhausted. It must also be difficult if you have no one you know to talk it over with.
We got up the next morning repacked our stuff (you know after all of that we never got in the pool once!) and checked out. Whilst waiting for the bus back to the bus stop we had a wander up to the local shops and had a quick breakfast of fruit toast (a real treat) OJ and take away rolls for the bus journey. Back to the bus stop and we are off up North.
As we are waiting for the bus we hear from Charlotte 2, she has had a bit of a rough time in Brisbane, it turns out she was put in a six man dorm and went to bed at a decent hour, along with one other roommate. Then at 2-3am a group of four drunken Irish came in with a blow up doll being very rude and crude. They quietened down after abusing everyone in the room, until a couple of them started having sex on her bottom bunk! Well that was the last straw. She put on the light and they still did not stop, so grabbed her stuff, grabbed a taxi and checked into a hotel. She was at the end of her tether and could not get Patricks face out of her mind. She was torn between going home or continuing to travel. We decided she should get a good book and see it through as she was exhausted. It might do her some good to get away from things.
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anonymous
non-member comment
Wow! what a great time you are having!!!! Am glad Charlotte made it out of the bunk safely x