Oz; Surfers Paradise, Brisbane, Noosa, Australia Zoo and Fraser Island

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After a really enjoyable spell in Byron Bay we were hoping for a repeat of happy times in Surfers Paradise which we had heard good things about. However, after arriving and walking along the main strip of town we decided that Surfer's was probably not for us. The street was littered with sky-scrapers each vying for their own perfect view of the beach. The population consisted of pretty much all tourists, attracted like moths to the bright lights. The second morning we got to really explore and whilst there was plenty to offer in terms of shopping, bars and colourful happenings it didn't have any sort of culture to back it up. The beach was enormous and at intervals the lifesavers were situated ready to rescue stranded tourists from the severe currents. It wasn't really surfing conditions as the sea was too rough. Even swimming was too much for Mark who quickly got out. Our hostel was pleasant and had a good lounge for watching films, but was filled with people that were mainly interested in going out at night and sleeping through the day. One chap in our room was literally nocturnal. We did have a couple of good evenings out in bars that offered cheap food and good nachos. However, when our time came to leave we were excited to be heading further north to Brisbane, which had received opposite reviews to Surfer's so we thought we might enjoy ourselves more there.

Brisbane is a large city built to accommodate the many businessy people working hard. Our hostel was situated right opposite the greyhound terminal and only a short walk into the town center. Brisbane has a river running through the heart with most of the activity like in London on the northern side with an art gallery just on the south side. As Mark had not misplaced his medicine bag there was no need to panic and no need to seek fast medical attention to replace what was missing. Despite this everything at the doctors went smoothly and he was able to replenish his low stores. This made him very happy. We then went and spoke to Bucko, a travel agent, and after explaining how long we had left in Oz and what things we wanted to do and miss he planned an itinerary and booked all our hostel accommodation, Fraser Island, Whitsundays sailing, Australia Zoo and Cape Tribulation. We felt we got quite a good deal and left feeling that the pressure of us organising all our coaches, accommodation and adventures had been taken off us. We walked into town during lunch hour and passed through a large pedestrianised zone with the town hall, clock tower and some interesting sculptures. We carried on through as it was really busy until we reached the Botanic gardens where we were attacked with a brutal rain shower. We sought refuge in a Chinese place for lunch and continued seeing some spiky lizards and water lily hopping birds. We went through the university making us feeling old and wishing we were back "studying". We convinced that our educational adventure was a suitable replacement and walked over the bridge to the south bank and towards the museums and galleries. It seemed that the area had gone through some redevelopment and had some modern looking plant structures and a really fun water park/lagoon including fountains, waterfalls and jets ready to get unsuspecting passers by damp.

The museum was really good, with and good section on animals as well as a memorial to soldiers fighting in the great war and a brief walk through the history of transport. However we both preferred the art gallery, which like the Tate in the UK had some funky pieces and some art leaving Mark confused. However highlights include two enormous inflatable bunny rabbits, one that had fallen over. Suz kept referring to them as installations. There was also a really good white room that was full of white string spread evenly and tightly packed that was hanging from the ceiling. The room was only small but meant that one could get lost and sneak up on others leaving you totally disorientated. Something better experienced than explained. We walked back over a very interesting bridge that looked like some random pieces of metal had been tied together and back to the hostel. We were treated to a nights entertainment of karaoke. The standard varied and was hilarious.

We left happy with our itinerary and headed further to Noosa. Noosa is a very small town that again sits on the coast but has a river running around the headland leaving our hostel split between the picturesque river and the busy beach. Surfing was attempted but the waves were pretty small. Despite this, a small pod of dolphins came over to check on progress. It was amazing having them swim so close stopping all surfing for a few minutes. Noosa was our base for Australia zoo and we were picked up the next morning along with sixty others and were shuttled to Australia's number one zoo, Koala hospital and general animal emporium. It was strange to see and hear everyone talk about Steve Irwin as though he was standing next to us, but the trip was brilliant. We saw, crocodiles, kamodo dragons, Lizards, Elephants, Aligators, Birds of paradise, snakes, Wombats, Tigers, Kangaroos, Koalas, Terrapins, Spiders and Red Pandas. We went to the Crocosium, named so as there are crocs and you can see them, and watched the keepers feed the saltwater crocs. We saw a croc that was smirking and a kangaroo lazing casually, propped on one elbow. We saw a tiger show that had the tigers jumping, climbing and feeding. Mark got to feed an elephant. Her trunk was muscly, wet and crinkled. We had lunches packed and ate on the shuttle bus. We fed Kangaroos that were friendly, inquisitive and very soft as well as stroking Koalas who were very tired. We had a great day at the zoo but were very tired when we returned to Noosa. On our last night we sat outside and watched a fantastic sunset with bats wriggling in trees overhead.

We went to Rainbow beach where we met up with some old roomates from Noosa. We were briefed initially on our trip the next day to Fraser Island, basically explaining the do's and do not do's. It was fairly basic telling us not to feed dingos and not to go in the sea which has incredibly strong currents. We were again briefed in the morning of the trip by Merv, our host. We were put in our groups, after being told the day before they would split the groups 50/50, Mark was a little disappointed to find that he was in a group of seven girls. Luckily his family had been busy sending through his papers so both he and Suzanna could drive. Good work team! Our 4x4s were basic but bulky and made for cruising through the sands. Fraser is the largest all sand island in the world and we were told driving would be tricky. We set off very excited and after our ferry ride we met our first serious piece of off-roading in the shape of a terrible dirt track that shook us to our cores. Once we were on the motorway (the beach) we were fine. We went to visit Lake McKenzie a large clear freshwater lake with white sand and dunes set in the thicket off the jungle scenery. The weather was slightly overcast and we set off to make camp concerned that we would be having rain. After much confusion and a great dinner of chicken stir fry we converged under our Taprs to socialise. Everyone was really friendly and the party carried on until the small hours.

We packed up and headed north up the East coast of the island to the wreck that unfortunately we were unable to find our much information as there are very few people around and no plaques were placed to inform. We went to our second lake of the trip where we came across two stranded germans who had been stuck since the afternoon of the day before. They were unhappy, but after much playing around it tunred out they needed petrol. We continued without helping but pushing their car out of our way with the intention of returning to help. The inland tracks are one car wide and very rough. The lake was fun, but there was no swimming as there were little turtles popping their heads out at the lookout point. Mark was concerned that crocs might be lurking. We couldn't find our planned campsite until late when most of the cars had already set up. We cooked a dinner of steak and potatoes and the girls without Mark began singing. It sounded like they were having fun, although the rest of the camp seemed to disapprove. We awoke in the morning in a daze and set off for lake Wabby. We stopped off for water and one of many toilet breaks for the girls. The lake is situated amongst sand dunes and has a really steap side of sand for miles on one side and forest on the other. Small Catfish occupied it and despite being told that they clean the dead skin off feet they seemed either shy or full. We then headed further up north to Indian head where we saw some stingrays swimming from the high lookout point. On our way back to the mainland we spotted fish jumping out of the water followed by dolphins. We had an amazing time on Fraser, made all the better by good friends, being able to drive and beautiful scenary.

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Photos

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"whats that skip? They're stuck in the old mine?"

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Team F. 7 girls and Mark

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Indian Head, Fraser Island

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The bright lights of Surfers Paradise

Comments

[caroline and george pickard]

really enjoyed latest blog
Really enjoyed your latest blog and seeing the photos. Sounds and looks great! How much more can you cram in? You're right to be concerned about crocs lurking! Mum xx

[Richard]

Great pictures
Good to see things going well. The pictures on this blog are brilliant. Dad