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Published: February 12th 2012
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Apologies for the recent silence...
So...after we finished our time on The Whitsunday's we got the coach overnight for 12 hours down to Hervey Bay, ready for our trip out to Fraser Island, and checked into probably our nicest hostel there. However, the joy of the nice hostel was short lived as Sam after a morning of complaining and trying to milk whatever sympathy she could - not getting much in return from me - decided to show everyone what she had eaten in the past 24 hours and continued being sick for the rest of the day!
After a while we decided the best thing was to find a doctor to see what was wrong...i asked the hostel owner, Bill, and as it was a saturday afternoon all the doctors were closed so he turned into the doctor for Sam for the rest of the day, checking on her, helping in anyway he could - basically giving me the afternoon off to go and sunbathe (joke) - he even checked him and his wife out of their room, got the room cleaned quick sharp and Sam and I checked into their room so she could suffer in peace. After Sam
insisting that she did not want an injection at the hospital, Bill took her out in his car to the pharmacy to get some tablets for help and also drove us round Hervey Bay to take her mind off being sick, which seemed to do the trick.
After a couple of day R&R, Sam was fighting fit and raring to go to Fraser Island - the largest sand island in the world. The was an incredible experience, 4x4ing on the sandy tracks which they called roads and on the 75 miles beach (which is a registered highway), visiting the Maheno shipwreck which run-a-ground during the second world war, standing on top of indian point - looking from the highest point on the island into the sea to see sharks and dolphins, and learning how the indiginous people inhabited the island and the rules they have such as death to a woman who touches a didgeridoo. The highlight was Lake MacKenzie, a crystal clear fresh waterlake surrounded by silica sand...see pictures. Sam, still on her medication, was barely managing to stay awake in the 4x4 to a point where our guide had to ask her if he was boring her!
After
Fraser Island we got a relatively short 4 hour coach down to Noosa. Noosa has the highest house prices in Australia so we were expecting a bit of luxury! The hostel, when we arrived, did not disappoint but the weather did....it absolutely hammered it down all day! To the point where mid-nap i was woken up by Sam asking what the dripping noise outside was, and i dismissed as someone having a shower, then Sam opening the door and the whole building was flooded as the roof was leaking as a result of the rain so we all had to evacuate the building until they found the leak - which they didn't do until the following morning so we had a night of wondering if the ceiling was going to collapse on us - i was on the bottom bunk so didn't really care either way!
From Noosa, in the continually falling rain (by now blocking some roads), we took the short journey to Australia/Steve Irwin Zoo. This is by far and away the best zoo either of us had been too. We held Koala's and a crocodile, saw Steve Irwin's replacement at the zoo playing with the Croc and
patted the roo's! See the pictures...
After one more night in the rain, we headed down to Brisbane to meet up with our friends again. Brisbane started off on a bit of a downer, as the hostel we had booked into, didn't have our booking but came up with the compromise of sleeping in their cinema room...imagine a refugee camp - mattresses on the floor, doors wide open, and i was basically sleeping in the doorway...great start!
The following morning, desperate to get a room, Sam and the rest of the girls were left to check us both into a room while i was out with one of the lads. After lugging all the bags up to the room, they were all greeted with the stench of piss and empty Macy D's boxes all over the floor. Needless to say, Sam left and booked us into a private room for the night! An $20 extra cost was worth a million to her by then!
We decided it was time to find a completely new hostel and checked into the YHA next door. This was pretty luxurious...uni halls like rooms, massive cinema room, playstation room, roof top pool etc! And with
our friend Sophie in tow, we booked a triple family room for cheaper than the refugee camp we stayed in the previous nights! With the accommodation sorted, Brisbane was incredible...the weather picked up so we (Sam) made the most of the shops and hairstraighteners that Fitness First had to offer. Next stop was Surfers Paradise, i loved this place, Sam wasn't bowled over by it. It is a bit of a party town (Miami-ish) with a 45km beach, pretty much sums it up. Whilst there we met up with a couple of friends from home, Kirsty and Will, who was also in our Christmas/New Years gang! Together we headed to a massive waterpark where upon arriving I realised I had forgotten the $120 tickets so had to pay again. We were then deafened and embarrassed by Sam on the little kiddies rides for most of the day - we definitely couldn't have lost her. It got to the point where she forgot to breath on one ride and had to be helped off at the bottom by the lifeguard! There was also the ride, which Sam sat out, which put you in a capsule then the floor fell away leaving
you to fall vertically down - that nearly got me screaming...not quite though! See the pictures... After our brief stop at Surfers, we headed to Byron Bay which was a bit of a hippie town where everyone seemed to smoke weed and live in a bush. The chilled out atmosphere was exactly what we wanted though and we spent most of our time chilling out on the beach with our friends, bodyboarding and catching up on the sleep which we had missed in the previous places! Breaking up the 12 hour journey to Sydney from Byron Bay, we decided to stop in Newcastle. Newcastle was a lovely little town with brilliant beaches - much like the one in England. (apparently they export sand to Hawaii). The most memorable part of it though was hostel...it was an old gentleman's club, complete with button sofas and grandfather clocks - very odd wondering what went on there in the past. We spent most of our time on the beach, before sheltering in our hostel room watching films on our antique TV while a massive storm battered Newcastle...sound familiar? Yesterday we arrived back in Sydney and met up with our friend Sophie again and
today we headed over the Manly Beach which had a surfing competition on going...i did think about entering on my bodyboard but the world will have to wait to see that talent - didn't want to show everyone up! We are spending a few more days here in Sydney before our last big slog on the greyhound bus (another 12 hours) to Melbourne, where we are setting up camp for a few weeks! xx
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