Sydney to Cape Tribulation

---

We met up with Sony and Gary (The Taylors) at the airport, picked up their hire car and drove to the Blue Mountains where we had three fun days together. We did lots of bush walks around the three sisters, trips on the skyrail and visiting the Jenolan caves which were amazing!

We left Sonya an Gary and headed back to Sydney on the train. Stayed in Sydney for three days doing all the usual touristy things like visiting the Opera house, Harbour bridge, Sydney Tower, Darling harbour, Circular Quay and Sydney Aquarium. I really liked sydney so I'm glad to be going back there for a few days before I leave for the states.

We picked up our hire car and started heading North, in fact we drove the whole way to Byron which took us about 10 hours with plenty of pee stops in between! In Byron we were reunited with Taylor Tours again which were fab as usual! We stayed with them in a lovely 1 bedroom apartment with air conditioning, a luxury for Baz and I! Barry bought a long board and had some fun in the sea. Gary bought a body board so me Sonya and him were having some fun with that until the girls got a bit too scared of the waves and resorted to sunbathing! We only had two days in Byron, we would have liked more but it was very busy and difficult to find accommodation to stay longer so we headed on.

Leaving taylor Tours once more we went to Watego Bay for a days surfing (and sunbathing in my case!) and then headed North again to Tweed Heads where stayed the night in a cabin in Tourist park. They're really good value for money, about the same price as a hostel but you get your own space, bathroom, kitchen and sometimes swimming pools. Barry surfed in Coolangatta where we saw dolphins surfing in the waves along side the surfers!

Barry finally managed to persuade me to camp to save a bit of cash so the next day we bought a tent and headed for Noosa Heads. We arrived quite late but once again thanks to Taylor Tours we knew where we were going and headed straight for a lovely campsite next to the river. We set up camp and that evening the heavens opened and the tent leaked! The next day we met up with Sonya and Gary again and booked up our trips for Fraser Island and our Whitsunday Islands. Then in the afternoon we hired a boat and did some fishing, Gary caught 2 flatheads and a Bream and I caught a Bream too! In the evening we had a BBQ at Sonya's and Gary's posh apartment by their posh swimming pool where I caught sight of a not so posh rat and pooed myself for the rest of the evening!

Next day we said goodbye to the Taylors again and Barry went for a surf at Sunshine Beach in Noosa and caught a really big wave (7 or 8 ft apparently!), which of course I missed! That evening it rained yet again and the wind was so bad we thought the tent was going to take off! So the camping's been going really well so far!

Next day we travelled up to Hervey Bay to start our Fraser island trip. We checked into our hostel Fraser Escape, had our briefing and met our groups we have 11 in our group. I went to do supermarket sweep with our new mate Natalie (Hello Natalie!) to buy all the food for our trip, that was a laugh!

Next day we had an early meeting with the crazy old man to warm us of the dangers upon "The Island of Hurt" he rattled on for about 45minutes informing us of all the things we shouldn't be doing because if we did we were all going to be brought home in a helicopter, Go left; you die, go right; you die etc etc! So after all that we wandered off out to the car as 11 very unenthusiastic kids and nobody wanting to drive! In the end James (from Wales) opted to drive so off we went to the ferry. The ferry took just 30mins and at the other side Barry opted to do the first bit of driving on the island. First stop Lake Makenzie, which I had previously been informed by Wee Clare that you could swim and drink from all at the one time!! It was beautiful and yes in deed we did all swim and drink at the same time! We stayed there for a while and chilling out in the water, then off up the 75 Mile beach which was so cool to be able to drive along this massive beach. We stopped at the Moheno wreck, where I got told off for standing in, oops! Got some really wicked pictures though ;o) Further on up the beach we stopped at our campsite Dundaberra and set up camp next to the larget spider I've ever seen (but looking back that was nothing compared to what we're seeing further up North!).

That evening we had a camp fire and had a good sing song with the other 2 groups, an irish guy who plays in a band back home had his guitar so we were singing songs like the proclaimers amongs other things!!

Next day I had a go at the driving which was fun. We went to indian Heads (lovely views and shark spotting) Champagne pools (tide was out so not really looking at it's best) and Eli Creek which was my favourite, a lovely fresh water creek that you can float down on your back, just what you need after a sweaty day on Fraser Island!

We pitched our tents further along the beach near to Lake Wabby for the second night and met a bunch of lovely Aussie boys who were visiting from Melbourne for a weeks holiday. We had a lot of fun and made good use of comforts that Fraser Escape didn't provide us with, a working stereo & chairs! I'll be meeting up with them when I go to Melbourne in March.

Next day all feeling very hungover we drove to Wabby Creek with Fred driving. After getting lost so many times, doing about 5 3-point turns and a 2.5k walk we finally arrived at Wabby Creek. Sand dunes and a lake you can swim in. We had some fun there although only a few of us made it because the hangovers but it helped to make us feel better ones we were in the water.

On the way back our young driver Fred (who actually wasn't old enough to drive the hire 4x4 but neglected to tell us) reversed into a parked car and refused to stop so later that evening Fraser escape had a phone call from the upset owner a doctor and needless to say we all lost our $100 bond money.

Next day Barry and I said goodbye to most of the group and headed North to Bundaberg with Lauri and Dan from Wales.

We checked into a nice cabin at a holiday park near the beach in Bargarra. In the evening we went to mon Repos to see the turtles where we got to see a loggerhead lay her eggs but she wasn't very happy and only laid 17 instead of their usual 100+ and left. On the way back to the waiting area the guide noticed tracks in the sand from a nest that had hatched and we had missed around 100 hatchlings being released into the water :o( Later on we did manage to see 10 hatchlings (from a previous nest that hatched earlier that evening) being released into the sea so that made our evening!

Next day we went to the Bundaberg Rum factory for a tour and tastings, that was fun and we all left a bit giggly, some more than others! After the tour we headed on to Rockhampton (Rocky) still with Dan and Lauri and had an eventful night there. Lauri got chatting to a truck driver at the hostel we were staying at and told him that we were looking for somewhere that had karaoke (Her favourite thing in the whole world!!) and he said that his local had a karaoke bar but wouldn't be opened tonight because it was mid-week but he would ask the owner if he would let us have a go. Later that evening once we'd cooked our dinner (Kangeroo burgers for the boys and pasta for the girls) we met up with the trucker again who took us to the local bar where we met the owner and one other local who apperently had been waiting for us all evening because we were the entertainment! Needless to say the owner opened up the back karaoke bar with disco ball and all and we spent all night singing to the Proclaimers, Jonnie Cash, Cranberries and J-Lo (just for you Kandi!) amongst others.

The next day (Valentines Day) We left Lauri and Dan at the hostel for another night and left for Great Kepple Island. Barry and I stayed there for 2 nights and had a lovely relaxing time snorkelling (which was fab), sunbathing, swimming, kayaking, walking, talking to the resident possums and generally chillin. It's a lovely peaceful island with a couple of resorts and a golf course.

After Great Kepple we headed to Airlie Beach where we stopped off at Sarina for a night on the way oh and almost ran out of petrol, running on fumes when we arrived at a petrol station to find out it was closed, until we managed to find the owner out back and persuade her to open it all back up again and serve us some petrol!! Panic over and off we went leaving our petrol cap behind, oops!

On our arrival to Airlie Beach we met up with Taylor Tours yet again signed in with our boat trip operator, hung out at the wicked lagoon (a big outdoor swimming pool that's free because you can't swim in the sea because of all the jelly fish) and spent the night watching a Wet T-shirt competition! The boys had a fab time while Son and I had a good laugh watching all the men's facial expressions. We also saw the largest hairiest spider of the trip that night (Looked like a proper tarantula!) pretty impressive, but scarey all the same!

The next couple of days we were on our Whitsunday Island boat trip where we had a really fun time. Visited Whitehaven Beach, Hook Island and Blue Pearl Bay. We got a free dive and we also did a night dive as well and got to see a cuttlefish which was cool.

We had one more night in Airlie Beach with Sonya and Gary before saying our very sad goodbyes heading to our final destination together Cairns.

Next day we headed off at about 10am on our long journey to Cairns and decided to break it up by stopping at the Billabong sanctuary North of Townsville. We had a great time, there were kangaroos jumping all over the place, Wombats, Barry held a small croc, we saw some other much larger crocs being fed and I finally got to see some Dingos but the high light beyond a doubt and well worth the $23 entrance fee was to cuddle Harry the Koala!!! He was the cuddliest, cutest thing ever and I wanted to bring him home!! So off we went on our journey to Cairns with a big smile on our face!! we finally arrived into Cairns at about 8 or 9pm and crashed out soon after that.

Our first day in Cairns we just chilled out in town checking it all out, booked up some trips, went to the night markets and Barry bought a Didgeridoo from Universal Joint a Didge specialist shop. The man was so nice and gave Barry a free 2 hour lesson on the didge, so of course he had to buy one at the end of it all!! He was playing very well, so hopefully by the time I get home he'll have it down pat!

Second day we did a really great dive trip with Passions of Paradise out of Cairns. We did 2 fab dives, the instructors were so nice, friendly and made you feel very safe and fun and we got to touch things!! We saw a green turtle, upside down jelly fish, giant potato fish, anemone fish (But still no Nemo but at least his cousins!)and a giant trevally which the instructor was feeding at the end of the dive and because he noticed I was scared (huh me scared!) he decided to throw the food at my head! How nice and of course Barry laughed!! Aparetly I missed a reef sgark too which Barry saw and tried telling me under the water but I missed it and just thought he was trying to freak me out, which he did still manage to do!

Third and final day :o( we went on a trip to Kuranda on the cableway there and the locamotive train on the way back. It's a town at the top of the rain forest and the cableway takes you right of the top of it and the train takes you through it along side the Barron River and Falls. That was a lot of fun, we met Mat from Carlisle and spent the day bush walking and eating pies (Well not me but the boys).

Fourth day Barry left me (:o( sob sob) at 4.30 in the morning in our little hire car to take himself and his huge surfboard to the airport. So I spent the day moping about feeling a bit homesick but looking forward to my trip to Melbourne to meet up with Emily and my new Aussie friends! I took myself to the cinema to see Date Movies which as silly as it is was just the ticket I needed. When I got back to the hostel and sorted out my stuff for my trip to Cape Tribulation the next day I was in the reception and bumped into my little Welsh froend Lauri!! She was there with Dan and James and some other friends, so it was so nice seeing them again, so after some good old fun with them I was back on track again!

Next day I left early for my trip to Cape Tribulation. I met Jo my new friend from London who I spent the next 2 days with. On the drive up we had a few stops for breakfast at a sanctuary to see and feed a Cassowary and another to do a short walk in the rain forest. On the drive on our way through Cape Trib we had to stop for a Cassowary that crossed the road right in front of us, the driver told us what a rare sighting that was and it was a beautifully coloured female! We stayed at The Cape Trib Beach House which was a little collection of huts in the rainforest just off from the beach, it was so pretty. Jo and I did a bush walk around the beaches, to the lookout point, along the boardwalk, to a swimming hole and then the long walk back to camp. It took us around four hours to do but well worth it. At the swimming hole we met a guy from London and 2 Canadians who were being big chickens because there were big fish in there! That was quite funny, as soon as Jo and I walked down they were quite embarassed and proceeded to shove one another in there, squealing like big girls! Later that evening after Jo and I had a well earned nap we met up for drinks in the bar and on our way down to the bar we came accross a big python (2 mtrs) stretched out across the path, Jo almost stood on his head until I grabbed her and did a bit of uncontrollable swearing! We tried to attract some people at the bar to help us but after no success we decided that as we were in the middle of the rainforest we should expect things like this and should just wait and sure enough it moved over and off the path to the other side into the bush! later on when I was on my way back to my cabin my neighbours next door 3 Scottish girls were having a bit of trouble with a mousey thing in their cabin and aksed if I could help get rid of it! I told them they were asking the wrong person but would happily go to the bar and get a man to help! So off we went to the bar and asked the barman if he could help, after a few sniggers he agreed to come up after his shift in 45 minutes, so reluctantly me and one of the girls said we would try our best to get it our ourselves. Off up the path and who did we bump into the big girls blouses from earlier! JUST WHAT WE NEEDED!!! Boys that were more scared than us! Anyway bless them, they excelled themselves (I think they thought they had something to prove!) and got rid of the wee mousey thing. Needless to say we had to go back down to Jo's cabin and waken her up and all went back to the bar for a few more drinks.

Next morning of course Jo and I did none of the activities we had talked about doing the previous day! The bus picked us up at 12 noon and took us to the Daintree River for some Croc watching. We managed to see 2, a nesting female who was quite large and a smaller male both sunning themselves on the river bank. After that we went to Mossman Gorge for a quick swim in the croc free waters! We briefly stopped off at Port Douglas on our way back to Cairns for some food. While everyone else bought chips and pies Jo and I found a wicked restaurant called Mango Jam that did take away pizza, I think quite possibly the best pizza I've ever had! we felt quite guilty tucking into our tasty pizza while everyone was drooling, but obviously not guilty enough to offer any!! I got dropped off at my hostel and said my goodbyes to Jo. That evening I did some washing and got myself all ready for my flight to Melbourne which was the next day.

---