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Published: February 3rd 2007
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Riding a 50 footer
"everybody was surfing......surfing USA!".....sorry Noosa After reaching Noosa from Brisbane I thought I'd take up a spot of surfing seen as though I'm in the land of Oz. The surf company I choose was run by an ex world champion so I knew I was in good hands. After some theory work on the sand, we hit the waves starting off with some body boarding and turning in different directions. After we all "mastered" that, we moved up to the next level which involved catching the waves and standing up on the board. Apart from the first try, I could pretty much stand up straight away. Even though the waves weren't exactly giants, you can get some pretty good speed up. I'll definitely have to give it a go again when I get the chance.
From Noosa we headed for Rainbow Beach which would be our base for Fraser Island. On the way there we stopped off at Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo. Although the great man's no longer here, his spirit lives on. Jesus, I'm getting a bit sentimental here aren't I. The highlight was probably the seeing the crocs, especially the show they had in the stadium. They brought out a big 13 footer
Surfing Pose
Text Book surfing here..........NOT (Borat Style) and did the old meat holding routine to get it to jump out of the water. Would have been a lot better with some live bait though I reckon, something like a Kangaroo. Don't think the parents in the audience would approve though. They also had a few cassowary's there which are massive birds that you just wouldn't mess with. Just like a night out in Barnsley then....Boom Boom Chi!
Fraser Island The trip was a self-drive 4x4 3 day, 2 night trip. After reaching Fraser, we headed for Lake McKenzie which involved cutting inland 10km or so on sand tracks. In some parts it's like driving on ice, the 4x4 skids all over the shop and you've really got to be on the ball or risk losing it the forest. The lake itself was class, entirely surrounded by forest and as clear as a bell. You could spend all day there pratting around in the water but we had to get to our camp site before the tides came in. All 4 groups decided to stick together throughout the trip which was quality cos you had more faces to talk pissed up to when night time came
Croc jump
Higher son, a bit more and you'll have his face along. In fact that first night, we all got pretty wasted and I ended up strumming a few tunes out on one of the lads' guitar. I don't think I was much cop though cos I kept hitting dud notes, that bleading vodka I tell thi! Next morning everyone was up by about 7am and it was like waking up in Kenya. The sun was unbearable and all the time you have to put up with horsefly's trying to bite you. Anyway that day, we headed up towards Indian Head which gives the best viewpoint of the Island. On the way there we passed Maheno Wreck which not suprisingly is a ship wreck on the beach. After a few snaps we floored it towards our destination which took a good hour. They reckon from here you can see Manta Rays, Sharks....etc but we saw diddly squat apart from a snake that was marouding the vicinity. I could see the glare in his eyes so I stayed well away. Patrolling the area was a couple of Dingoes which are the only purebreads left in Australia, I think there's about 130 on the Island. I thought they'd be a lot bigger though,
Crikey!
"Look at this beaut...." they looked like a small greyhound that hadn't had a decent meal in yonks. That night was a bit quieter on the booze front, mainly cos we'd supped it all the night before......a lesson learnt here. The next morning we headed for Lake Wabby which is about 2km inland from the shore. After hiking through the forest we reached the lake which was even better than McKenzie. It's surrounded by forest on one side and a huge sand dune on the other that you could roll down from the top into the lake. The water temperature is somewhere around the 20c mark so it's perfect for just lounging around in. We had a good hour or so there before we had to leave for our barge back to Rainbow Beach.
From Rainbow, we headed for Airlie Beach which took a good 12 hours of solid driving. On the way up I got stopped by the local fuzz for speeding and they slapped me with a 250 dollar fine. The road was in the middle of nowhere, a copper driving the other way just happened to have his radar gun ready and clocked me as I drove towards him. For
The Big Pineapple
"Mmm Pineapple......" Lonely Planet reckons this is Queenslands most tackist attraction. Can't see where they're coming from, it's class! the record, I was doing 130kmh on a 100kmh zone. There's no justice in this world!
The Whitsundays .......although the Wetsundays would be more appropriate. Since our drive upto Airlie Beach, it's been none stop rain and it didn't stop throughout our 2 days sailing. Our boat was called the Clipper and was a lot larger than most of the others that were heading out. It even had a jacuzzi so we we're sorted even if the weather was shitarse as one of the crew members put it. On the first day we we're dropped off at Inlet Hill to have a walk around the forest and onto the beach. Although the sand was piss wet through, it was still as white as I've seen. The lookout also gave us a good platform to see a few of the Islands, even if they didn't quite look upto their best 'cos of the weather. After doing a bit of snorkeling in the afternoon, we hit the ale for the day sesh. You could bring as much booze onboard as you wanted so no suprising that everyone was well stocked up. After 1 too many sherbets, the night finished with
Glass House Mountains
Nice little stop-off on the way to Noosa all the blokes dressed as women and parading around like a set of divas. I ended up dressed as Tina Turner with a big wig and some long red skirt! The next morning I felt as rough as a badgers arse. The boat was swaying all over as the ocean was as bad as you'll see. It's fair to say, the day was a bit of a washout for most people. We did some more snorkeling and spend the night playing poker and going a bit steadier on the old panda shandy. Although the sights weren't the best cos of the weather, the trip was still a laugh and everyone seemed to enjoy it.
We're staying one more day in Airlie Beach then I think we're probably going to head upto Cairns. We're hitting the rainy season here so I'm tempted to head elsewhere after that, maybe Perth if I can get a cheap flight. Hope everyone's well back home, I'm nearly at the half way point on the trip so plenty more to come!
PS. I think the subscribers function isn't working here so keep checking the site for new updates.
Cheers and adios
JP
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Beach Boys on Tour
Hi John just read your blog, looks like you've been on the beaches for most of the time, looks fantastic lad. Impressed with the surfing photo could be a proffessional with moves like that, just shows you Pierrepont genes can turn their hand to any sport. You are really seeing some sights now, the places look amazing, really beautiful scenery, these photos are really good you can tell how much space ther is out there. Sounds like you are meeting loads of different people, good photo of you and Dutch lad all be it pissed up, some things don't change eh!!. Got to say John you were unlucky with speeding fine good to know i'm not only one in family to get em. Good to catch up with your trip, i like to know where you are and that you are enjoying yourself. Bye for now John, missing you, Love Mum XX