A great big run up...

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Sorry that it's been a while since the last one. Normal excuse: travelling.

So, let's see. What have I done?

From Brisbane I went to Noosa, which is a well-heeled old people and families beach town with a nice park. It's supposed to be pretty nice but, frankly, it was dull. I thought it probably would be dull but I stopped there anyway because apparently I have no imagination. I went for a walk in said park which was a bit of adventure. I ended up scrambling through undergrowth to get to the town on the other side and eat in a cafe that was supposed to be good. THe cafe turned out to be much further away than I thought and was merely OK. Nice steer, Lonely Planet!

On the othere hand, the place I was staying, though a touch more expensive than its rivals, was a complete score. Really nice old colonial timber building, relaxing atmsphere. Coooool.

Anyway, I'd had enough of Noosa and was booked onto 4WD trip up north.

Next to Hervey Bay which is, to use exactly the same wording as everybody else, 'the gateway to Fraser Island, the world's biggest sand island.' It's one of those things that you pretty much have to do on the East Coast of Australia. Rolling round on a giant sandbank, camping, dingo watching and swimming in clear lakes? Sign me up!

Hervey Bay is a pretty dull one horse town, but I like it anyway. It has a nice local flavour and decent fish and chips (mmm... Barramundi). I just chill before Fraser.

Then Fraser. Fraser is cool. I can't drive because I'm 19 and thus not old enough to hire a car (Boo!), but it's still pretty fun bouncing around on the back, going through the forests and over the beach. Memorable bits include Lake Mackenzie (awesome swimming lake), hitting a creek (which we were supposed to wade across in front of the truck) at 80kmh and getting sprayed with water and accidentally getting up close with a pack of dingos. I was lucky enough to have a good group in my truck and the weather was lovely (though cold at night). So, all in all, sweet trip.

Now my attempt at stepping off the tourist circuit- Rockhampton. Rockhampton is a town that styles itself as the 'beef capital of Australia', which means a lot of cowboy wannabees and steakhouses. It's the sort of place where the receptionist at the hostel drives a Ute and the average age seems to be anout 57. Not many people stop there which , to my mind , made it a good place to experience 'real Australia'.

So what did I do? I walked around, arrived at an Aboriginal Cultural centre just before closing (just about enough time for some guy to play a didgeridoo and teach me how to chuck a boomerang) and paid about 10 pounds for a (very good quality) Porterhouse steak roughly the size of my foot.

I'd also booked to spend a night at this outback a cattle farm that some guy in Hervey Bay recommended. It was awesome cool- the owner picked me up from Rockhampton (about 120 Km from the farm) for freeand the pace was really relaxed. I went horseriding (it didn't hurt as much as NZ, so I think i was getting the hang of it a bit more), attempted to ride a motorbike (I kept falling off, so they gave me a quad instead) and 'helped' with chores (ie accidentally letting some chickens out while collecting eggs and then having to run around trying to catch them). Everytone was really nice and many people were staying for three weeks- I could see why. But had to move on and thus, here I am in Airlie Beach, about to go sailing around the Whitsunday Islands. It's another one of those things you pretty much do while on the east coast of Australia. Hopefully it'll be fun.

Bye!

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Comments

[Louise]

On an unrelated topic...
Guess who's going to see Bon Jovi... Sorry, did I already rant about this? If not, consider it done. *Daddy sends his love and best wishes and hopes you are having an awfully nice time*