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Published: March 27th 2008
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Hey Guys,
I’m sorry this blog has been such a long time coming. Everytime that I sat down to write the blog I’d get distracted by Facebook, Msn Messenger or Hotmail and forget to write anything. But here I am at work with nothing to do this morning so I thought I’d use this opportunity to bring you up-to-date with some of the things I’ve been getting up to since my last blog entry.
Hervey Bay (pronounced Harvey Bay) is the stepping off point for Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world. The island has very few roads and those that do exist are little more than sand traps. We had booked a day tour of the island and our vehicle for the day was a huge 4x4 truck that could carry about 30 people. Despite the trucks size it didn’t stop Pete (our 9 toed tour guide) from driving at breakneck speed along some of the bumpiest, steepest roads. At several points the road had been worn away and the truck leaned dangerously from one side to the other.
The main way to get around Frazer island is to use the ‘motorway’, not a real
motorway but the unimaginatively titled 75 Mile Beach that runs down the entire Eastern side of Fraser Island. The beach also at one point doubles for a runway allowing light aircraft to takeoff and land on the island. 75 Mile beach has its own speed limit of 70mph set however swimming isn’t encouraged due to the high number of sharks that patrol the shallow waters.
In the afternoon we stopped off at Lake Mckenzie, Fraser Islands largest body of freshwater, home to turtles, clear blue water and soft silica sand that is apparently good for exfoliating the skin and cleaning jewellery. Fraser Island has a large dingo population and has made headline news in the past when dingos took a small child from a family camping on Fraser. In that particular case the parents were initially convicted of the child’s murder but later acquitted, after another similar case making Australian legal history.
Another short coach journey took us further down the coast to Brisbane. At this point I didn’t realise that I would end up back here for work. Brisbane is a pretty cool city with a modern, clean city centre, fantastic climate and is apparently the culture
capital of Australia. The south bank is home to several art galleries, an opera house and an outdoor beach lagoon. Whilst Anne went to visit some relatives Joe and I took the train down to the Sunshine coast and spent a day at Dreamworld Theme park. After three days of chilling in Brisbane and two very dodgy hostels we took the bus down to Byron Bay.
Byron Bay was what I hoped and expected Santa Cruz would have been like. The small town was awash with surfers and good surf. Byron is apparently a favourite haunt of Surfer/Singer Jack Johnson. The town had a laid back atmosphere and we took advantage of not being in a rush and spent 4 days relaxing on the beach, body-boarding and early morning snorkelling on the nearby reef.
The coach trip from Byron Bay to Sydney was our longest overnight bus journey at 13 hours. But for possibly the first time ever I fell asleep on the bus and slept right through. I was awoken by the bus drivers announcement as we approached Sydney City centre. We passed over the harbour bridge and in the early morning light I got my first
view of the Sydney Opera House.
It is one of the strange things about travelling, you can be thousands of miles from home and not really realise it and perhaps travelling for so long had slightly dulled my enthusiasm. But to see the Sydney Opera house actually there in front of me, I was struck with awe. This was a building I had seen in so many pictures and films, it was so close that you could reach out and touch it.
All in All I spent a week in Sydney we took the ferry out to Manly, spent a day at Bondi Beach and took a tour out to see the Blue Mountains. Before I realised it it was the last day Joe Anne and Myself would all be together. I went with them down to the Greyhound station and we had one last photo before they got on the bus and then they were gone. I had been travelling with Joe for over four months and with Anne for over three. All that time we had been living in each others pockets, day in day out. We had had our moments, our ups and downs, but
we had made it through without any major problems. And now as I stood alone watching their Greyhound bus disappear into the city traffic I felt a little bit alone.
I had another two days in Sydney before my flight up to Brisbane and there were many things to see in Sydney, Bondi Beach, the Olympic stadiums, the blue mountains and Luna Park however it was the Opera House that always had the ability to take my breath away. Even after Joe and Anne had moved on in the evenings I still took walks down to the Opera House, had an over priced beer at the Opera Bar and watched the sun set over the city.
My flight up to Brisbane was fairly uneventful and I checked into the hostel that would be my home for the next two months. The Yellow Submarine Hostel, thankfully not a Beatles themed hostel! Unlike the other nearby hostels catered more towards long-stay residents, people who had jobs in the city and would be staying longer than the usual couple of nights. Before I realised it the time had started to pass quickly I had a large group of friends. In the evenings we
would all sit outside drinking goon and at weekends we would go to the races, cinema, bowling and then usually go out as a big group in the evenings.
Yesterday was quite sad as most people decided it was time to move on. The Kenny brother hired a car and set out on their outback adventure driving to Perth, Paul and Sandra along with Hana set off for Cairns, Mike went to surfers and Alex up to Noosa. So it was quiet in the hostel last night but the hostel never stays empty for long so its only going to be a matter of days before the hostel is full again.
My new jobs going pretty well and I’m just coming to the end of my third week here at Cardno Eppell Olsen. Its been quite a culture shock going from lazy backpacker to a real 8-5 job. Already I’m missing the lifestyle but at least living in the hostel means I still meet loads of new people daily it just means now that im working I get the chance to earn back some of that money I’ve spent. Its pay day on Monday so I can’t wait!
I’ve already got the next section of my trip booked. A week in Perth to meet family and maybe with the Kenny’s if they make it out there on time and then flights back to the UK but I’m not due to fly back until the 10th May so there’s still plenty of travelling to be done.
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