Australia - Brisbane, Moreton Island and Noosa - A rainy city experience, a paradise island and a visit to the Australia Zoo! A very random few days.

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Australia – Brisbane, Moreton Island and Noosa – A rainy city experience, a paradise island and a visit to the Australia Zoo! A very random few days.

I rolled up in Brisbane and was greeted with heavy rain and this just happened to be the first stop in a while where I didn’t get dropped at the hostel doors, I was gutted. After digging out all my wet weather bag covers and umbrella I headed towards my hostel. It wasn’t so bad until I realised I had made my first error by wearing my flip flops to travel in, basically in the wet they become like Teflon and make me look like Bamby on ice. Well after a close call I was being very cautious but this proved not to be enough, as I crossed the road by the main shopping area I went straight down on my arse, dam it hurt! OK you can all stop laughing now and to make it worse my i-phone that I was holding to use for directions went flying out of my hand and was laying in the middle of the road somehow avoiding the traffic. I scrambled to get the phone before it got crushed and thankfully it was still in one piece. I got myself to the side of the road and got my stuff together, brushed myself down and moved on! Not a great start but I guess things could only get better.

As promised in my last blog I’m not going to aimlessly ramble on about another city, basically Brisbane was very nice apart from the rain but it’s similar to all the others I’ve been to in OZ but it’s just a bit smaller and a few less well known tourist sights, the one cool thing they did have was on the South Bank, it was a man made beach area right beside the river, it was set in a large public park with public BBQ’s, a little mini water play area and chill out zones. It was a cool place and even in the rain people were making the most of it, I would imagine on a hot day it’s a great place to hang out. So that’s all I’m saying on Brisbane, short and sweet, a nice city and worth a visit if you’re here.

Whilst over in this direction I went on a couple of tours, the first being to Moreton Island which is Australia’s second largest sand island, the sun was shining and things were looking good. I got on the boat and it was pretty empty only 15 people on a 75 person boat so it felt like luxury! We made our way out to the island with dolphins jumping around in the distance and at this point I just knew it was going to be a great day. The first part of the tour was snorkelling around some ship wrecks, the current was incredibly strong so we were told to jump in quickly as a group and just let it take you but try to avoid hitting the wrecks! We saw a vast amount of tropical fish and because our instructors had bread with them at times it felt like I was swimming through fish not water! I had no clue but the share number of fish around my head didn’t feel all that comfortable or normal and they were all trying to suck my neck or face, after a couple of minutes I felt really uncomfortable so raised my head to find all my group and the instructors watching me and laughing…….. Basically the instructor had managed to land the biggest bit of bread on the back of my neck and I had become a fish feeding ground, no wonder I was surrounded! I quickly removed the bread and thankfully all was back to normal on the swimming front, but for a minute I was thinking shit these waters really are packed with fish!

After this we headed to the Island for lunch and to explore round for a while, there is not much to see or do but that’s the point it’s meant to be a secluded island with minimal human impact and it was picture perfect. The two hours flew by and we were back on the boat to try and spot turtles and more dolphins, we managed to see both but they were not surfacing much so I didn’t managed to get any photos of them. To finish the day it was time for a bit of Boom-netting, this is where they hang a large cargo net from the back of the boat and you hang on for dare life. It was immense fun and at times really tough to hang on, it proved too much for a couple of the group who fell in so one of the crew immediately let go to ensure they were safe, we all hung on whilst the boat turned round to pick them up and it was then that we all looked on in amazement. Three dolphins had appeared beside them and appeared to be making sure they were safe it was amazing, as we slowly approached to pick them up I think it’s fair to say they were happy to stay in the sea and enjoy the moment. The dolphins hung around for a while but as soon as we were all back on the boat they disappeared. It was an incredible experience and the boom-netting was great fun to. All in all a fantastic day with great weather, beautiful scenery and plenty of incredible wildlife a real highlight!

On my final day I went to the Australia Zoo or as some of you may know it the Steve Irwin Zoo. Of course we all know who Steve “Crikey” Irwin is but I have to confess I never realised quite how much he did for nature and wildlife, what a legend and a massive loss! The Zoo is pretty much funded completely through his work alone and it’s not just a zoo it’s basically an animal hospital as well. It’s a family run venture and just felt very different from a lot of zoo’s I’ve been to, it was not over crowed and all the animals were rescue animals and if they could be released back into the wild they would be. I have to confess I was not a huge fan of the snake section of the zoo and I’m pleased they were behind glass but I did love the fact that most of the lizards just walk about on the same paths as you and the kangaroos were happy to interact with the visitors (clearly for food of course!) After a full day exploring and stumbling across Cameron the Crocodile which made me instantly think of Cam from back home and I’m sure he would have had great fun here, I miss you little guy! It was time to catch the bus to my next destination to a place called Noosa.

I stayed in Noosa for a couple of nights and it was another fantastically beautiful surfers beach resort, again I didn’t get up too much here other than the normal Oz way of life which seems to be sitting on a beach, surfing and drinking. So three days later I was on my way to Rainbow beach were I will head off to Frazer Island for a three day camping tour, I’m really looking forward to this as it’s meant to be the highlight of the East Coast but one question remained, am I ready for two nights beach camping with snakes, spiders and dingo’s????? Time will tell!

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