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Published: January 24th 2009
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On the road
Slightly random this - its one of the giant "things" they have at various gas stations around Australia - this is the Ballina Big Giant Prawn. I'm melting!
Or at the very least, sweltering. The last few days have been very humid and warm, leaving me with very little energy to do much at all. I can break a sweat by just sitting still reading.
I've just arrived back in Brisbane after a few days on "Straddie" - or North Stradbroke Island to give it its full name. Its an island about 30 minutes by ferry from the mainland with a population of around 3000 - the bottom half devoted to mining; nobody lives there.
The area is famous for the manta rays that inhabit the waters - in fact I was staying at the Manta lodge - but as I'm exactly a keen diver, and also try to avoid running into large creatures in the water, that didn't interest me so much.
However there was some lovely walking to be done, and yesterday I cooled off by going swimming with some others in the Brown Lake - the name doesn't inspire confidence, but its actually so-called because of the tea trees all around the edge, the leaves of which are used to make tea tree oil - and therefore its rather a good place to go
Cape Byron
The East Beach at Cape Byron: view from the road upto the lighthouse for a dip. It was a little bit like swimming in a giant cup of tea, but the skin and hair definitely felt softer for it.
The main beach was at the area at the top of the island called Point Lookout. I've seen my share of beaches over the last 3 months, but I have to say this one did impress - something to do with the size of it combined with the colour of the ocean.
To go back to where I last left off - after the hippy town of Bellingen I hit the Gold Coast, stopping for a couple of days in Byron Bay, which is famous for also once being a hippy town, combined with good waves for surfing. Its now very much a resort town, with expensive cafes and the like, but there are stunning views from the Cape Byron lighthouse (the most easterly point of the Australian mainland), and the beaches are again very nice, and not too crowded.
Then it was on to Surfers Paradise, or rather Mermaid Waters, just nearby, where I was to stay with friends. Before they picked me up, I had a little wander around Surfers -
Surfers Paradise
The view up to Surfers Paradise from Mermaid Beach. I wasn't sure that I'd like it much. But despite the beachfront of endless highrises and full-on commercialism of the place, it did have a certain appeal - another spotlessly clean, family friendly beach which wasn't too busy and went for as far as the eye could see in both directions. It probably helps if you like beaches to live in this part of the world.
Kate, Adam and Mia then picked me up and looked after me for the next 3 days at their place in Mermaid Waters - a lovely bungalow house with bbq, pool, massive garden, air-conditioning etc. I can see why people choose to emigrate!
We had a relaxing couple of days - with a little bit of shopping, sunbathing, lunching - and its SUCH a pleasure to be in my own lovely room, with a bathroom in which I don't need to worry about what might be on the floor. The joys of backpacking may have worn off a tad.
Brisbane next, and despite my first impressions of it being a bit of a building site because of all the work they're doing, I have come to quite like it as a place. Like
Melbourne, its an easy, friendly place to get around and has some lovely areas to enjoy. The Southbank is particularly well done - its the home of all things cultural, like the fantastic Gallery of Modern Art, the Performing Arts Centre, the Queensland Museum and so on, plus a lovely shaded walkway, man-made beach and selection of cafes.
Kate came into town one day and took me to places its easier to get to in a car - like Paddington, very much the Hampstead of Brisbane, hilly and full of period properties and boutiques.
On my last day here before Straddie, I packed in alot of sightseeing - including my own personal tour of Queensland's Parliament building - where like Victoria, they used to have 2 houses, copying the UK system. However they just couldn't get on - and so now Queensland's government is the only one in Australia with no "upper house" to refer to. Also took in the Botanic Gardens, a couple of cathedrals, a museum - and then found a cheap air-conditioned cinema in which to escape for a couple of hours.
So this is my last day in Brisbane, and tomorrow its up to
Noosa and then Hervey Bay and a Fraser Island tour. People rave about Fraser so I'm looking forward to that - I believe it involves lots of 4WD driving over sand dunes and so on. The further north I go, the more hot and humid I believe its going to get. And wetter - my friends from home (Martha and Laurent) got stuck on Magnetic Island in a cyclone...
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