Brisbane to Hervey Bay (Day 47-57)

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Day 47

Our overnight flight from Singapore to Brisbane went ok...we didnt get much sleep though, they feed you dinner at like 11pm and then wake you up at 4am for breakfast!!! Haha. Feeling shattered we were hoping for a quick exit from the airport but there was a long wait at passport control and then after collecting your bag you have to line up for security and to declare any food...we waited for about half an hour then when it was our turn, we declared our sweets and pringles, and were told to walk straight past the security check!!! Weird.

After an expensive taxi ride we reached our hostel, Riverside Backpackers, which was based in Hawthorne (a suburb of Brisbane) around 9am. The hostel was totally different to the others we have been in, in fact it was more like a student house! It was run by a couple of young guys with a relaxed atmosphere (the front door was kept wide open all day even if no one was in!). The lounge was really nice though, with comfy sofas, big tv and the best bit, free internet! We could also do some laundry for free too.

Feeling very tired we couldn't help falling a sleep for a couple of hours to recharge. We woke after lunch and realised it was pouring with rain (in fact it ended up raining the rest of the day and night!). We headed out in the rain to the local strip of shops for some lunch, in our new local the Coffee Club, and found the ferry port to reach the city centre. In Australia every hostel has kitchen facilities...so for the first time on our trip, we made ourselves dinner. Bit sad but we actually enjoyed making our pasta meal!

Day 48

The rain had stopped overnight and the sun was now blazing, great timing for our ferry trip into the city. We purchased a hop on/off ticket and enjoyed the sights on the thirty minute ferry ride, going under the various Brisbane bridges. We stopped for a drink and looked around Southbank, a really cool area along the river, with bars & shops, Streets beach (a man made beach) and Brisbane's version of the London Eye. We then crossed Victoria bridge into the main strip of shops, before heading to Roma Parkland which was full of Lizards wandering about! In the centre there was a set up arena as Brisbane festival is taking place, we later found out that we had missed the Brisbane River Fire by one night, which was a bit gutting. On our way home we stopped off at riverside for a drink before going back to Hawthorne for some yummy steak and pie...ahh western food.

Day 49

Another animal adventure today, as we caught the bus to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. They have around 130 Koala's as well as a host of other animals. We loved it there, you were only a couple of metre's away from all the Koala's, who were in pen's rather than cages, and they were all soo cute. The first ones we saw were the older ones (although they only usually live to 10-12!) who were all cuddled up fast alseep, as you picture most Koala's. But then we came across the younsters, who were almost as playful as when you see monkeys at zoo's! The only thing that spoilt it, was the stupid tourists...one lady dropped her pen in an enclosure and then just went off (Brett reached over to get it out!) and one lady dropped in a biscuit and didn't bother telling the keeper! Anyway we paid a little extra in order to get our photo taken with a Koala...Brett held Hugo (Aged 3) and Mandy held Crumpet (8), their claws are quite sharp but their fur is literally as soft as it looks, softer than a cuddly toy!

If the Koala's weren't enough, we then bought some animal food and were able to freely go and feed the Kangaroos which was really cool too! A fun day out that we would recommend to anyone passing by this way!

The afternoon was spent with Mandy buying some well needed clothes at Queens Street mall, us both munching on food and then going back to Southbank for a drink.

Day 50

We had booked a domestic flight for today from Brisbane to Cairns, as Cairns was the northern most place we wanted to visit before heading back down south along the east coast to Sydney. We made our way to the airport nice and early and had a good flight up north. Not knowing how to get to our hostel, it was a nice surprise when we were able to get a cheap shuttle bus directly there.

We arrived at our recommended hostel (Gilligans) early evening. The hostel seems to have everything, swimming pool, bar, nightclub, pool tables, laundry, internet etc and is smack bang in the middle of Cairns surrounded by shops, bars and restaurants, as well as being just up the road from the port. Not only this but they give you a free meal every night...we were told it was a small potion and not great, but hey a good way to save some dollars.

Up 'til now we have been travelling fairly comfortably, what with our hotels and private double ensuite rooms throughout Asia...but now in Australia we knew our budget wouldn't last (it is very expensive out here!) so we are working our way in...private room with shared bathroom in Brisbane, four bed dorm with ensuite here in Cairns! We checked into our room and were only sharing with one girl from Sweden who seemed a little shy.

After a quick explore, booking a tour for tomorrow and being told the only thing to do in Cairns is "get pissed", we headed to the bar to collect our free meal...which wasn't actually that bad, although we did buy some chips and a pudding too!!! Feeling tired and knowing we had an early start in the morning, we thought we would have just a quick drink and check out the nights entertainment...we ended up playing "bogan bingo" ran by a couple of Aussie funny blokes, spoke to a couple of Londoners and then ended up being tempted by the six drinks for ten dollar offer!!! Not that much of an early night then but a laugh all the same.

Day 51

We were up early for our tour to the Great Barrier Reef and headed down to the port to jump aboard the Sunlover Reef Cruiser (a big ferry) which was a lot posher then the other tour boats we have been on. Our trip to Moore Reef (different tours have licences to different parts of the Reef) wasn't the greatest, with every other person on the boat being sick...Brett was quite close and Mandy very close!!! Not a great start, but once we arrived we knew the boat was staying put for a few hours as it pulled up to a pontoon.

We chose this particular tour as Mandy didn't want to try the snorkeling again after her Thailand experience and this tour had a semi-sub and see through bottom boat you could go on, in order to view the coral and sealife. The scenery in general out here is beautiful, with the different shades of clear blue water around the reefs and plenty of fish to see on deck. Most people snorkelled around the boat, Brett however went on a mini snorkeling tour, where he and three others went out a bit further with a guide. The guide gave lots of interesting information and Brett enjoyed seeing different coloured coral, the biggest clam in the world and also swimming close to a sea turtle!!!

We both enjoyed a nice onboard buffet and on the way back, as well as it not being so bumpy, the boat spotted a whale in the distance!!! Although it must of been a fair distance away, you could still see it coming out of the water with a big splash...a really exciting end to the tour.

In the evening, we met our two new room mates, Kevin and Even, along with their mate Emily. They were American students and we ended up going out for a few drinks with them , discussing the differences between our two countries!!! A good laugh and a good night.

Day 52

After a late night we did not enjoy having to check out at 10am (This seems to be the Oz norm) although the americans gave us one of their room keys so we still had access to the kitchen, toilets etc which was handy. We relaxed with a walk along the Esplanade and watched the helicopters leaving and arriving. Brett then suggested a lovely picnic in the park, but after preparing our food and the fifteen minute walk, the park turned out to be a sports stadium...oh dear another bad choice from Brett! We did enjoy a treat in the evening though as we headed down to Tha Fish Restaurant along the harbour.

Day 53

We had a very early start this morning as we had to catch our first Greyhound coach at midnight to Airlie Beach. The Greyhound travels around Australia on a hop on, hop off basis and we bought a ticket which includes all of our travel from Cairns to Sydney. We were fairly tired when we got on the coach and did manage to get a bit of sleep although it isn't easy when the driver has to stop for breaks every two - three hours and orders everyone to get off and turns all the lights on!! We arrived at Airlie Beach just after 11am and were disapppointed with the cloudy skies which didn't do the beach justice at all. We were pleased to find it was only a short walk to our hostel, Airlie Waterfront Backpackers which was a nice hostel overlooking the beach. We sorted ourselves out and then decided to arrange our tour for the next day.

We then had a walk down to the beach which we found more impressive with the sun now out. We had a stroll along the promenade and had planned to visit the nearby market which we'd seen near the bus station but by the time we arrived everyone had packed up and gone home so we decided to have a look around the area instead. Airlie Beach is a very small seaside town with a few bars and shops. We needed to get some supplies from the supemarket for dinner so we headed there. Brett was having cravings for chocolate and as there wasn't anything he fancied in the supermarket he decided to go back to a chemist where he'd seen some chocolate honeycomb. He returned to Mandy with a sheepish look and reluctantly informed her that he had not checked the price and the honeycomb had cost $9, which is around five pounds!! With Brett's tail between his legs (after a bit of a telling off) we decided to relax on the grass by the beach, enjoying the lovely views. We cooked some dinner at the hostel before heading to one of the big backpacker pubs for a drink, where the Aussies lost rugby to New Zealand in the rugby and we got a bit jumpy from a confident mouse running around!

Day 54

The main reason people visit Airlie Beach is because it is a gateway to the Whitsundays, a group of 74 islands. We were going on a one day tour of the Whitsundays and had decided rather than do this by sailing, we wanted to do something different so did it with a tour company called Ocean Rafting. We were collected from our hostel and taken to a jetty where we boarded our boat which was an inflatable raft which was previously used as a rescue boat and had 450HP engines (that proberly means more to people then it does to us?). We had a really fun, fast ride past the islands to our first destination, Whitehaven Beach, where we walked to the Hill Inlet Lookout which looked over the swirls of 98% pure silica sand, quite an incredible sight! We then spent the morning relaxing on the sand (with only our small group there!), walking along the shoreline and Brett nervously went to have a look at the nearby stingrays! We had a lovely buffet lunch on the beach and watched one of the guides feed an eagle.

The raft then took us to Maureens Cove and Mataray Bay for snorkelling (Mandy relaxed on the boat!). There were some huge fish here and one of the guides kept throwing food towards Brett and the fish darted towards Brett who got slightly nervous every time!! We then headed back to Airlie Beach and the trip ended with the driver showing off a bit making the boat twist and turn from side to side before finishing off with almost a 360 degree spin - we had a fun day and the Whitsundays were brilliant!

We spent the evening eating a homemade meal on the balcony, watching a live singer in the street before playing a few hands of cards and chatting with a couple of other travellers.

Day 55

We had to check out of the hostel at 10am and as we were not catching our next Greyhound until around 8pm we decided to chill out for the day and did a bit of sunbathing at the lagoon and played a bit of bat and ball before having a successful picnic. We had to collect our bags before 7pm so decided to have dinner at the food court which was next to our hostel where we met up with an Irish couple who had been on our first Greyhound coach and had gone on a two day sailing trip to the Whitsundays and were getting the same coach as we were again. After a couple of drinks to try and tire us out for the long journey ahead we headed for the bus station to catch our coach to Hervey Bay.

Day 56

After a long and not so restful journey we arrived at Hervey Bay at around 9.25am where we were met by the owner of the hostel who picked us up. We arrived at The Friendly Hostel around ten minutes later and after freshening up we booked our tours for the next couple of days. We then had a walk (we could've hired bikes for free but....) down to the beach and enjoyed fish and chips before strolling along the seafront, to a couple of jetties and to a souvenir shop called Pirates Cave which the owner of the hostel recommended - he must get commission?!! On the walk back we decided it was time for Brett to lose his fluffy hair so we stopped off at a Barbers. We chilled out the rest of the evening preparing for our busy next couple of days.

Day 57

Today we were being picked up from our hostel to go Whale Watching. Apparently the waters just off Hervey Bay are the best place to spot Humpback Whales on their way back to Antartica after having their calves up in the warmer northern seas. We had decided to go on a mid-sized boat, as recommended, due it being less likely to cause any sea sickness. The weather was lovely and we were enjoying a nice boat ride and then.... right in front of our boat we saw our first Humpback Whale!!! Apparently it was a youngster who was inquisitive and spent around ten minutes 'mugging' the boat - basically it swam right up to the boat and then went around and under it over and over again - whilst everyone went from one side to the other to get the closest glimpse we would ever get to the fifth biggest animal in the world!! Folllowing that we saw a Mother and her calf along with two other companions who were not as close but were very active, splashing their fins and tails, etc. We spent the day spotting more whales (we saw around a dozen!), spotted a dolphin jumping out of the water just behind the boat and enjoyed a lovely buffet lunch onboard - a really great day and a fantastic experience!!

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