My trip up the East Coast!!!

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So you can all understand where I have gone it goes something like this...................................(places I have stayed, drove past way more places but don't want to confuse you)
Sydney - 2nights
Surfers Camp - 1night
Byron Bay - 3nights
Nimbin - day trip
Surfers Paradise - 2nights
Brisbane - 1night
Noosa - 2nights
Harvey Bay - 1night
Fraser Island - 2nights
Hervey Bay - 1night
Cattle Station (Kroombit) - 1night
Airlie Beach - 1night
Whit Sundays on a boat - 2nights
Airlie Beach - 2nights
Mission Beach - 1night
Cairns -
Cape Tripulation -
Cairns -

SURFERS PARADISE:
Once we left Byron Bay we headed for Surfers Paradise, we stayed in a backpackers called Ociena's. To be honest not a lot to talk about. Its way more built up and is a popular place to go because of its theme parks, there are 5 all near to each other, i can imagine it would be a nice place if you had money and nice clothes but we are tramps and weren't up for going to the swanky bars and clubs therefore not a lot there to entertain us. I prefer the quieter places instead of the built up places. However when here, Bobbie, Steve, Lianne, Mark and myself decided to go to Movie world, one of the parks, so that was a fun day out although we managed to get lost trying to get there, once Bobbie hijacked a bus though it was all fine. I bought myself a hair dryer, what was I thinking not bringing one???? I definatley have packed too much, clothes are nicer and cheaper out here too, so I have already sent one package home, think one more will be heading mums way.

BRISBANE:
After two nights in Surfers we were happy to leave and jumped back on the oz Experince bus to Brisbane, all of our little gang that we've made have their entire trip planned out but Mark and I have way more time so we were going to spread the East Coast over a few months but didn't plan or book anything, but now that we have made such good friendships we have decided to stick with them, if we find places we really really like we can come back after xmas and stay for longer, maybe get jobs in the cool places we like.
On the way the bus driver took us Zorbing! It was bloody brilliant!!! I will explain for you oldies that don't know what it is.....you climb into the middle of a big blow up plastic ball, fill a little bit with water, and get pushed down a hill!!!! Sounds stupied but it was hilarious!!! Mark, Lianne and I went in together, I almost wet myself it was that funny!! Getting out looks like your being re-born!! You fall out a hole with a load of water and land smack on the ground in a heap of mess! (got the photos to show if your confused)
So, anyway, Laura, Lianne and Tom were staying in Brisbane for 3 nights with friends, Bobbie and Steve were heading to Noosa first thing in the morning because they had heard that was a cool place. We dicided to stay in Brisbane for 3 days. However once there it was pouring with rain, a proper city too, just buildings everywhere and we thought, stuff this, lets try get on the bus in the morning and go to Noosa with Bobbie and Steve. Thankgod we did!! (That night staying at the palace hostel in Brisbane, i randomly bumped into Pats (my mate from Hythe) little sister Vicky, on the stairways!!! So we had a good chat and am now in touch and will meet up later on.)

NOOSA:
6am- still pouring with rain we jumped back on the bus to get out of Brisbane and drove to Noosa. What a wicked place this is!!!
Where as Byron Bay is more for travellers, surfers and hippies, Noosa is more a holiday resort but a really nice place, with a beautiful beach, lots of shops, bars and really hot!!! Us four stayed in YHA backpackers, which was wicked, it had its own restaurant, with live music, decent rooms etc. Very impressed. We checked in and booked ourselves in for a surfing lesson. So at 1pm, we got picked up and taken to the beach. We had Troy as our instructor and he was ace. I improved a lot, im still crap but at least I can get to my feet now instead of surfing on my knees!! Still, a lot of face plants, and mouthfulls of water, but hey ho, i will get there eventually! That evening we had a meal at YHA, which was yum yum, (the veggie thing has gone out the window,will try again later on), met lots of more people and had a big group of us round the table, singing along to the dude and his guitar! Oh oh oh, and there was a wild Koala up the tree, my first sighting! Yay! Gorgeous birds which try to nick your jam in the mornings! The following day we got a free bus to Steve Irwins, Australian Zoo. This was a fun day out, saw lots of croc's and birds, Kangaroos, Kaolas, etc etc. Thouroughly enjoyed it and worth the $40, (about 15 pounds).
The following day we had the morning to wait around for the bus so Mark and I went for a walk through the town and onto the beach, if anyone was coming out for a holiday to visit me i would suggest Noosa as one of the places to go, deff come back here.
At lunch time we met back up with the other three, back on the bus and headed towards Hervey bay, this is where you start you 4x4 Fraser Island trip!

HERVEY BAY:
Once at Hervey Bay it was late on so checked in, grabbed a shower and headed to the lounge area for $10 all you can eat pizza, wahoo! For once the lads went to bed and us four girls sat out on the balcony having a good chat, excited about the next few days.
5.30am alarm goes off, grab a shower, probably the last one we were going to get for 3 days, checked out, packed our small back pack and stored our big ones, then we had an hours lecture about Fraser Island and watched a video about how to drive on the sand island in the 4x4's, what to do in an emergency (not thinking we would need this info) and just explaining about the wildlife on the island, wild Dingoes are very common but a bit dangerous so they explaint o you to how to deal with them etc. Even though it is boiling and the sea is blue, and extremley tempting, your warned not to go in the water due to sharks being very very common off the Island and also jelly fish are very common at this time off year (something we should have listened to!!, ).
We were put into groups of 9 or 10. There is 7 of us so 2 brothers from Boston were put with us, Chris (21) and Anthony (25). Both really sound guys and keen cooks which was lucky for us!!! Anthony also turned out to be very organised and a keen camper, which was also lucky for us!!! We were taken to the warehouse area where we packed our vehicles with all our camping stuff and necessities, we were group no:1 ofcourse!!! We were told that it would be much better if all 5 vehicles camped together in the evenings, not thinking this would happen because nobody knew anyone and we thought everyone would want to do there own thing. Laura was first to drive, straight to the supermarket to get oour food and drink for the next 3days, then to the port to catch out boat over to the island.

FRASER ISLAND:
We were given a schedule, which we didn't have to stick to but if we did we were guaranteed to see everything in the small amount of time. Steve jumped in the drivers seat ready for the off roading! First stop was Lake Wobby, we passed a lot of people stuck in the sand, whom we helped ofcourse, we didn't expect it to be as dodgy as it was!! You can easily get the car stuck in the sand!!! Bobbie drove the second leg to Lake Wobby, once there we thought we'd grab lunch after a swim so walked the long down hill walk to Lake Wobby. It was beautiful, massive sand dunes as far as the eye can see. All the lads were running down the steep sand dune and jumping into the water, (all 5 cars were there, everyone had decided to follow the routine). All in the lake the lads were taking it in turns to run, skip, roll, fall down the dune into the water.
Steve ran down the dune, with us all watching, dived into the water, with his hands by his side, head first, he looked like he was on springs, we were all laughing our heads off, the way he did it, looked so funny!!! However, when he came up, he was in extreme pain, complaining about his neck, he could hardly move, luckily we had a nurse amongst the group who told him not to move, so Bobbie lay under him, supporting his neck, we were in the middle of nowhere, I was the only one with a phone so I ran to the highest dune, just managing to get 1 bar of signal i got through to emergency services, just said, Lake Wobby, head injury when it cut out. MArk took the phone and said he'd run back up to the car park to get signal.
It was getting dark and everyone needed to leave to find the camp site before it was dark and to make their dinner, our group, the nurse and a few others stayed. About an hour, maybe two later, we heard the helicopter. By this time we managed to get Steve out the water because he was turning blue and shaking like a leaf, he was stable at the waters edge. The air ambulance crew got him on a stretcher, it took all the lads and the crew to carry him up the steep dune to the helicopter, poor Bobbie was then told there wasn't any room in the helicopter for her to go with him. Once the helicopter went, we walked back up to the car, where the rest of the people were waiting. It was dark by this point, our phones wouldn't work to call a ranger to get Bobbie to the port and even if they had there wasn't a boat till the morning, so poor Bobs, not knowing what was going on with Steve had to camp the night with us.
We managed to find the rest of the gang, set up camp and had dinner, which is when we met Macca, Paul, Tom and Pat, Barny and Tony aka Fred.............what legends!!! The next morning we left early before everyone else without Chris and Anthony (didn't want to ruin there trip) but plus Paul who had cut his foot, got it infected and now it was the size of his head (almost). So we detoured, taking Bobbie and Paul back to the port to get to mainland. Once there we got reception on the phones, Bobbie, eventually found out what hospital Steve was at, we all thought he had just sprained something, turns out he had broken his neck and needed immediate surgery. What a blow!!!

The rest of the trip was awesome, obviously we were all missing Bobbie and Steve. After leaving the port we made up time, I drove back to the East coast of the island and up the beach, it was wicked fun driving!!! We stopped off at the shipwreck and a creek etc. Then met back up with everyone at the campsite about lunch time, this was right on the beach where we spent the afternoon chilling out and partying.
Our second tragedy struck, Laura and I were in the sea, only up to our knees, thinking we were safe from sharks there, Lianne didn't want to come in because of jelly fish, me and laura were convincing her saying its only shallow, you'll be fine!!! Eventually she came in, when we wanted to get out we got on out knees to wash the sand out our pants, unknown to Lianne, she only went and scooped up a jelly fish in her knickers!!! Her face suddenly dropped and she started to panic, saying she thinks something has stung her in a place no girl should ever get stung!!! I started laughing bless her, thinking she was making it up, then she realised there was a jelly fish in her pants!!! I know its wrong but Laura and I could not stop laughing, you know when you shouldn't laugh, it makes you want to laugh even more!!! We had to take her off into the bushes for her to have an inspection, i told her I'd wee on her if it needed to be done!!! haha, after a clean and a bit of antiseptic cream out the first aid box, she gradually got better! One of those things you shouldn't laugh at but you just can't help it!!!!
We made some wicked friends that night. It was all a bit messy, too much booze etc, Mark and I were introduced to flip cup, the best drinking game in the world, we were all camped next to each other, everyone had fallen asleep in their tents when suddenly one of the car horns went off, we were really scared, Laura, Lianne and I were in one tent fast asleep, we didn't have a clue what was going on, it was pitch black outside, couldn't hear anyone else, I suddenly remembered Mark in a massive drunken state had said he wanted to sleep in the car, don't ask why!!!! I thought he'd must of had a fit or something and passed out on the steering wheel, i was so scared of finding him unconsious or something, me and the girls got out the tent with one tiny bloody torch, the horn was coming from our car, we shone the light on the window but were to far away to see anything, once we got closer I peered in and heres Mark, fast asleep, with his knee on the horn!!! I can not begin to explain how loud that horn was, it woke everyone up in the campsite, (alot of pissed of people in the morning) and yet it didn't even make Mark stir!!! Thats how drunk he was!!! haha!!
Anyway, I'm going into way too much detail about all of this, the following day we went to the champaigne pools and then Lake McKenzie which is gorgeous!!! Then got on the boat back to mainland. I could go on forever about the people we met and what we got up to but you'd be bored to death!!!

HERVEY BAY:
After taking the cars back etc we chilled out at the Palace backpackers again, Macca, Paul, Mark and myself went for a meal, STEAK!!!!!
I have never laughed so much in my life, these two lads are from Liverpool and have you in stitches!!! I couldn't eat my food i was laughing so much, the stories they were coming out with!! We then went back and left everyone else drinking whilst Mark and I hit the pillow, we were knackered! Next morning up early and on the Oz bus for Kroombit Cattle Station, half way to Airlie Beach.

Friday 23rd Novemeber KROOMBIT CATTLE STATION:
We were so hyped about this place its a night stop over where you go horse riding and do clay pigeon shooting etc. However once there and once I saw the horses I was not a happy bunny. The horses were in a right state, they were too thin and half of them had some sort of injury, Mark was the tallest person there and he was put on the smallest pony there, the beginners were told to yank the reins as hard as you can to turn them etc. Not happy!!!!! The people that ran it were idiots an just after our money! Mark and I were in bed by 9pm, not impressed.

AIRLIE BEACH:
We spent the next day driving!! It was a really long drive to Airlie beach, we stopped off via Rainbow Beach for a break, and even had a game of bowls!!! Not a lot to tell except sitting on a bus all day, we got that bored that me, Mark, Pat, Tom, Tom, Lianne, Laura, Barny and Tony aka Fred all resulted to listing all the chocolate bars in the world, and ice-creams and crisps!! We had a marker pen so wrote the lists on the windows of the bus. Random! We were dropped off at Koala Backpackers, we had our own liittle hut, all 7 of us in their, Pat and Tom went in another room, they were going on a different boat trip to us lot. The next morning we checked out and set of on our boat trip for 3 days around the Whitsunday Islands.

WHITSUNDAY ISLANDS:
Me, Mark, Lianne, Laura, Tom, Tony aka Fred and Barny were all on the SVWhitehaven. It was a wicked 2nights and 3days. We did lots of snorkling on the Reef, saw lots of fishes and coral. Saw stingrays and small sharks too. It was extremley hot!!! I put factor 30 on and 10mins later I feel myself burning again! All the gorgeous photos are taken on Hill Inlet beach on one of the islands. We all had our own cabin on the boat, which was cool, all our food was inclusive and there was lots of it, so much for loosing weight!!!
Wicked wicked trip, anyone coming to Oz to travel the East Coast must do Fraser Island and Whisunday Island trip!!!!!

AIRLIE BEACH:
We then had 2 days to chill out at Airlie Beach (where you get on and of the boats) we all had a lazy day and ended up bleaching everyones hair, I was head hairdresser, Marks is completely bleached, Barny started it all off doing his tips, I did Freds tips, a random strand on Laura, gave Tom W random ginger patches, Tom H a big blonde streak up the middle of his head and Laura helped me with mine. Funny funny day. We all get on so well, obviously really missing Bobbie and Steve but so lucky to have met such a wicked bunch of people, we are a like a big family now!

I'm getting fed up of writing now so am going to rush the next bit. Sorry.

MISSION BEACH:
Mark and I were meant to be hiring a car from Airlie Beach and driving back to Brisbane to stay with Bobbie and Steve however, so we waved goodbye to the gang, i made food up for the journey and we went to hire the car, however you need a bloody credit card to hire a car and we don't have one!!! (Mark went swimming in the sea with his wallet in his pocket on one of the first days). Flights were too expensive so we had to let Bobbie and Steve down and pay for the Greyhound bus up to Mission Beach where we got to at 11.30pm. Barny and Tony were already there and said there was nothing to do, the other guys had stayed at Magnetic Island for the night where Pat and Tom W were staying, we decided to not stay at Mission Beach but to jump back on the bus when Lianne, Laura, and Tom H got here and just to head straight to Cairns. So we rang the others and they decided to stay on the bus. The next morning the lads did a sky dive and we all hung out in Scottys (backpackers) pool and went for a walk on the beach. It was actually really nice here, just really quiet but thats what me and mark like!! We will come back after christmas for a longer time.
In the afternoon we jumped on the bus and headed for Cairns. Stopping off at a croc farm on the way which I wasn't keen on, they are bred for their skin and meat. Look at the photos!!!

CAIRNS:
We have been here since Friday 30th Novemebr. It is Wednesday 5th today, we've just had a really chilled lazy few days after racing up the coast in just over 3 weeks. Doing laundry, sleeping, sunbathing, swimming, shopping cinema etc. Its been nice to stay in one place more than two nights, although we have moved from one hostel to the other because this one is better. Oh, I forgot we been quad biking on Saturday which was BRILLIANT! it was mental, they saw we were all capable on the quads, and all a bit mental so they let us in one small group with one guide who let us just rip it out of these quads, he took us places we weren't supposed to go, Laura and Fred both went flying at one stage, Mark, Barny (who also does motox) and I were racing each other and the racing competitive side was coming out, it had rained the previous few days so there was puddles all over the place and we got covered!!!! How awesome!!!
We leave tomorrow for Cape Tripulation, Lianne booked it not sure what we are doing but its the rain forest so will write when we get back. Lots of love to everyone at home.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (sorry if I go on a bit)

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Photos

Arriving at Movie World
Steve, Mark, Bobbie, me, Lianne.

Movie World
me, Mark, Lianne, Steve

Our campsite 1st night
Fraser Island

Mark and I on Fraser
We'd just woken up, this photo looks like a painting!

Stuck in quicksand on Fraser
Laurs and me trying to give Lianne a helping hand

Shipwreck Fraser Island
Mark, Laura, Me, Lianne and Tom

Macca and Paul
The two lads from Liverpool who are hilarious, top lads!

Me riding at Kroombit
My horse, wasn't in too bad a condition compared to the rest, however its 2years followed us everywhere. :-(

Us on Hill Inlet, Whitsunday
We had a few hours on one of the islands! This was Hill Inlet.

Snorkling Whitsunday Islands
You had to wear stinger suits because of jelly fish

Mission Beach
My first ever hand stand!!!!!!

Willy Wonker
This dude was scary!!