Let the East Coast Adventures commence!

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Naz:

The last two weeks of our time in Oz have been absolutely crammed withe activities, adventures and unforgettable moments.

First, we went to Gagaju bush camp, which is located on the Noosa River. While we were there we canooed up the everglades (singing), camped out, sat around camp fires (eating marshmallows of course) and made some really good friends. It was quite tough living in the bush and this is probably one of the primary reasons everyone got along so well, cos we were all suffering together. Every night we would all get out our boxes of 'goon' (wine) and play drinking games around the fire such as 'ring of fire', 'who the f*ck' and 'Twenty-One'. One particular night we were playing 'ring of fire' and by the end (after a fair few glasses of goon) everyone was wearing eachothers clothes, thanks to the Swap rule, some were battered and bruised, thanks to the Gecko rule and others were acting out Jerry Springer scenes, thanks to Ric. Needless to say, when we got back to Noosa, we checked straight into a flashpacker hostel and treat ourselves to a nice KFC then spent the rest of the day/night surfing the internet and napping.

After Noosa, we went to Hervey Bay where we were starting our Fraser Island trip from. When we got there we were all split into groups to shop with and these would also be our groups for the 4x4's we were going to be driving on Fraser Island. The driving on the island was so much fun, and I was lucky enough to get the longest shift when it had been raining so had a great time trying to keep the car under control on the sand while the other seven people in the car were holding on to their seats in the knowledge that it was up to me not to turn the car over. Not to worry though, it turns out I'm a class driver! The island itself was something else, it is the largest completely sand island in the World and is largely uninhabited. This meant there was a lot of wildlife and a lot of untouched forestry and lakes. the best place on the island, and the most well known , is Lake McKenzie. The scenery and surroundings there are beautiful and the water is so clear you can see the bottom, even from the deepest parts of the Lake. We also visited Ely Creek, which is a natural water spring, Maheno Wreck, which is a famous shipwreck from the 19th Century that is still stranded on the island to this day, and Indian Head, the highest point of the island where you could see sharks and dolphins in the waters below. The nights spent on the island weren't too shabby either with the whole group coming together armed with boxes of goon to play drinking games (all be it simple ones for the non-English speakers... and for the Irish). What made the trip even better was how much our tour guidewas just 'one of the lads'. One night he even showed us a trick where you catch two horse-flies, put each end of a stick up their arses and let them go, watching as they fly up having a tug of war for the stick... and for their freedom. Fraser Island is one of the best places I have ever been for a variety of reasons and to add to that we made some great friends who we have continued to meet elsewhere up the coast.

Our next stop up the coast was Agnes Water. We stayed here for three days and all that really happened was Ric cooked a group of us nice meals every night and I watched the Australian Open all the time. Oh, and we also went on a bike ride one day to 1770, we found a cafe.... that was about it.

After 1770 we headed to Airlie Beach, which is known as one the party places up the coast. We went out on our first night there, got drunk, had dance offs, standard night really... The second night we were there however was a little bit different. It was ladies night at the backpacker bar and there was a Ladyboy competition, so one of the girls we were with kindly suggested that myself, Ric and one of our mates Rory all dress up for the night. I'm not one to turn down a challenge. The girls spent a good hour and a half making us into our alter-egos, I was Jasmine (the Virgin girl next door), Ric was Consuela (the Porto-Rican slut) and Rory was Rhianna (the rock chick). Of course, we were the only three people that dressed up and were like celebrities inside the club the minute we walked in. We all won free drinks for pole dancing and flirting with the crowd, then we moved on to another bar where we were again the talk of the town. Very embarrasing to look back on the photos but we had a laugh and I can't remember having to buy any drinks whatsoever all night (whether that was because we were getting them free or it was because we were having drinks bought for us by our suitors is anyones guess). Ric even managed to have a lesbian kiss while he was dressed up, this is some acheivement given how he was going on and what he looked like that night.

The next day we went to the marina and got on a live-aboard boat for three days to explore the Whitsundays... The boat was called Spank Me, but it really wasn't as bad as it sounds. The captain was a prick though, and a real creep. I remember one particular incident when one of the girls was hanging off the side of the boat having been snorkelling and the captain wouldn't let her on until she screamed the 'name of his boat', just so he had an excuse to spank her on the arse. We arrived at the Whitsunday islands at about 4pm on the first day so only had time for a quick snorkel before it got dark. Sleeping under the deck of the boat that night was horrible, it was sooo hot, and to add to that everyone had to double up in a bed because they had over subscribed. The next day though was honestly one of the best of my life. We were woken at 5am to watch the sunrise and then went to Whitehaven Beach, officially the best beach in the World. We were a little unfortunate with the weather as it was a bit cloudy so we didn't see the beach at it's best, but even so it was beautiful. The sand isn't even sand it's Silica, which apparently is used for all sorts of unusual things including telescopes (apparently NASA bought some from Australia). We were in the water wearing stinger suits and only a few feet away were Stringrays and Lemon Sharks. If you stayed still enough, the sharks would swim around you. We then got back on the boat and went to one of the best diving spots on the Barrier Reef. As it was Australia Day and we were very unlikely ever to get this opportunity again we decided we would take the opportunity to do our very first scuba dives here. It was amazing. We went down and one of the first things we saw was a Giant Green Turtle lazing on the bottom of the reef, then we saw it swim up to a jellyfish and slowing put its mouth around it and eat it whole. We moved deeper down the reef and were swimming alongside hundreds of tropical fish of all different species and sizes. The coral down there was just lik it looks on Finding Nemo, the colours are just as bright and the shapes just as weird and wonderful. It was so surreal and Scuba Diving is something we are both going to do again, without a doubt. That night on the boat the intention was to celebrate Australia Day so we all painted our faces and even put a 'jolly roger' flag up on the boat to make it look like a pirate ship. We started on the goon but by 9pm all 27 people on the boat were lying on the deck watching the stars. The majority of us decided to sleep on deck that night and although we were a bit nervous of falling off the edge it was a great end to a truly great day.

We left Airlie Beach the next day and headed up to Cairns for the last four days of our time in Australia. The humidity in Cairns was unbearable at times and becuase of this we spent most of our days in the Cairns Lagoon or in the Hostel swimming pool. At night we did a pub quiz, went to the cinema and on the final night, our final night in Australia we went on a bar crawl around Cairns. It was messy, we acted like idiots, we had hangovers the next day... but hey, you only live once right!

Unfortunately we have to spend the next week in Fiji, it's a hard life!

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