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Published: March 31st 2007
This is actually a blog from New Zealand, as we are a bit behind with writing everything up! Sorry for the delay, but the internet seems to be getting harder and harder to access (when they say it's like England 50 years ago, they aren't kidding!). Anyway, for our last week in Australia and we did a whistle-stop tour of the places we most wanted to see on the East Coast. We left Sydney and got a flight to Hervey Bay, the launching pad for the world's largest sand bank island, Fraser Island.
As you can see from the pictures, this was a pretty amazing place! We we're part of a tour group, so we just had to sit back and let our guide take us to all the 'hot spots'. The best part was Lake McKenzie, a fresh water lagoon with crystal clear waters and pure quartz sand - apparently good for exfoliating your skin with! It was also a highly amusing trip, as our group wasn't just made up of backpackers as we've had before, we had some pretty wrinkly members - most of whom managed to get lost in the rainforest or left behind at some
point! And they say with age comes wisdom!
Joanna's favorite bit, being a true archaeologist, was the shipwreck on 75 Mile Beach - as you can see from the art photos we've uploaded! We also both liked the Dingos, but sadly there are no photos as they were busy nearly getting themselves run over by our bus - don't they know 75 Mile Beach is technically a highway?! No, we're not kidding, the council has stuck road signs in the sand at the exits!
Our last sight was the fresh water Eli Creek, which ran through the rainforested area, out to 75 Mile Beach and into the ocean. It was here we got our first and only snake sighting - something we'd been dreading during our whole stay in Oz, but thought we'd escaped! James was walking down the creek to the beach when an English backpacker behind him shouted that there was a snake in the stream! James turned to see the MASSIVE black creature slither down the banks on one side of the water, through the creek and up the bank on the other side, about half a metre from his legs! Despite being knee-deep in
Swimming in Lake McKenzie
James takes the first plunge into the famously clear blue waters!the water, he managed an impressive sprint towards the rest of the tour group without falling over... sadly the tour guide didn't seem to see what all the fuss was about and just gave him strange look and made him feel rather pathetic!
After finishing our tour and wishing we could have stayed longer, we had to hot-foot it back to Melbourne, via Brisbane to catch out flight to New Zealand. Brisbane treated us to our last blast of Australia's hot weather, with a high thirties scorcher, but we cooled off in the artifical lagoon next to the river in the heart of the city. In Melbourne we met up with Mark and Rebecca once more, to briefly say goodbye and give them a tour of our 'home from home'.
We then met up with Joanna's parents in their snazzy hotel down the road (on the 'right side of the river') complete with rooftop view of the city centre! In typical Melbourne style we were caught in a rain shower as we drank our wine, but spirits weren't dampened as we were so excited about the next leg of our trip - our campervan tour of New Zealand!
But more of that to come - we'll have to tell you all about our mountain adventures and Joanna's bike crashes in a future blog, trust us, it's worth checking back for! Bye for now!
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rebecca f
non-member comment
finally found your blog
I know you've been away for 6 months now, but have finally found out about your blog, yeah i havent changed still that hopeless, u will be glad to know!! Have just gone through your journey so far and it looks AMAZING!!!! Can not believe how much you have managed to fit in so far!!! Will keep an eye out for further adventures!!!!