Our last Australian adventures....

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After a wonderful 14 hour overnight bus trip we arriver in Rainbow Beach. We found our hostel, which was conveniently across the road, had breakfast and sat watch Transformers for a couple hours untill we were actually able to check into our room. We had to go to a meeting at 2 to meet our group for the Fraser Island trip. We had to watch a couple DVDs about driving safely and not feeding the Dingo's before being sent off with our group to buy food for 3 days. This took a while as there were 9 of us and we all had to try and plan meals etc... We took full advantage of the free BBQ at the hostel that night but fell asleep by 7.30 due to the lack of sleep from the 14 hour bus trip!

It was a nice early moring, meeting by the 4X4 at 8am. We had to check through all of the equipment to check it was all there ans in good condition, then go over the car and have a quick lesson on driving in 4 wheel drive. Out of the 9 of us there was only us and 1 other person old enough to drive the car (you had to be over 21). It took us about an hour and a half to get it all packed up and ready to go and then we were on our way. It was a 15 min ferry trip to the island and the Ferry managed to stop so that we had to drive through a foot of water, we had just been lectured on "do not drive in salt water".....

Anyway, we were finally on Fraser Island, the worlds largest sand island! Joe was first up to drive and we couldn't drive on the beach at first because of the high tide and had to use one of the inland tracks. It wasn't exactly a smooth ride and we could only go about 20kms/h so it took a while. One guy in our group had hurt his back a few weeks earlier and looked to be in a lot of pain! Finally we made it onto the beach for a smoother ride.

After a brief stop in Eurong (not exactly a town, just a few buildings and 50 metres of tarmac) we headed inland to our campsite in the forest where we met Ranger Bob. Our camp was set right in the middle of the rainforest but had a fenced area around it to keep the dingoes out. After setting up our tents we had lunch and Joe introduced the Dutch guys to crisp and tomato sauce sandwiches! They'd never heard of crisps in sandwiches before and we now think it will be the latest craze in Holland! We then headed off to Lake McKenzie. It was about a 45 mintues off-road drive which was great fun for Joe as he was driving, but not so fun for everyone being thrown around in the back! The lake is a huge freshwater lake with crystal clear water surrounded by soft white sand. We spent the afternoon around the lake taking in the views and waiting for all of the tour buses to leave before getting some photos of the lake with no people around. This was all good however until we went to view the pictures on the camera and found that all of our pictures (several hundred) were gone! Feeling very annoyed we have since found out there is a virus on the memory card and we might be able to get them back, so fingers crossed!

Anyway that night we went to the BBQ area for our dinner and had a few Dingo encounters as they ran around us in the dark. Ranger Bob then took us on a night walk around the rainforst and Joe spotted a rather large Huntsman spider on one of the trees! Because it was a public campsite we had to be quiet after 9.30 or risk a $200 fine each. This was quite hard for some of our group to do but they eventually got the message to be quiet and went to bed!

The next morning we decided to head back to Lake McKenzie to get some photos while it was sunny, as the day before the grey clouds in the sky didn't really do it justice! So after more fun and games at lake McKenzie we were on the road, (well off road really...) and headed back to Eurong before takeing the beach to the Maheno Shipwreck. When we reached the tarmac road at Eurong we had to change the 4x4 back to 2 wheel drive but the stick was stuck. The last time this happened we just switched off the ignition and started the car again and it slipped right in. This time Joe turned the key and...... nothing. Try again..... nothing. So we all had to get out and push our 2 tonne 4x4 through the sand onto the side of the road. By now we were slightly worried about losing our bond for the car so Joe went with a few others to ring Pippies (the hostel we hired the 4x4 from) and Kim waited with the car. The hostel had a mechanic stationed on the island and in the time it took Joe and the others to walk to the phone and back (about 10 minutes) he had been, fixed the car and gone! All that happened was a lead connecting the battery had come loose and he just screwed it back on!

So after that minor hiccup we headed out along the beach to the Maheno shipwreck. We stopped for a while for a few photo opportunities before driving up to Indian Head. This was as far north on the island we could go. After parking down the bottom of the cliffs we took the short walk up to the top to check out the views. We were told we could see sharks and stingrays in the water below but all we could see were waves! There were some really spectacular eagles gliding above us and swooping down to the water for fish which was pretty amazing to watch. The views here of the island were amazing so we stayed and took it all in for a while before driving as far south before the tide came in to set up our camp in the dunes for the night.

We found a good spot near the Maheno shipwreck and quickly got our tents up. It was a really good night. We spent the night dancing in the sand, playing limbo and cooking pasta and sauce in the dark for 9 people! It was a full moon that night and the sky was totally clear. The views from the tops of the sand dunes were pretty spectacular. You could also see the shipwreck in the distance down the beach lit up by the moonlight. The only slight downside was that there were no toilets so if you needed to go you had to march up the dunes with a shovel and dig yourself a hole! One of the girls (well woman, she was 30...) from our group decided to go skinny dipping with some random Australian guy who was camping near us. It wasn't the best idea ever as the next morning you could see hundreds of Jellyfish washed up on the shore. There are also really strong rips and sharks in the sea! She managed to make it out safely though!

We did have an intruder from the camp next door. Possibly the most annoying Australian man ever who came over while we were looking at the moon and said "See, you don't get that in England do you?!". Kim replied "What, the moon? No of course not......." He was also making fun of the English accent before telling us he was going to England the following week to work for a year. How long do you think he'll last?! He was annoying all night trying to climb on our 4x4 but he eventually fell asleep and we tried to bury him in the sand.

We set an alarm for 5am to watch the sunrise but when we woke up it was pouring with rain so found that sleeping was the best option! We couldn't drive on the sand until midday the nexy day so Joe and a few others decided to walk 30 minutes to the Pinnicles rock formation, which upon arrival was actually pretty rubbish! Thankfully the tide was low enough on the way back that we didn't have to take the in-land track and could drive on the beach all the way to the ferry. We got the 4x4 back on time and everything checked out ok so we didn't loose our bond. Woo hoo!

That night we decided to eat our left over food. Beans on toast. So Joe walked into the kitchen where there were people cooking up some pretty impressive food, cracked open the 3 giant tins of beans and prepared the meal for 9 people. Jamie Oliver eat your heart out! So we all had a few beers / wine and chilled out before our 7am bus ride the next day to Noosa.

We got to Noosa about 10am and got checked in to our hostel which is pretty nice compared to some of the hole's we've stayed in recently! We did want to buy some food for our stay but as it was easter Sunday all of the shops were shut apart from the 7 - 11 which was ridiculously expensive! When we got back to the hostel we found Simon and Lilly who we met on our boat trip and spent the evening hanging out with them.

The next day we thought it would be a good idea to go for a walk in Noosa National Park. The weather was not too hot, and we had walked for about an hour around the coastal track as it started to drizzle. We sheltered under a tree and put on our raincoats and headed along the track. The light drizzle then turned to torrential rain and thunder so we thought we should turn back. This took another hour walking in the pouring rain and lets just say we were pretty wet by the time we got back to the hostel. So wet that Joe's rucksack cover didn't really do much and the camera got soaked and is now officially dead!

The sun made a welcome return on Tuesday and Wednesday and we used this time wisely to get some sunbathing, surfing, swimming and bodyboarding done! We had our last cooked meal in Australia which consisted of jacket potatoes, baked beans, onions and mushrooms. Gormet delights! So after just under 4 months it's time to leave the land of Neighbours, Boomerangs and Kangaroo's for the next stop.... Singapore!

Unfortunately due to some camera problems we can't add any photos from Noosa!

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Comments

[Sally Hawkins]

Hello from sunny Elemis/ England
Hi Joe. How the devil are you? Having a faaaab time .Realy enjoyed your emails. I feel I have travelled with you. Did you get to see Laura? All good at Elemis. We all still miss you. Lots of love. Sal xx