Advertisement
Published: January 23rd 2006
Edit Blog Post
I know... I know... I haven't written in a while but I have a really good excuse!! I have been having the TIME OF MY LIFE!! I've been doing things that I've always dreaming of doing. When we arrived in Surfer's, we headed to the largest mall in the Southern Hemisphere (The Pacific Fair Mall) and did some browsing. After that we headed to the CBD (City Business District.. that is what Australians call downtown area) for some dinner. We ate at this little Italian restaurant, then we all headed to an Irish pub (Gilhooley's) for a few drinks. We finally found somewhere that know what a Rye and Ginger was!
We finally got a good opportunity to get to know our tour guide John, we had a good conversation. We all then headed across the street to a nightclub "Melba's", we paid absolutely nothing that night! It was a great night and free drinks for all, b/c we were part of Contiki. It was a good break b/c drinks are pretty costly in Oz. And Needless to say I was pretty drunk and feeling it the next morning. We had to up at the break of dawn to go on
a optional excursion, our surfing lession!! Surfing was alot of fun but extremely hard! The guys who taught us would really great. Let me tell you, my dreams of being a pro surfer were crushed that day when I learnt how hard it actually is.
After that, Jetty (Juliet) and I went to the mall for a few hours and we ended up buying quite a bit, I am in love with that mall. Part of it is outside and the other inside .. its really neat!
I did something really stupid that night, I deleted all of my pictures (by accident) off of my digital camera ... but luckily Michelle had lots of pics and people on our tour promised to send me some!
The next morning, we had an included breakfast and made our way to Brisbane. It was really rainy in Brisbane so we didn't want to go running around in the rain, so we just shopping! lol 😊 AGAIN!! We also went to Quilpies (an opal store) and listened to a presentation on the different types of opals, it was very interesting and I also bought two opal necklaces for my Mom and I.
After Brisbane,
we made our way to Toowoomba and Adora Downs (the farm). For anyone who goes on this tour, I loved the farm visit. It is such a pretty place, and Boyd and Gloria have a beautiful place. Boyd took us on a tractor ride around their property and we got to feed some kangeroos. AND I GOT TO HOLD A BABY KANGEROO!!!!!!!!!!!! They were hand raised and you could pet them, it was amazing. That night they made a really good dinner and then we learned how to bush dance. I had a few drinks that night and we played some drinking games. Garry (our bus driver) also gave my druken self a name "Rachel". lol 😊 I also was a make-shift bartender, making the drinks .. it was a really good night. Jetty and I were dancing to Shania Twain ... we were sooo gone ... haha 😊
Needless to say, I was pretty hungover the next morning (as was Jetty) .. before we went to bed I decided to re-organize my backpack .. and Jetty and I had a bad case of the giggles. We were up at 5am .. and surprising to all .. Jetty and I
were the first ones to breakfast! We got on the bus really early and headed to a Koala sanctuary on the way to Fraser Island and I got to hold a baby koala (Flopsie)! It was amazing, I don't even know how to describe it. We finally made it to Harvey Bay where we took the ferry over to Fraser Island, it was pouring rain ... and slippy!
Oh ya, John and Garry said that in the first few days if anyone on the bus could remember everyone's names, they would buy whomever a pitcher of beer. So the morning I was hungover after we left the farm, they made me do it and I DID IT!! So that night at the Sandbar (in Fraser) they bought be a pitcher of snakebite which is beer and grenadine, we also met up with another Contiki tour group and went dancing at the Dingo Bar. Since I was still hungover from the night before I didn't drink too much and went to bed a bit after midnight. The next morning we slept in .. and boy was it nice ... Then Jetty, Mich, Holly and I headed to the bakery by taking
the shuttle. We all ate lunch/breakie before taking our 4WD bus tour of the island (optional excursion). We went to a nearby rainforest and to Lake McKenzie, it was the nicest lake I have ever laid my eyes on. I loved it .. and I have promised myself I will go back there.
That night we returned to the Sandbar for dinner and then we all hung out at our lodges because I wasn't feeling the greatest. Now I have the flu and I can't keep anything down. Today we took the ferry back to the mainland and we are off to Rockhampton to see the crocs!
Talk soon
Love,
Crystal
xxx
Advertisement
Tot: 0.055s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 10; qc: 47; dbt: 0.0307s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb