noosa and amazing fraser island

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i think my last blog left me in brisbane, a little bored. yep well it dididt really get much better, its not a bad city, its just after sydney it doesnt seem that great. i spent the 2 days having a mooch around the shops, went to the cinema, and i enjoyed the botanical gardens. i did have an interesting evening when i went to get some dinner from a local chinese restaurant and ended up sat with a group of ozzies who were celebrating their friends birthday and were having so much fun they didnt like to see me sat on my own so i ended up joining them!! the kindness of strangers is lovely.

on the 7th i arrived in noosa with gorgeous sunshine and a very nice beach. did some shopping and then hit the sand for a while. i seem to be very unsociable on the beach as the minute i lay down with my ipod on i fall asleep, maybe its the chilled out life style i seem to be living!! sorry, i know im going to come back to reality with a big bump in a months time!!!
in the afternoon i was picked up from the town and taken to gagaju bush camp for my canoeing trip. after a stop at the supermarket to buy the food to feed ourselves for the next three days in the bush, we arrived at camp. at this point i was aware that there was a cyclone heading down the east coast but as it was so sunny i was not worried in the slightest. had a fairly good nights sleep, considering i was sleeping in a makeshift bed in what can only be described as a shed.
then it was on to canoeing. canoeing is hard!!!! to be fair, we had three little girls in our boat (one of which had cystic fibrosis, bless her-though she was probably fitter than me) so we were the boat trailing behind the others. lucy, kirsty and i did manage to stop talking long enough to do some canoeing though and it took approx 2 hours to get 3.5km up the river. although in the very middle of the lake it was so shallow that it was easier for me to just get out and pull the boat! there are no crocodiles this far south so it was fine and i didnt see any sting rays so not a problem! it was weird being stood up in the middle of a lake, looked very odd!
after eventually geting the boat to shore, we had a 2km walk to the beach, which was lovely and so sunny and all 9 of the girls on the trip had a snooze after our picnic. we woke up with enough time to do the walk back and get the canoue back to camp before the wind changed. it did start to get a little windy at this point and the camp was on full cyclone watch.the showers were interesting, as whilst trying to get washed you had to feed 20cent coins in to the box to keep the hot water running! tonights bedroom was a tent with only a few resisdent bugs, so not too much panicing on my part.
woke up in the morning to gale force winds and by the time i had breakfast there was sheet rain. the cyclone was the size of europe and had been upgraded from a category 4 to 5 (out of a possible 6) not a chance i was canoeing in that!! and after being informed that the camp we were supposed to canoe to was out of bounds as would be too dangerous to get there, 7 of the girls, me included bailed out and went into noosa town for an extra night!! as it turns out, we did the right thing as the gagaju bush camp was evacuated the next day.

checked in to the hostel we had booked from bush camp, 4 of us girls were supposed to be in 2 double rooms, the only rooms they had left, but it turned out they had over booked us, so lucy was in a dorm bed and me, kirsty and becky were sharing the double bed. the 4 of us spent the afternoon hiding from the awful crazy weather by shopping (of, course) and had a girls night in, reading magazines, drinking hot chocolate with marshmellows and giggling alot.
the next day brought more rain but i felt like a caged animal so headed into town, and like a true backpacker, managed to sit in a cafe and make an iced coffee last 2 hours!!! impressive, i think, if a little cheeky! the weather was getting me down a little bit, i think because for the last 2 months i have been non-stop and always had something to do. there is loads to do in oz, but as soon as that sun disapears there is very little to do! becky and i had an interesting evening as we got lost trying to find the other 2 girls new hostel but once there we had a few drinks and a nice time.
wesnesday was still pouring with rain but i decided to brave it and caught the bus to the town of eumundi in the morning to go look around the markets. didnt really buy anything but did eat the best chocolate pancakes in the world. at noon i caught the oz experience bus to rainbow beach, and due to the cyclone and the fact that fraser island was closed it was looking extremely unlikly that i would be going on my fraser island trip the following day. i arrived in rainbow beach to a miserable receptioninst who informed me that the island may not be open until the sunday, and i most definatly wasnt going to have time to wait around and go then. so gutted, i was in the worst mood and actually could have cried, yes pathetic but i had soooo been looking forwad to this part of my trip since i booked this trip way back when last year. whilst hiding from the rain in my dorm i got chattiing to twin sisters rebekah and hannah who were so lovely and also totally fed up as they had been waiting to go to fraser for a few days. so in the evening, there was a group of us who did what backpackers do when they have nothing better tio do, we drank goon and played drinking games. for those of you at home who don t know what goon is, i will tell you but please dont judge me. goon is cheap wine in a box, you get 4 litres for 10dollars (5 pounds). i said dont judge me!! im on a budget!! actually once you get a taste for it, its not so bad, although goon hangovers are the worst hangovers in the world. so while you have been reading my blog and seeing the word "drink" now you know what i actually mean.
the night was fun anyway and did seem to end up dancing on tables in the hostel down the road....

woke the next morning and waited for a cyclone up date, receptionist gave a hint of positivity so i waited with baited breath and at 1pm got the marvelous news that fraser would be reopening the following day and my hostel would be sending a group out, me included!! whoopee!! and the twins were on the trip too which was great as they are fun!
had the briefing in the afternoon, where i watched an instructional video on dingoe safety, driving a 4x4 van under the influence of goon and camping. met the rest of the group and discussed what food we wanted to take and how much alcohol (goon). i also decided to put myself down as one of the designated drivers....not sure how i was going to feel taking 11 peoples life in my hands as i pounded a 4x4 van off road, but i thought i might give it a go!
had an early night to prepare for the enevitably wet weekend ahead.

the friday started with drizzling rain and the job of checking the camping gear, loading the van and sorting out an itinery for the weekend. we were going to be the first ones on the island after the cyclone so no one knew what the conditions would be like and there would only be 4 other vans out there from a different town (there a usually loads). we set out and as soon as those van doors were shut the fun started! donny (real name alex but he looks just like donny osmond) might actually be the funniest guy i have ever met!! he was fairly quiet at the briefing but by the time we had reached the end of the road he had us all in stitches! we caught the ferry across to fraser just as the rain got heavy but it didnt spoil our fun and i soon took over the driving, there was a hairy moment when we arrived at the access point to the beach to find it blocked with fallen branches and big roocks but i managed to cross it with no problems!! we had given ourselves a team name following a story from donny that involved a shark and being rude, due to the nature of the name i cant write it on here!! we arrived in the "town" of eurong to meet some very nice park rangers who looked at our itinery and told us that actually, half the island, including all the campsites, was still shut and we wouldnt be able to do most of it. they told us where we could go and we just made our own intinery up. due to the rain we didnt go to the lakes but headed off road in to the forest to a picnic area for a soggy lunch.
by the time we went to set up camp near the beach and compromised with a hervey bay van which tried to steal our site, it had stopped raining and we put up our tents. then with the other group we had a girls v boys game of rounderds with the cricket set we had brought. due to the fact that we had all hit the goon long before the game started, there was a fair amount of cheating going on, in particular from us girls. the game finished as the sun went in and me, rebekah and hannah took a social walk to find the other vans that we presumed would be camping near by. meanwhile the boys cooked dinner, which was supposed to be a bbq with a big salad but ended up just being hot dogs.
with our new recruits from neighbouring camps we soon had a full party in swing which included the activities of dancing, wrestling and general merriment. i woke up to find 4 people in the already tiny 3 person tent, some how donny had blagged his way in to girls tent. that tent was stupidly hot in the morning and didnt smell too pretty!!

the sun was shining though and after a stop at eurong to get some people there hangover pies i did some awesome off-road driving to beautiful lake makenzie. the most beautful lake in the world! it looks like a giant swimming pool and is so stunning! the sand is like white powder and the water is crystal clear. we spent a few hours there having fun and willing the remaining clouds go away.
after a pinic lunch we headed for lake wabby which after a 2km walk throught the bush, we found a gorgeous green lake and a massive sand dune. being the loudest group there we managed to get approx 50 people to the top of the dune to all run down at the same time and jump in the lake!! there were more people on the island on the saturday, so we didnt feel quite like we had the island to ourselves any more like the previous day. we drove back to our little campsite and as i was getting dinner supplies from the roof of the van, it started pouring with rain!! not ideal. in amazing expert-like fashion we managed to put a taupalian across the 2 vans though to make a kitchn area, and our other taupaulian went from our van and hooked on to the trees to make a party area. whilst waiting for the rain to stop and our dinner of spag bol to cook we started on the remaining goon (after vowing that we wernt going to drink that night!) and had a 2nd rendition of the day of whitney houstons 'i have nothing'. our team song for which we have our reasons and in true donny style it was sang with a ridiculous amount of passion and amazing dance moves. just like the previos night, us 3 girls went on a social visit to any neighbouring camps. we are definatly the party camp and within a few hours we had a full on party in swing and tonights activities included, face paint and a human pyramid (i was the top!), and the whole thing was carnage - in a good way!

the next mornings clean up operation was a mission (that in cludes scrubbing the face paint from my face. thank god for baby wipes, at this point i was in desperate need for a shower) but i am proud to say that we left that area exactly as we found it, we are definatly environmentaly friendly travellors!
we loaded the van and headed to the bakery for breakfast, we had brought bread for toast but it just seemed too much effort!! we headed for lake birabeen and it was my turn to drive again, i actually love off roading!! the screams coming from the passengers at the back of the van as i hit the bumps are a little off putting though! and there was a hairy moment that involved a tree but it was fine and in all fairness, the group did say i did well to get us there because most of them couldnt have done it.
lake birabeen is similer to lake mackenzie but as its not quite as nice, there were less people there so we spent a few hours chilling out and baking in the gorgeous sunshine. after munching through the remains of the food we had left we headed for the ferry back to rainbow. in our opinion, we are the best group fraser island has ever seen!! back at the hostel, we checked all the camping gear, and had only lost 6 knives, 1 spoon and 3 cups which wasnt too bad, and the vehicle passed its checks which was a huge relief to me! in the evening we chilled out eating pizza and having a few drinks before saying goodnight, as some of us were heading north the next day and some heading south.

fraser island is definatly one of the highlights of my trip. the weekend was so amazing, the island is absolutly gorgeous, its so pretty and i dont think i have ever laughed so much in my life. i had been told that it is the group of people you are with that makes your fraser experience and its so true, the guys were all fab and we just had fun together.

im now in the little town of 1770 where the sun is shining and i might try surfing this morning as it is the last place on the east coast that i can.

hope everyone at home is well, only 1 month left before i am back!! xx

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Photos

bush camp
in the rain

lake makenzie
gorgeous

my feet
look at the alear water!

sand dune at lake wabby
just a few of the people running down it

happy camper
gooning it up!

just beautiful
rebekah, me and hannah

off roading
the track looks better in the photo than it actually is!